Letter to the Underground, First Draft
Project Row Houses x GONZO247
The ‘90s graffiti scene communicated via handwritten letters and zines to see what was happening in other cities. Walk through history as GONZO247 opens his underground post box to share giant-scale, hand-painted replicas of artist letters and other works from the archive of his graffiti video magazine, Aerosol Warfare.
As seen at Project Row Houses, March 2025
In the early 1990s, writing letters to each other was still the most common way to communicate with people over long distances. During that time, I created a graffiti video magazine called “Aerosol Warfare” and sold them through the mail.
I used a private mailbox service since we were involved in illegal graffiti then. At the time, my graffiti crew was called U.P.C., Underground Productions Crew, so I opened an account as “Da Undaground.” This post box became my window to the world, and I eventually built a network of pen pals from all across the United States and beyond.
We exchanged letters that included stickers and photos of the local graffiti scene, allowing us to see what was happening in other cities. However, with the rise of the internet, the art of letter writing has diminished.
I’ve pulled together an initial selection of handwritten letters sent to me in the 1990s and recreated giant-sized hand-painted replicas of them, complete with the envelopes they traveled in and other typical goodies. The large format symbolizes these correspondences’ importance and impact on my future.
Additionally, in 1990, when I decided to start introducing and educating others on graffiti and street art culture in Houston, I created a necklace made from used and clogged spray can nozzles. This necklace became a personal talisman for me, grounding and rooting me. It serves as a daily reminder of the journey I started over 35 years ago as a kid with a spray can and the dream of being an artist. Over the years, I have made many personal necklaces, calling the series “My Life Around My Neck.” I have painted a replica of the necklace on the exterior of my Row House to symbolize a walk-through history.