Eric aka Deal @149st

ERIC aka DEAL

Aliases: DEAL, ERIC 700 Started:1975 Primary affiliations: CIA Local origin: NYC
Lines hit: Js, LLs, Ms, Fs, 5s,2s

DEAL, of Manhattan, started tagging the streets of lower Manhattan in 1975. IN 1976 he was hitting subway stations. In 1978 he teamed up with BLONDIE 1 hitting the E and F lines. Later he would hit lay-ups like The Bowery with LEC 1 where they met UN ONE, NA, NIF 1 and NO 2 of the Crazy Writers crew. DEAL wrote CW for a short period, then later in 1978 he met DONDI CIA at the Double L Yard. They became friends. DEAL took full advantage of the mentoring system DONDI set for the CIA crew. DEAL sketched outlines and DONDI refined them and gave him new ones. DEAL also functioned as the unofficial CIA crew photographer. He photographed countless CIA paintings fresh on the tracks. He painted with CIA, and later in mid 1980 quit writing.

Though 1980 marked an end to his painting career, DEAL maintained remained passionate about the art form. He continued to photograph graffiti on the streets and subways of New york. In 1998 DEAL collaborated with SPAR ONE to found @149st New York City Cyber Bench (www.at149st.com), the first web site dedicated exclusively to the history of New York City subway graffiti. In 2009 he wrote the book Graffiti New York-- an observation of the art form across four decades.