Ramm:ell:zee is a mythical persona to me personally, a legend, a pioneer that fits the cliche perfectly. Ahead of his time. I don’t feel I can properly write about the importance of this Artist in an intro to this post, and I wont do the artist that injustice. He has influenced me more than I probably even know. Only recently have I been able to hear stories firsthand, from a small group of people he allowed in his circle. A master of many mediums, Ramm:ell:zee wrote his manifesto at a very early age yet it remains relevant today as much as the day it was written. When I made the trip to the opening of Moca’s “Art in the Streets” exhibition, I had heard rumors that Ramm:ell:zee’s Tribeca studio titled “Battle Station” would be recreated. I knew Immediately this would be my only opportunity to catch a glimpse of the genius that was Ramm:ell:zee. Here are some pictures courtesy of Scott La Rockwell of the exhibit. With the release of this video I thought it would be a good time to share them with the site. I am working on some writing about Ramm:ell:zee and his influence on graffiti and his continued impact on our culture. I will share them with the site when they are finished. Until then enjoy the pictures and video, and if at all possible you need to make the trip to Los Angeles to see this once in a lifetime installation.

GF

“One of hip-hop’s most enigmatic figures, RAMMELLZEE was a graffiti writer, rapper, and sculptor. Born in Far Rockaway. Queens, RAMMELLZEE began a brief graffiti career on the A train in the mid-1970s. By the early 1980s, he was creating paintings and three-dimensional sculptures of letters, many of which were shown in galleries and museums. RAMMELLZEE viewed lettering as a form of weaponry and believed graffiti could liberate the mystical power of the alphabet, as a theory put forth in the manifestos “Ikonoklast Panzerism” and “Gothic Futurism”. A reclusive artist, RAMMELLZEE all but stopped exhibiting his work in public and spent much of the last two decade of his life in his TriBeCa loft he called the Battle Station, where he was rarely photographed without wearing one of his handmade, science fiction-style masks. He died in 2010 at the age of 49.”