D-LIST-Psyllos-24 WEST ONE   New York City native; lives on the Upper West ...

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WEST ONE

New York City native; lives on the Upper West Side, studio in Brooklyn. Gracing the subway system with his artwork since 1985. Known for his "clean, simple style lettering referred to as 'Broadway-style' or 'FC-style.'" Along with his crew Fame City, holds weight in the larger concept-driven murals that are commonplace nowadays. Calls his more recent work "neo-abstract expressionism" because of its raw, spontaneous style. Thirty-five years old. Graffiti artist.

What was your introduction to graffiti? Riding the uptown local to high school when I was 14, and seeing end-to-end cars by Zephyr and Revolt, and Skeme and Dez.

You have shifted the usual dynamics of graffiti and taken it to a more abstract level. Graff is an extremely vibrant and dynamic art form that has its own structures and laws, or principles. It is very controlled and precise. Part of the process in creating this work was to break a lot of those rules and focus on the powerful visual elements—namely line, shape and movement—and incorporate that into a freer abstract composition.

What is "Anti-Graff"? Right now…young writers are just copying a style that was copied from a style that existed years ago. The emphasis used to be on style, but now it's all about technique. My purpose with "Anti-Graff" was to strike against the controlled perfection that is so prevalent in graffiti and, through a different medium, bring back the raw, energetic foundation of lettering styles. I stripped graff of its color, its medium (spray paint) and its traditional composition (a name, background, characters, etc.), and exposed what was left.

What have you learned of the artist's struggle? My main struggle is to maintain my integrity and my vision, and paint what I feel. This lies in contrast to the marketplace where there is the impulse to package yourself a certain way to make yourself more commercially viable. It has also been a struggle to paint away from graff, and against the tide of other writers who largely don't understand what I'm doing.

Describe the street artists. I see two schools. There are young writers, who in my view are not producing much that is really exciting. Then there are other kinds of street artists using stencils, wheat-pasting posters, tiling, etc., following the same principles of bombing, but with a fresh meaning. My friend Swoon comes to mind.

What other art forms inspire you to create? Mostly it's music. For this collection: Roy Ayers and Fela live, Philip Glass, M.O.P. and Red Spider (a reggae sound system out of Japan).

WEST ONE's solo exhibit, Anti-Graff, is at the McCaig-Welles Gallery through July 1. 129 Roebling St. (betw. N. 4th & N. 5th Sts.), Williamsburg, 718-384-8729.