Born and raised in the streets of Washington Heights, TOTEM was no stranger to the 1 line which passed right through Broadway. Seeing all the great burners on the 1 line at that time, when graff was graff, he got interested in it real quick.
Since art ran through his blood, he got into graffiti at the age of 11, writing his name on any corner. He really got into art and graffiti once he attended Art & Design High School in 1984. Art & Design was home to a lot of famous writers, especially within TC5. During his high school years, he met a lot of people in the scene: JUICE, DOZE, SEEN, PSYCHO, POKE, and EPS. Over time, he got down with a few crews such as IBM, which came first, then TC5, FC, XMEN, and NTA.
He took a 14 year break to work and raise his son then came back to the graffiti world with a vengeance to keep the game and crew alive…And the rest is history.
Website: www.tcfive.com
Artwork by Totem will be on view March 6th through March 28th, 2010during "Revolutions".