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MICHAEL MCLEER, also known as Kaves, is an artist. It would be easy to call him a graffiti artist but that is linguistically a narrow definition for what Kaves does, because yes he spraypaints, but he also paints, tattoos, performs hip hop (as a member of Lordz of Brooklyn) and even acts and directs. But Kaves, in his own mind would be comfortable with the label "graffiti artist" because everything he does whether it involves a spray can or not encompasses graffiti. For Kaves, graffiti is a state of mind that is not bound by a single medium, but represents a devotion to self expression, to folklore and making a mark on the world. How did you define success coming up as a young graffiti artist? Did you ever envision any kind of future in the art world? How I define success is doing something you love. So I guess since I was a little kid, as far back as I can remember, I was always content with a pad and a pen in some corner, some room, drawing whatever came to my imagination. I always felt like it was my thing, something I can actually get lost in and something you're born with, so it just came really naturally to me. I came from very humble beginnings so it has definitely shaped who I was and how I could kind of break out of my shell and get attention by drawing and creating. And it just so happens I lived on a block where graffiti was on fire in the early 80's in New York City. A group of kids who lived on the same block, saw me drawing in the street with chalk and knew I had talent so I got knighted into a graffiti crew and got my name Kaves, handed down to me from an older graffiti writer. So I found my calling, but in my neighborhood there weren't a lot of creative outlets. Of course there were sports, and either you were a cop or a gangster in my part of Brooklyn but there weren't a lot of creative outlets for art, so graffiti was something that, you know, you can grab a can of spray paint and make a mark, maybe on the world. How old were you when you first started tagging? Ten years old. We were 10, 11, 12 year olds running around the city like Tom Sawyer. It's crazy to see that, to imagine that cause my kids themselves, I wouldn't let them off the block, so it's amazing that that's what it was. Our communication and networking, our social media, social networking, and Internet were the subway lines, and subway tunnels. The subway tunnels became our summer camp. At this time were you also doing stuff on canvas? No, the canvas came out of necessity after. I made a name for myself on the street. Writing on the trains was definitely illegal but we thought we were beautifying. If you grew up in the 70's and 80's, New York was definitely a dirtier place, dirtier time, because the city was broke so we were trying to do something, trying to communicate with each other, trying to brighten up drab surroundings. So I came from that and the canvas and that type of thing came later on, as graffiti started becoming more accepted there started to be a demand for that, but I kept it V U E N J . C O M 67

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