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Mr8 Tougui
Mr8 Tougui
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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
^ñbostedartist
orntcntcdlabratirn
www.bosteimrbilc.crm
-Printedin Hong Kong
ISBN:978-l -58423-28| -0
Openingphoto by AdamWallacavage
Mastheadphoto byYuri Hasegawa
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Glossydetail pagesphotographybyAaron Farley
www.theseventh
letter.com
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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.
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
This page,leftr'SABER's
parentsin their studio;right, SABER's
molheráiDonPosiStudios
Oppositepage,SABERas a child
I O SABER
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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.
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.
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.
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 .
D t
"l
i_¡
{¡
rh"5
Freeway
\i!e
ffi
I
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