DCEVE is a New York City based graffiti writer who is a member of the Smart Crew artist collective. He has only been writing graffiti since 2000, but his interest in the sub-culture started at age 11. Looking out of the window in his parents’ car on the highways in the late 80’s and early 90’s, DCEVE first noticed graffiti on the highways of north Queens. He was attracted by the mystery of this world when he started recognizing the same names over and over in different places. Why did people do it? What kind of people did it? How did they do it without being seen? These were all questions that eventually led him to try it out for himself. Practicing his graffiti in class quickly became a daily routine. Tags, throw ups and sketches on loose-leaf paper soon outnumbered his actual school notes.
DCEVE never had any formal art school training but graffiti taught him a lot and quickly opened his eyes to a completely new world. Traveling to different neighborhoods to do graffiti led to different cities and eventually different countries. His work can be seen in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
When it comes to his artwork, DCEVE prefers to keep his pieces creative, conceptual, clever (SMART), and most importantly “fun.” While he does a lot work with permission these days, he still considers it “real graffiti” when it is done without permission. DCEVE has worked with a variety of mediums but prefers to use traditional aerosol paint for his graffiti artwork.
