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Compiled and Edited: RogerGastman


Text: CalebNeelon & Zio
Art Directi on: SmyrskiC reative(www.smyrskic reative.com)
Production: Leon Catfish
Production Assistance: Fei Liu,ChristelSayegh
Photography: Ben from Supervision, DAME, EKL|PS,Aaron Farle¡FATE,
RogerGastman,SteveGrody,YuriHasegawa, Nicl<Jung,NORM, PUSH,REVOK,
SABER, JonathanShool<,Adam Wal lacavage
SABER would like to thank: My parentsfor puttingup with all of my dramaover
the yearsand alwaysbeingsupportive,EKLIPSfor beinga strongleader(without you
none of this would exist),to everyonein my crewAWR, MSK,especially GKAE,PUSH,
REVOK,KRUSH,LOOK, RETNAfor beinggreatfriendsand partners,Matt Revelli&
Upper Playground, ShellyLeopold,JeriYoshizu & SClON,JosephKnapp,Cathy Lee,
MichaelDelahaut,Chuck Pelly,Joan Gregor,SteveGrod¡ MeghanSeverance for keeping
me positiveand dealingwith my neurot¡cself,Piperand NathanCannon,Jeff Parl<&
Andrew Schulenburg at Boost Mobile,RogerGastman& SonjaTeri, and anyoneI
forgot... Sorry!

Gingko Press Inc.


5768 ParadiseDrive,SuiteJ
Corte Madera,CA94925

Telephone: 4 | 5924.96 | 5
Telefax:4'5.924.9608

bool<s@gingl<opress.com
www.gingkopress.com

R77 P ublis h i n g
PO Box 291458
LosAngeles,CA 90029
info@graffsupply.com
www rrockenterorises.com

Publishedin 2007 by GingkoPress& R77with


the generoussupport of Boost Mobile

^ñbostedartist
orntcntcdlabratirn
www.bosteimrbilc.crm
-Printedin Hong Kong
ISBN:978-l -58423-28| -0

Openingphoto by AdamWallacavage
Mastheadphoto byYuri Hasegawa
sri
Glossydetail pagesphotographybyAaron Farley

www.theseventh
letter.com
e
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.¡ñ
{q*
Z'

FrÉew ,r{ .
/
Gfaffrti is if nothing else. an opporlunity to build a my'th around a name.
separating yourself from both the crowds and your fellow performers by sheer
will alone. Among the few tens of thousands of people who make up the grafhti
community around the world, there are few names that carry the same mJ'thic
q"aliry as SABER. Born in ry76 in Glendale, California, in Los Angeles County,
SABER had already made his name a visual fixture in Los Angeles by the end of
his teens. But it was as a zo year old in ry97 that he completed the painting that
would catapult him to the status of a global legend. His piece on the sloping bank
of the L.A. River, nearly the size of a football freld, can be read clear as day from
a satellite photo, and as he strode across the piece in his father's famous photo-
graph, SABER the artist is a tiny speck, nearly invisible amid the blaze of color
he walks on.

'What
dfives a kid, barely out of his teens, to create such a masterwork and to
- overóome so many obstacles of danger, illegality, and physical difficulty to do it?
Youthful brilliance doesn't really explain it - not like a 2o-year-old Bob Dylan
wrifing timeless songs in zo-minute frts of inspirátion. dABER's river piece
took dozens of nights of illegal tenacity. spread out over a year. Testosterone-
driven desire for sheer size doesn't cut it, either. If at any point he decided that
enough was enough. he could have made his piece a single color and been con-
tentwith.beingthe world's largest. But he kept adding eolors, detail. and line
work. You can write off the largestas a male ego thing - and don't get it wrong.
there's plenty of that - but a hell-ben t d esire o n making something the greatesi
goes deeper than that.

In person, $ABER the man is a big a.ndstrong one, with his Holl¡rood hench-
man's sloping shoulders having undergone reconstructive surgery many times.
His stride is'somewhat labored, the result of another surgery, this time to repair
cartilage in his knees torn during the nights on the 3o degree slope ofthe riv-
erbanks. It reflects the laughs of his many friends in the A'WR and MSK graffrti
crews, that he is really, very good at hurting himself.

