Chapter 41: The Seventh Letter

There’s that scene at the end of the Wizard of Oz (pause) where Toto pulls back the curtain and exposes the real person running the show. The weird thing is, if you watch that scene on Blu-ray, you can just barely see this ghostlike image of a figure way off in the distance behind another curtain operating that first guy you thought was running the show. That’s EKLIPS. Look for his name in the credits.

For those of you unfamiliar with Kelly Graval, I’ll give you a hint: if you’ve ever driven the 405, 10, 101, 605, 91, walked down Sunset Blvd, Hollywood Blvd, Fairfax, or just about any other corner of the city, you’ve seen his work. No, he doesn’t do construction or sanitation. He’s the graffiti artist widely known as RISK.

But to simply call RISK a graffiti artist is an understatement. He is the forefather of graffiti who earned his bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from the University of Southern California. He has shown in LA, New York, Tokyo, Barcelona, and South Korea. An entrepreneur, RISK launched the first graffiti-influenced clothing line, Third Rail. He has collaborated with real heavy-hitters including Keith Haring, Barry McGee, and the entire Seventh Letter crew. He’s a founding member of WCA (West Coast Artists) and MSK, and it was my pleasure to sit down with him.

Like anyone else in the crew, POSE’s position was earned through pure dedication and lessons learned in blood, sweat, and court cases. With 18 years in the game, his run has been deep, hilarious, and far less known than the shiny over-publicized jpegs you might catch on the net.

Internationally feared playboy, wasp-tongued enfant terrible of the blogosphere, champion of the arts: DJ Denzel Washington (of the Sexual Stallions DJ Crew) AKA EWOK has been all of these things. Over the past two decades the reclusive Milwaukee native has redefined the boundaries of graffiti and in the process inspired the imagination of the world.