Graffiti Art is a practice of lettering as done by calligraphers of the past. Ornate paper scrolls and tapestries are now replaced by outdoor concrete and metal. The greatest Graffiti writers of modern times such as Dondi, Dero, Sento, Arab, Charlie, and Wane amongst others, continually strive to master the entire alphabet, and to deconstruct all the 26 letters of the current English alphabet. Most Graffiti artists, such as those previously mentioned, picked, or had endowed to them, a secondary name which allowed for anonymity while learning the art form. The typical four or five letter name, regardless of

varied styles, will not allow for proficiency with the entire alphabet. Prolific Graffiti writers will often adopt secondary and/or tertiary names with different letters from their original tag. The name Mejor was assembled by creating a list of desired letters then arranging them to fashion a writing name not used previously in the Graffiti world. Originality comes first and foremost. Thus far, only capital letters are used, so the true name would be MEJOR. The beginning and ending letters, for my purposes, always need a direct, long extension to the outer-most baseline, which the M and R accomplish perfectly. This allows for simple kicks, arrows, sword, chains, and other embellishments without much thought.

 

The Avanyu petroglyph character, symbol of life and water, was a common theme in my early teenage artwork. My mother was an anthropologist and I was fascinated with New Mexico’s earliest cultures. In 1986, I carved an atl-atl from a single piece of wood and incised an Avanyu into the handle. A typical weekend was scouring the mesa or llano for Clovis or Folsom spear points and 

photographing Indigenous rock art. Combining Pueblo style pottery designs to form a Graffiti alphabet came in a semi-conscious state waiting for the morning alarm to ring. I always held in high regard the few elongated animal Graffiti pieces I had seen over the years, namely a Quetzalcoatl by Leo in the Street Art book, an unfinished snake by Jolt here in Albuquerque, and the Tattoo Dragons series on the early 90’s German subway system found in Tuff Stuff Magazine.