It has been ro years since he completed that piece, and it is still without question
one of the.single greatest paintings in the history of the graffrti movement; and
by a simple extension, that makes it one of the most signifrcant arfworks of the
.past century. Graffrti is an endless race and game of one-upsmanship, but that
piece still reigns_,

In the years since, SABER has continued in every direction, painting Írollü:
mental.graffrti pieces, creating groundbreaking metal sculptures, painstakingly
rendering hyper-realistic canvases,and working in many other media. He's be-
come a fávorite of corporations who understand that his designs offer a touch of
authenticity that he could never fake at any cost. He's painted around the world
in r-nanydifferent countries. And he's continuingto push himself as an artist in
ways that reflect his process of maturing and growing; in the world of art, a 3o
year oJd may be emerging. In graffrti, that's enough time to create a permanent
legend, especially if those 3o years have been SABER's.

CalebN eelon and RogerGastman

6 SABER
aged me to máke art and ever since I could hold a pencil
I would spend most of my time drawing.. Art and drawing
"I thinh I warped,hím-maybe that was the problem from d,ay always inspired me more than anlhing else. I wasn't like
one! Hísfather and, I had, our own d,esígnfirrn for ftrany years, most kids in the fact that I already knew what my purpose
and then later oit,ín our careersI end,ed,up working for rnajor was: to create art. I was very privileged that my momworked
corporatíonslike Dísney and, Desígnworks,'whíchwas ulti- in a creativeindustry so T was alwayssurrounded by visual
mately owned, by BMW. I also worked,for a company called, stimulation. I was intrigued with Star'W'ars,Robotech and
Don Post Studíos, which was a basically anything futuristic or gory. I remember even at
cornpa,nywho d,íd,'makeup and, a young age I would be a temperainental artist when my
applíances and, monsters for the hand-eye coordination wasn't developed enough. I would
movíe ind,ustry. When.he-tnasvery get furious when I couldn't copy something right. It was al-
young, thtlt's when I was workíng waysmy passion.
for them. He'd comeover to my of-
E.7., Darth
fi,ceand, see,_.1ítera!Iy, As an 8 year old, I discovered skateboarding. It was the
Voúer, or the head,.ofthe Alíens! perfect blend of cool art and rebellion. My frrst real board
Strange thíngs went on ín that was a Jim Phillips-designed Santa Cruz Rob Roskopp #2. I
stud,ío-Iots of rnonsters! At the used to love the graphics with the arm breaking through the
time, I was workíng'wíth George target. I was obsessedwith skating and it was my introduc-
Lucas and Steven Spielbergwhen tion to venfuring out onto the streets. I couldn't sit still in
they were d,oingE.T. and, also Star classesat school, so my only focus was to draw in class and
Wars with theír lícensees. Because to *ait for the bell to ring so that I could go and skate. It
of thís, I would, get'prod,uctssent took me a couple of years before I was abl'eto venture into
to my son from Kenner and, other L. A. through skateboarding, I would notice hot skate spots
companíes long beforethey would" and graffiti always caught my eye. L.A. has a massive gang
cotneout into the marketplace,so situation so I would see gang hand styles and would get ex-
hís room was always thehot room cited. It wasn't long before I moved to Ventura County and
of the neíghborhood,becausehe had,aLIthe Star WafspíIlow cas- felt trapped in a bland bubble of suburbia. I would take the
esand,sheetsand,theotherkíd,scould,n'tevengetthenxyet!Sohe Greyhound back to my old neighborhood of Glendale and
grew up in an envíronment wíth a lot of entertaínment around, start venturing out into the L.A. River.
hím--as weILas alot of artísts." - SABER's Mother

With a pair of artist,/designer parents, it was almost inevita-


bl-ethat I woulÍl be an artist as well. I'm a third-generation
artist on my fatherls side since my grandfather was a suc-
cessful illusiiator in NewYork City, and my fatt¡.gr grew up
in'his studio before he attendeá the Chouinard Art Insti-
tute, alongwith my mother. My father worked ir.advertis-
ing design and, among other things, re-designed'Punchy,
the Hawaiian Punch character. My parents alw.qysencoug-

This page,leftr'SABER's
parentsin their studio;right, SABER's
molheráiDonPosiStudios
Oppositepage,SABERas a child

I O SABER
* ''d;

x ' - , : -* €
-: *:
E.

