“I wanted everybody on the edge of their seat, wondering, ‘Who is this guy?’ It leaves an anticipation in the air of what’s going to get hit next. He says he was writing a mystery, an aerosol whodunit, and taking silent pride in keeping the public guessing who that omnipresence on walls, trains, signs, water towers and freeway overpasses could be. But as he considers his two-year tagging spree more deeply, Ramos, 36, begins to talk about a motive beyond fame-seeking that led him to splash the cityscape with those five blatant, blocky, baldly legible letters. He is going over his past in a soft voice, his small but solid frame seated on a plastic milk crate in the dusty back courtyard of Mid-City Arts, Los Angeles street-art supply shop and gallery that this weekend mounts “Resurrection,” the first art show of his life. It was just getting my name up there,” says the man police and prosecutors accused in 1990 of spraying more than 10,000 “Chakas” from San Diego to San Francisco. Mid-City Arts, 5113 West Pico Blvd.Half his lifetime later, Daniel Ramos claims no aesthetic laurels for the teenage graffiti-writing rampage that made him famous as “Chaka,” the most prolific tagger L.A. Mid-City Arts is open Monday through Sunday 12-8PM. The gallery’s artwork is available to view by the active customer base of 33third, which includes graffiti artists and fans of graffiti art. Mid-City Arts offers a show space that interacts with other artists and events that surround the 33third Los Angeles location. The gallery was established with the purpose of showcasing local, national, and international artwork by up and coming and established artists with a focus on (but not limited to) graffiti / street / urban art. Mid-City Arts was established in September 2009 as an extension of the store 33third – LA’s premier source of graffiti art supplies, streetwear apparel, and related books and magazines. The opening reception will take place April 25th, 7:00-9:00pm at Mid-City Arts, 5113 West Pico Blvd.
Chaka himself will be in attendance and there will be a limited number of signed posters in addition to his works available for sale. For Chaka’s fans as well as street art collectors, this will be a rare opportunity to revisit the nostalgia of the early 90’s, and own a piece of LA’s cultural history. He was part of the LOD crew and as such, his work in reclaiming hard to reach places of the cityscape (freeway overpasses, walls, trains etc) on behalf of his crew is recognized by fellow taggers as a selfless achievement for LA’s graffiti scene as a whole.Īfter spending a year tracking down the once unavoidable Chaka, Mid-City Arts presents his first solo show. However Chaka was not just a lone operative. Chaka was one of the first to create a reputation as a recognizable individual tagger, and spawned many imitators. He is credited with breaking away from the New York “wildstyle†popular at the time and introducing clearer, more blockish lettering into tagging. At the same time he was celebrated by street artists who admired the ability of a teenager from the projects to literally make his mark on the vast, glitzy LA cityscape in such a ubiquitous manner. At the height of his notoriety Chaka was demonized by mainstream media and culture as being little more than a prolific vandal. Chaka’s signature tag had appeared in a staggering 10,000 locations from Orange County to San Francisco. Resurrection opens April 25th and will feature highly anticipated new work from the mysterious Chaka.ĭaniel Ramos, AKA Chaka, was 18 when he was arrested and charged in 1991 with 48 counts of vandalism, trespassing and causing $500,000 in property damage. Mid-City Arts is pleased to present the first solo show ever from the infamous LA graffiti artist, Chaka.
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