Graffiti in NYC is not a static, monolithic entity in 2022. From the rudimentary beginnings of the pioneers to the golden era and its present day infusion of inroads into corporate, art world and commercial entities; what still matters the most is the street. Where, and just as important, how you get up is of utmost importance. One from the current crop that stood out for me is HOMESICK. Everything from his stylized tags and large scale productions in difficult spots, plus the name itself referencing displacement and longing, is indicative of a select aesthetic thought process that’s more than just bombing for it’s own sake. I got a chance to sit down with him recently for ANIMAL and ask him some questions.
WHAT ARE YOU HOMESICK FOR?
I was born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Growing up the entire neighborhood changed, when I was a teenager my mom was evicted. I had friends to live with, but my mom had to be in a shelter for two years in East New York. I’m first generation American, you know how Williamsburg got so gentrified, it was all industrial and then got rezoned by Bloomberg. The rents went up too high and she just couldn’t afford it, she just didn’t believe they would evict us when we couldn’t pay the rent. It was a shock when it happened, the marshals came knocking on the door and we had an hour to get our stuff. I had a little car back then, so we put stuff in it but had to find storage. My mom was living in a hotel and she was spending so much money on them, she eventually found a place through the system in Canarsie, Brooklyn. That’s where HOMESICK started. I’m HOMESICK to what the neighborhood used to be. I’m HOMESICK for all my friends who are not there anymore. It’s another way of saying nostalgia, but more simple, with an activist angle, talking about the gentrification and displacement of that neighborhood.
WHAT ARE YOU EARLIEST MEMORIES OF SEEING GRAFFITI AND/OR DOING IT?
The earliest, is when I was like 8-years-old and I saw UFO up; told this to him too—seeing the alien and even though it wasn’t graffiti-like letters, the alien characters stood out to me. The first name I had was N3ST. I grew up on North 3rd & Berry. I basically wrote my block, like you know the pioneers wrote their block at the end of their name so I wrote my block. It looked like “NEST,” and people thought it said that. N3ST is super original has a 3, but it just didn’t stick with people, they were like: ‘what is that?.’ HOMESICK connects so much, everyone relates to it, you don’t have to be from here, but it’s ‘homesick’ to a city that has changed so much. It gave me a drive to make art about displacement.
HOW DID THE NEW HOMESICK NAME CHANGE YOUR WRITING MISSION?
I always wanted to be an all-around artist and not just do graffiti. There’s like a wall to that, there’s artists like FUTURA and Kaws—Kaws gets a ‘lil hate—but he’s making money. I don’t’ want to struggle my whole life, gotta survive, but I also want to tell my story through fine art and acrylics. That’s what I’ve been doing lately, plan to have a show soon.
FROM A STRICTLY GRAFFITI VIEWPOINT, WHO WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
SEEN, T-KID 170. My first book I got was by T-KID 170, got it as a Christmas gift. I didn’t know who he was until then, first time I saw wild styles was in that book. I was too young and it was way before my time to see it on trains. LEE Quinones is another one, his murals are so good.
AS FAR AS SOMEONE’S CAREER HAS GONE, WHO WOULD YOU SAY IS A ROLE MODEL?
FUTURA, definitely! I met him because he had a place in Williamsburg and used to come to the café my brother worked at on Hope Street and he lived on that street. He knew he was blessed, and wanted to give some of his money away. FUTURA is an inspiration even though people say he’s selling out, he’s worked so hard and his soul is in whatever he’s doing. Whether it be for NiKe or LeBron, his soul’s always in it.
YOU’VE DONE SOME HANDSTYLES THAT RESEMBLE LA GANG WRITING, IS THAT A CONSCIOUS DECISION TO DO SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT?
Mike GIANT is someone whose lettering I studied. I also always liked that Brazilian/Chicano style, the Brazilian pixação was inspiring, their handstyle is so different from New York. I like things that stand out. Now I’m gonna do stuff that’s more activist related, you haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll start soon, that’s my goal. I’m gonna hit condos, but it’s gonna be beautiful, have a ‘lil poetry and write sentences about growing up in broken homes, because I was also in foster care for two years when I was growing up. That’s another HOMESICK feeling, when you’re a kid and go away to foster care. I got taken away by the police, it felt like going to jail. When you first go into the center to find a home; you have to take off your clothes to see if there’s any weapons and they give you an outfit. It’s like jail, it was scary. They take you away from your mother, felt like I was never gonna see her again but you’re a kid and you’re overreacting. You feel like you’ve done something wrong because the police are there and taking you away.