-ul
h

!-
.:::

¡ii
I

My cousin Teri and her husband Ben were older and hip This was always a dangerous place because of gang traffrc.
to the Hoil).wood scene and to art. In r989, when I was r3, This was also wheré I noticed my frrst CHAKA tag, a tag thal
they caught wind that I was interested in graffiti and askerl sent me scurrying home to practice flaring out spray paint
me if I wanted to see some serious stuff. I grabbed my cam- from thin to thick the way he did.
era and we drove to a vacant lot on Glendale Boulevard.
It was the Belmont Tunnel, one of Los Angeles' most noto- When I did my frrst piece in r 9 9 o, in an alle¡,.way
in Glendale,
rious locations, that graffiti writers used to create elaborate I remember getting chasedout. I had to come back later that
works. night to finish, and it taught me persistence. One of the frrst
:
things that I ever did illegally at nighttime was with my dad.
As soon as I saw it, that was it! There was a SKILL piece that I told him that I had to do it or I would go crazy.The spot was
said "REO" in a style he called his "spaghetti style." It was a right down the street from my house, so he said he'd look
really advanced piece. Not that man;r people were painting out for me and flash his lights if the cops came. For the nert
that kind of wild style then. There were also the remnants three or four years, I would skate all over, seeking out skate
of the frrst HEXand SLICKbattle. On HEX's part of it, there spots and taggrng. My skater friends were doing the same
was a big stater4entto the world about how everyone sucked thing, and overtheyears graffrti tookthe place ofskating for
and everyóne could go to hetl. JERO, CHARLIE, P["{ST, the most par1. I met PUSH, PHABLE, BLES, FAIE, KRISES,
GREEN, GREM, RISKYand K2S crew also had pieces there. HAVOK and CHUNK-we were all skater buddies before
We took photos of all of it, and I rushed home to get them we erren considered graffiti together. KRISES was always
developed and start drawing. It was a real powerful mo- ahead-he was wearing size 48 jeans when everyone elsewas
ment. .I knew that painting these pieCeswould be more rm- wearing tight sho¡ts. He brought big pants to the suburbsl
portant to me than anything else. He used to paint illegals with this crew PKS (Pranksters) in
the tunnels of our Ventura County suburbs, like Newbury
Park, and I would go with him and was always attracted to
this art. He was my older buddy and it was always difficult
being with him becauseI would get clowned on all the time.
But through that, and through skating, I learned how to deal
with others and how to compose mvself.

The BiÉh of Saber


A kid in school gave me the name SABER. I loved the let-
L.A. at this time had a very developed and vitrrant graffrti ter combination. That same day, I was walkingwiththat kid
scene. I also discovered the books SpraycanArt and Sub- and the girl who gave me my first blowjob to McDonald's. I
wayArt, and these were my first bibles, as they were for so was holding her hand as we walked across the street, when
many graffiti writers around the worid. I drew and bit most a car hit her. She was tossed r5 feet onto the center divider.
of the pieces in there, especially the "AXAB" piece by DOC She was lying on the ground leaking out of her head with
ín SpraycanAr"ü.In the book, he talked about how a1lof the a glazedlook in her eyes. Simultaneously, everything went
arrows in the piece pointed inwards. He said, "This was a slow motion. The kid who gave me my name was being as-
kamikaze run, and the sole purpose of this piece was to de- saulted by a large crew of reai gangsters with knives and
stroy al1the other pieces next to it and itself." This was my bats. This is where my life as a graff artist began. I knew
first lesson in esoteric thinking about letters: using the ar- what I was in for. For some reason, I always end up in the
rows as a battle style. At a young age,this was an abstract eye of the storm, and that day gave me a glimpse into my
concept to grasp, but I got it. f'uture with graffrti and relationships. To numb my young
pains and to keep my mind busy, I would constantly draw
Next, the second, and better-publicized, HEX vs. SLICK and paint in the local tunnels. Finally honing a basic level
battle was defrnitely a major inspiration. I went to see it of abiiity, I stafted working back into L.A. It was at this time
personally, at the Levitz Yard by the L.A. River in Glendale. that I met one of my greatest partners, GANK, who later

I2 SABER
I always end up in
the eie of the-stonn,
an{.that d?V gave me
aglrmpse rnto rnY
future with graffiti
and relationEh¡ps.

