For 40 years, the streets of the world have been covered with his name. Fernando Carlo, Jr. became enamored with tagging when he was only 10, but from the first time he wrote "Cope2" out on an MTA 4 train, he was hooked for life. We spoke with the artist about his roots, the golden era of tagging trains, how he worked his way into galleries, and more shortly before his latest show, "Balancing the Elements," opened at Inked NYC. Here's Cope's story, in his own words.
GROWING UP
I was about 9, 10 years old growing up in the South Bronx with my mom. We'd take the train to go visit family members, so I always saw the graffiti on the subway cars and it was explosive. Just watching the names go by, I thought it was just normal. I asked my mom what it was and she explained how people would just write their names on the trains and it's not allowed. You're standing at the station and here pops out BOOM! A big "Blade" or "Comet," "Tracy168" or "Pnut2," these are the names I remember as a kid. Big, clean simple-style letters. It drew me in, the energy of it.
HIS FIRST TAGS
My cousin Chico was a local tagger in the neighborhood. One day I'm at my grandmother's and he had this big marker, it was a Pilot marker. It was the first time I'd held a big marker in my hand. He's like, “Let's take a train ride." We'd moved up to Mosholu Parkway and the last stop on the 4 was Woodlawn Road. We'd get on the train, get in the back car, and when the doors closed from Woodlawn to Moshulu he would just start tagging on the chairs, the windows, the doors. It was called motion bombing. Then when we hit Moshulu we'd get off, go down to the other side, and take it back. After that, when I went to my grandmother's and he wasn't there, I would take the marker out of his drawer and go on my own train ride.
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