“The topic for the ages is the art form is illegal, but on the other hand you have youngsters who are interested in this art form, so you need to show them this is how it evolved. For me and for other artists, how it developed in New York where it all began. If you want to learn about how someone could exist in that environment, coming from someone who was there from the beginning. So you will get a pretty good idea of how things were and how it evolved and how I became who I am now.”
Part, please introduce yourself in a few words, what Part stands for these days and what made Part a iconic figure in the New York City Graffiti History?
My name is Enrique Torres and I go by the name Part One. I am an experienced train writer from New York City, I’ve been doing this type of art work since 1973- it’s been a long time. What Part stands for these days…just keeping the culture alive, whatever I can do to contribute to let the people know what it is really about and not their negative interpretations of it.
What makes Part Iconic in your opinion?
I think it’s mainly the period of time that has gone by and I’m still very active. I’ve had the opportunity along the way to help a lot of fellow writers with some mentoring and assistance.
We would like to learn more about you. Our knowledge about the golden era in New York is based on famous book publications, videos and graffiti magazines. We are pretty sure you have seen Style Wars, WildStyle, numerous books. Do you have the feeling all these publications represent it well or could it have been done better back in the days? How do you feel about this, do you think we got the right view on the New York Old School, teached by such books and videos?
Basically I started right after the early pioneers, I was pretty much a younger version of the pioneers I came in right after it all began, so I was caught in the middle – between the pioneers and the Subway Art generation. After me came a lot of the artists that were involved in Style Wars, WildStyle. I was towards the end of my train career at that time and was not as active as I had been in my ‘heydays’. Wildstyle and Style Wars was produced like in the eighties and it didn’t really tap into the whole scene or what had gone before it just showcased certain writers of that era, which is ok. They observed what was on hand at the time and went with that. I mean they weren’t taught. It’s like you read what is in the newspaper and that’s what you go with.
read the rest here