This page: Earlyattenps at piecing

I3 MA D S O CI ETY
wrqte.GKAX. He was two months older than me, but he had AWR/MSK
been painting freeways since he was r3 years old. He was a Manyof the olderguyswerein AWR,whichwasa very
plague. The first time I met him he called me a toy. "I don't respected crew that did incredible pieces. AWR dated back
seeyou up anywhere," he said aswe passedtoo many GANK to the late rg8os and was led by EKLIPS. A'WR was aiways
tags to count.

"I grew up ín what's almost the Lastcity ín L.A. County,and'he


was about a half hour further out than me, ín Ventura County.
He was paíntíng und,erbnd'gesout there, and, hís mentors u)ere
KBISES and, BLES. He was kínd'a goo!, but he kínda sucltedt.
we aLI kínd,a suclred,.He was morefocused on piecíng whereas
. most of us wérefocused'on doíng tagsand throwuf.s. We'tned to
" convince him to change hís name to BUCK)! In the begínníng,
. ít was FATE,HAV)K and, G)NE. SABERwas a ctoupleof cítíes
oeer,so we'd,hang out with hím onceín a whíLe.The fi'rsttime
we went paintíng was at MotorYard'-me, SABERand two other
guys. Someblack graffllí tew that I used'to hang out'wíth, and'
thenhad,beefu;íth, rolled'uponus. Wesaíd'keepit Jaír, one-on
,-o'ne,but of course,they d,idn't,and,SABERgotjumperl. I wasn't
evenreally fríend,s with SABERat thís poínt, and' the crew that what I wanted to be a part of, and I knew I had to go all out
rolled,on us wasformerfriends of míne, so ít was a weird situa- to be noticed. But before EKLIPS would make me a part of
tí on. SABER kin d,of got lít up, but h e stood'upf or me. SABERhad' AWR, he put me in another crew he headed, MSK.
never really evengooe bornbíngin the-lrad'ítíonal senseof free-
"I
wcLyspotsand rooftops.Hehad' justpaínted,gutters and' washes founded,AW crew ín 1988,and, it started to getJame and'
and, stuff like that.'Só.we went out in WestL..A.and, úid' tags grow and a Lot of d,ud,eswanted, to get d,own with it. But AWR
and,sorite outlínes,not "evenanyhíng fi,lled,in. But'SABEBwas was about píecíng and a Lot of the younger kíd,swere about
'Oh flr,yGod; thís ís whatI. want to d,al"' bombing.SoBABAand,IstartedMSKcrewin t989, andítfad'ed,
freakíng out, -.GKAE

I4 SABER *
a,u)aywhen BABAmoved,to New York.But when theyoungerkíd,s
líke MBEB and GKAEwanted,to get d,ou)nwíth AWB, I was líke,
'VeIl, I can't put you in AWR becausewe:reaboutpíecíngand,
you guys aren't really at that levelyet. But why d,on'tyou guys
start pushíng MSK?' They took ít really seríously, and,it became
a stepping-stoneforAWR in a way, but also íts own thing. And,
a lo,t of that has to d,owíth CKAE. He was d,own to travel and,
he spearhead,ed, a lot of MSK. Youngerguys líke FATE, SABER
and GIr-48had, the abíIíty to do what they wanted, to do, and
had,AWR to back ít up with old,erd,ud,es who had,respect.It was .
a good,formula. Beforeyou knew it, AWR and, MSK werepretty
rnuch Lhesamecrew.

