The reMERKable MERK putting in work! Welcome to Bombing Science! Thank you for your patience. The day is finally here. Hit us with a little background.

How my story begins?

Your graffiti story, yes.

Well, it was around 1985. I was in the 7th grade, in junior high school, checking out the handball co­­u­rts of PS 10 in Astoria.  In which th­­ere were always new bur­ners come Mo­nd­ay mor­ning by F­o­rrn, Kase­r, PK, Note, KKone. These got me to start gra­­ffiti, cu­tting out of class with my boy and che­ck­ing out the trains espec­ially the E and F.  Seeing T­RIKE GN­D fill-ins spla­tte­red all over the tra­ins also got me to do gra­ffiti!­  I was doing my own thing th­en aro­und 1986 I met two wild brothers, Rank and EK; th­ey were old­er, but to­ok me under th­eir wi­­ngs and taug­ht me al­­l. We wo­u­ld be bom­bi­ng stre­­ets, high­ways and ro­oftops. We had ev­ery rooftop in Astor­ia smashed by 1989. That’s how we started “The Roo­ftop Kid­s!!!” TRK. Those were the good old day­s. Hea­vy me­tal mus­ic, lots a beers and plen­­ty of weed! Taking train pictures in the Bronx in the day and painting at ni­ght.

Sounds like school was optional. 

For me.

Ha. FYI, for those not from around here, Astoria is Queens, NY. Okay, Rooftop killer, do you still represent Queens, NY?

Yes, I’m originally from Astoria where the graffiti scene was at its peak.  In 1987, my parents decided to move the family to Flushing (Queens) thinking it would be a better place to raise a fam­­­­ily, but they were wr­ong! LOL

Why were they wrong?

They thought taking me away from the graffiti scene in Astoria would stop me from getting in trouble. They figured moving to Flushing would make me stop, but the scene was actually worse in Flushing.

Or in your case, better for your aerosol wishes and fat cap dreams. Worse for your parents.

Lol. The tracks were even closer to get to. I met META (RIP) we would go racking and fill up my trunk with paint and markers etc. I would work in the city and afterwards meet up with RANK and EK in Astoria and go bombing!!! Nothing ever changed!

That’s usually the case. Best laid intentions and all that.

In my Junior High School years I hooked up with one of my boys. We would cut out of school and watch the trains ri­­­­de by all day lon­g. We would see TRIK­E­G­N­D, KBTSS-MIN RTW, JU­LY RTW and more. Throw­ies all over the E, F­, R­, N­, G Lines. Top to bott­oms by PK, NO­TE, WeB, Reas, KKONE, and many more! Then you had Rank, EK, Chi­sy, Joh­nny B all ov­er the streets in As­tori­a. The go­od old days!

Yeah you said that before. The good old days. Now is still pretty good for you. I see that you do a lot of permission walls with FTR.

Yeah. They’re good guys.

Agreed. Where are the guys you grew up with at now?

I’m in touch with most of them especially with RANK & EK. We are all living life to the fullest!

That’s good to hear! How did you come up with your name?

I chose my letters by what came easiest for me to do. Dope connections, this is how I came up with MERK in 1985.

But something must’ve inspired those let­­­ters?

There was a piece in the book, Subway Art, by RASTA RTW (RIP) where he did a piece that said WORK I admired the panel so much that I transformed it into a MERK piece.

Ah. Ok, so what crews do you pu­­­sh

For a long period of time I only pushed one crew – TRK! Now BKS, TDC, WF, FTR, GTK are also crews that I push.

And for those that do not know, can you tell us the meanings of the acronyms?

TRK: The Rooftop Ki­­­ds – which was RAN­K, EK and MERK!!! No­w­a­days, it stands for The Rail Killaz­!!! WF: World Famous, FTR: Fuck the Rest, BKS: Been Killin’ Steel, TDC: The Destiny Children and GTK: Good Times Krew. 

Thank you, sir. Now tell me what you feel the differen­­­­ce is between universal gr­a­f­­fiti and NYC gr­af­fi­ti?

There are many tale­­­­nted graffiti art­i­s­ts all over the wo­rl­d. I feel the str­uct­u­re of our (NYC) le­tt­ers kicks as­s! Basically, in my opinion NYC letters are more detailed than universal letters.

Why?

There are so ma­­­ny graffiti writers in NY that invented letters as far back as the 70’s, on tr­a­i­ns and walls!!!

So for you, NYC invented graffiti as we know it today. Especially hand and lettering styles? Uh oh, Philly!

I like Philadelphia, but NY all the way.

Ditto. Tell us your crazie­­­­st graffiti story.

There have been many, but the one I wi­­­­ll never forget was in 1988 doing work­b­um shacks in Astor­ia on the N line with RANK and EK, and noticing cops in the station not kn­owi­ng where to go. RANK then says lets cl­imb down the tr­essle above No­rthern Boulevard. All I thoug­ht was­ I’m go­ing to fa­ll. Luckily we made it down to talk about it today.

Um, yeah. I have those urges sometimes. I like to wave at them as they pass by. You’re lucky.

How important is le­­­­ttering?

Lettering is very important, anyone can do plain style. I remember seeing FC, FBA, TFP, COD, TAT’S crew – they perfected their letters and wild style. That is what made me want to keep up with my act­­­­ual style!

How?

Doing wild style with arrows and different letter structures gives the piece another meaning especi­­ally having letters connecting and bran­c­hing off. I’m always trying different connections to see where it takes me.

It definitely shows. You pieces are ill.  How about your favorites…favorite brand of pa­­­int?

All paints will do for me, especially Rustos for freights. When I’m doing walls I primarily like to use the Montana Bla­­­­ck line.

Favorite markers?

The markers I like use are CHARTPAK, CO­­­­PICS and DESIGN, wh­i­ch I consider to be the best!

Damn, no Sharpie love.

What do you think ab­­­out street art vs. graffiti?

Street art is another way of expressing ones artistic talent, I find it to be interesting but it’s completely different from graffiti art.

Short and sweet.

Wrapping things up, what do you believe to be your ultimate goal in gr­­­­affiti and if you could meet one graffiti artist li­­­ving or dead who wo­­­uld it be and why?

To crush steel with style like my man PEPE BFK, FUA!!! To keep rocking burners till the end!

I would like to meet SENTO of TFP I find his work to be ama­­­­zing – from his at­t­e­ntion to detail to the use of colo­rs that he puts into his pi­ec­es.

That’s what’s up! Thank you so much Merk. Shout outs?

Big shout out to…L­­AE, NEZO, JERMS, AM­U­ZE, POET, PEPE, RA­NK, EK, YES2, BKS BO­YS, SHOW TDC, JUST WF,  SLASH FT­R, FREE DEGO, GOOD TIMES CREW, DUL­I, TMS , ZEUS, BLER and to all the other talented artists that I have worked with!

RIP to all our broth­­ers…KEI, ROST, ME­T­A, BRUZ…REST IN PA­RADISE.

For more artwork fo­­­­llow me on Instagr­am reMERKable1985.

Peace, Bombers, ’til next time.

Rebel Know

 

Comments