YOU DO A LOT OF URBAN EXPLORING, WHAT’S YOUR MOTIVATION?
Growing up in Williamsburg it was all abandoned and neglected. The entire waterfront was desolate, but we loved it; me and my brother were like 8-years-old. People like LADY PINK, SANE/SMITH were up. I’m basically looking for my childhood in all these places that are part of urban exploring. In the freight tracks, the tunnels; I’m looking for old New York. I’m HOMESICK for “old New York.” and I find it in the tunnels. Ironically that’s one of the last places you can find traces of the old city, like in abandoned stations that feel frozen in time from the 1970’s.
You know the “Underbelly?” I went there like three times. The first time I went with my friend BLAZE—he showed me the space. I’m skinny and so is he, but he has a little more weight on him. We had to fit through these cinder blocks that they built because they knew people kept going in there, it was like a foot of space and I got in easily but still got scraped by the cinder blocks. For him to get in I had to throw him in and climb up. He wanted me to see it and then I got down to where he was; we couldn’t get out. Going down was easy, but climbing back up was hard. There was a wall of cinder blocks on the ground and I grabbed one, began hitting the other ones as the train passed by. The Underbelly is really close to the train station, a lot of people don’t know that, it’s only like 20 steps away but still hard to find. It’s a magical place, there’s candles everywhere, people leave those tea light candles everywhere with a lighter, it’s a tradition, really brightens the place up when you paint. The place had been abandoned since the 1930’s, because of The Great Depression, that’s the theory, it was supposed to be the hub of Williamsburg with like five trains in that area but the economy was doing bad and the money ran out. I don’t know if this is 100% true. [Editorial note: it is true, more info here].
ANY STORIES FROM THESE UNDERGROUND MISSIONS?
In the tunnels I see homeless people sleeping in hammocks, they create these homes in the nooks. In the streets I’ve had to run, but I’m fast, if I have one superpower, then it’s speed and I use it to my advantage. When I was younger I was arrested at 15, but it got thrown out. I used to be scared to run, thinking they might shoot me, if they try to chase you and you immediately run; they won’t really go after you, if you’re out right away. They’ll drive, but won’t get out of the car. If you run against traffic you’re most likely to be good, just gotta be out, don’t freeze up.
ANY ISSUES WITH OTHER WRITERS?
The thing about me is I’m peaceful, we both do the same thing and write, why are we going over each other? I see graffiti as a bigger thing. I’m against the law and the government, but I’m not really against them because they’ve got a job to do. I’m against the government, but not the individual, like the cop who has to feed his family. A lot of people won’t agree with me on this, but a good amount of police officers now are minorities. If I’m against that. then who am I against? They’re just trying to feed their families, their parents were immigrants. I’m not against police officers, I’m against the system. I’m not beefing with any writers, if you go over me I won’t go over you and waste my paint because I don’t want to worry about you going over me again with your paint and I’ll have to use my paint that I risked my freedom for. I’m all about peace and community.
PLANNING ON DOING A SHOW AND/OR CLOTHING?
Yeah, I want to do a show in April, don’t know where yet—have four places in mind. Hopefully someone picks me, instead of looking for a place, that way it’s more special, they pick me because they think stuff will sell. I plan on having big canvases; 6ft X 5ft and I also want to do a book/zine about homesickness. I’ve also been doing activism clothing about housing.
WHAT DOES GRAFFITI IN NYC MEAN TO YOU IN 2022?
Graffiti is a way of telling my story and many families’ stories of displacement in the city, displacement of native families is too common in the city and I want to keep pushing the message forward this year with bigger and longer messages. HOMESICK is a lot bigger than graffiti, we are artists, activists with a story to tell, a story everyone born and raised in New York City understands. Graffiti has meant a lot to me this year, but it’s only 10% of who I am as an artist, we have ways to go and we are slowly making that come to life.
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