"As a
young guy. UBER wasa genuínely goodguy. He wasa

ffid inwffiend,
caring peoplepersonjust like he ís now. He wos really eagerat
that tíme; he'd,come to my house and, we'd,d,raw on paper and,
I'd, erplaín what I Imew about letteríng, and,he'd,pick my brain
about the old d,ays.I'm fi,veyears old,erthanhim, so I was wrít-
íng a lot earlier, and had, knowled"gethat had, beengíven to me
byguys like SINand BABA,and, alsoSHABPfrom N ew York, who
partyshooting
[.Vi¿{m receives¡ni¡or wound; DaDiel Coom said thi$ mom¡ng:
had" an even old,erperspectíve.So I had, thís knowle.dge,and, I ¡t¡lsaots held on srrspirisftof Deputies responded Saturd{y to a
9ll call thet ¡hots had bee¡ llred in
was happy to gíaeít to UBER' Bespectgraffrtí, and, respectother attcmÉed murder. ibe 200:bliis* of F.ox¡gtle O*,re,.Wiey
fouBd that.a Í¡g¡d, b*d D{aFn out ¿t a
wrít¿rs. He was hungry and,eager." -EKLIPS h Rarn¡ l¡ror¡r party at tbe hme of Rf,afl Bbffi*, wbo,
St¡f Writer according to th€ police repórt. knrw
all the participants.
By my senior year, I was kind of a big dog in high school. TITOUSAND OA¡$ - Two teens Officeru were iold tbat eftel a fl8bt"
rerú being held in tho Ventura Coqnb, fou¡ sspsts had left tbe parFon foot
Because all of the other kids in high school were fucking J¡ll t¡is moming 6 susFicion of 8t- and retumed by car a¡med with r
tcnpted murder iD comection úith small-calibersemiautom¡tichandgu,
nerds, the gangsters kind of liked me-though I didn't get the Ssturday trieht shootiugof a North Accordingto the reporl de or more
I{ollywood mB at lThousand Oaks of the sUspectscmfront€d p6p1,e si
alongwith some of them. I had my own group of friends like . ¡¡t8, the p¡rti. 8¡ob w¿re t¡red íit r¡e di-
,,... ?he ylctlrt, gung.for¡g 18, recc¡ved rettiotr cf,.*rs crolyd; hiNtiag'$61w as
PUSH and others that went to my high school.,4t lunch, I'd a superficial gunshotwoutrd to h¡s left he m fff ctro. He rcft¡sed med¡ral
foot, accordingto a police report. treatnl€nt and sid he would seek help
ditch school and go down to Venice and do a piece there and Venturs County Sberilfs deputies frcm bj.Eowo dtrttr.
took Ryan Corteil, 18, of Moorp*k. f'olice foud no motive for the fui-
come back. I graduated in 1994 and was made a pafi of A'WR a¡d Witlim SalsL. 18, of Thomsnd tial fight Their rcport st¡ted tbst all
oals into custody shorlly befo¡e mid. partic¡ptniÉ ms ]oüCei than.zl di¡d
a t the en d o I th at y ear .

Opposite page, clockwise from top


leíl¡ GANK, GONE; PIIABLE; FATE;
EKLIPS: SABER

D t
"l
i_¡


rh"5
Freeway
\i!e
ffi
I

Bv the time that I graduated high school in 1994, I was "The


5 bridge was one of my ideas. It was a classic spot as
completely dedicated to graffrti and especially interested [ar as ] could remember where people had caughr tags by
in painting spots that absolutely everyone would see and creeping out on it." * GKAX
ner-erforget.
The faqade of the bridge was a kind of gigantic I beam,
There was a railroad bridge that spanned acrossthe 5 Free- with about an eight-inch ledge on the bottomthat we could
l av that had the potential to be one of those spots. It had a stand on. It looked like there was about two feet of clear-
flat side that was ro feet tall and nearly roo feet long-ifyou a nce under rhe ledge fro m r.rhe re the tops of passingsemi
rrere driving under it on the 5, you'd have to be blind not t¡ucks would blast by. But standing on that ledge, even if I
to see it. Of course, seeing the spot is one thing; figuring stuck my arm straight up, I still was a good three feet from
out how to do it is another; and actually executing it is still the top. It would take.two peopie to paint the bridge, me
another. I ironicaliy had the chance to scope out the spot painting up from the ledge, and GKAI hanging down off
on my way to court for a felony graffiti charge. the top of the bridge from above. If any helicopter came
by, we would almost assuredly be spotted. It was really a
suicidemission.
Ín order to reach a paintingspot a week irefore, I had scaled Of course, graffiti like ours was also a target for the jeal-
a very large hill at Stadium Wáy off the 5 and gotten a severe ous. Akid decided to.try to take me out and wrote his name
caseofpoison iry thafcovered my entire body, including on all over my piece. I was heartbroken. One night, I took my
my eye, in my ear and all over my crotch. My inner thighs friend SIVA to help me frx it back up. As I was painting out
were rotten and oozing pus. I looked like a scaly, rotten his tags, SIVA was on the other side. I felt that something
leopard. GKAE also.tradthe flu and had a ror-degree tem- r¡/aswrong and climbed up to see what SIVA was doing. A
perature. But not evenphysical sickness could stop him. He security guard was standing there with his pistol pointing at
stiti took control of the missionandledtheway. SIVA, trying to frnd the right moment to shoot him off the
b r i d g e . Tw a r n e d h i m . a n d w e r a n f o r o u r l i v e s .
GKA-Eand I lugged ourhouse paint, rollers, extensionpoles
and spray paint to the bridge, set down the pile of supplies, The next day, my best friend PUSH and I went back and I
and took a deep bre¿th. We spotted á group of,silhouettes put motor grease all over the bridge. My goal was to keep
comingtoward us;.We stopped what we were doing and we jealous toys off of my spot. I only heard of one kid falling
decided to confront them; I was armed with a knife and off ofthat bridge, but he survived. I heard he broke his arm
GKAX was armed with a hammer. We walked toward them and hip.
hesitanlly. As it turned out, they were just heroin addicts
and no! gángsters.One man asked us for a cigarette. One day, I turned on the news and our piece was on every
channel. A gastanker had skidded out and blown up under-
It was.time to get lo the task at han{. A bridge this big had neath the bridge, and the bridge was on fire. It was on ev-
never been attempted-let alone completed successfully. ery station. GKAX had a large criminal graffrti case a$ainst
As we worked feverishly, we constantly encountered prob- him, so whenthey shut the freeway down to clean the tanker
lems. Every mundane equipment issue was rnagnified: the mess up, the city just buffed GKAI and left me.
'rnost annoying failut'e waB the breaking of the little plastic
cap that keeps the furry paint roller attached to the handle. "Caltrans just bffid mine, and, not his, becausethey had, a
This méánt that my roller constantly slipped off 'and fell personalvend,ettaagainst me. Interestingly enough, when I got
onto thq.passiúgcars beneath me. So I had to constantly lift popped,ín t 996 and, ertradited,froflr Seattle.the d,etectiveon the
myseHbáck down and run into orrcomingtraffic to grab my casetold, me that they hgd, to get a, specialteom from )akl,and
=
roller in the middle of the fieeway. How this didn't attract to come all the way d,own,toL.A. to buff rny píece, and, that it
thé'attention of the police, I'll never know. had, cost $4,o,ooo to buff that thing. I told, hírn that ít costme
about $zo topaínt it. He told,me thut ít was a"specíalteam' and,
"Líhe always, I fi,níshed,a Lotearlíer than SABEBand, waíted, that they had, to block off trffic. I aslced,
hím if they paid,for the
for hím. Every time he d,ropped, the roller-<nhich ís tlpical SA- team'scocaíneand,hookers,ioo,becauseítd,oesn'tcost$4,o,ooo
BEB-he'd have to clímb all the way d,ownonto the freeway'and topaíntabndge."-GKAE
run ínto th,etrá,ffi,cand get ít. And seríously,no more than to
mínuteslater. he'd,drop it again." Painting this.bridge came at a time in my life when paint-
-CKAE ing defrnitely came first. I learned to push my comfort zone
to the edge. Those corner rivet support beams were our
Áfter we finished rolling out the filI of our letters, we then saviors, the only extra inch of space to bury your face while
had the dangerous task of outlining both names. GKAE holding on for dear life. I feel I have guardian angels watch-
outlined all of the tops and most of the piece. I painted the ing over us, and I always prayed before a major mission.
- details, cracks and frnished my portion on th¿ dght. GKAE The graf{rti guardian angels kept that piece running for a
was such an amazing climber; hei would climb from the top good six;rears before the city finally painted over it.
out over the freeway, basically holding on with his finger-
nails. There were large rivets on the bridge, so every time I
I i fted myselfonto the top of the bridge I got these frst-sized
bruises covering all of my body. It took a grueling sü and a
halIhours to finish.

The funny part was that I had to drive under this bridge on
my way to court the next rnorning. Naturally, traffic was
stopped underneath our bridge. I was already on strict
, probation for graffiti, but nothing would stop r.nefrom ac-
complishingour tasks-not even the threat ol'jailtime. The
5 Freéway bridge was o-ur major introduction into a long=
lasting career of L.A. graffiti.

I8 SABER

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