Interview with KEON (Ex-Vandals)

Oral history recorded for the Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project on June 1, 2022 with KEON, an early graffiti writer from Brooklyn and a member of the Ex-Vandals (among many other crews). In his oral history KEON speaks about his family background of Bronx Italians and mid-westerners, growing up in Flatbush, his early rebelliousness in school, the underground cultures of graffiti and skateboarding around his neighborhood and wider New York City, early graffiti writers who influenced him, graffiti crews he was a part of or associated with, his career as an artist working in various mediums and how graff did and did not influence his artwork, his love for ROCKY 184 (WC 188), and much more. The interviewers are Dr. Steven Payne, librarian and archivist at The Bronx County Historical Society, and Kurt Boone, prolific documentarian of urban culture for the past 40 years. The Bronx Aerosol Arts Documentary Project is a project of The Bronx County Archives at The Bronx County Historical Society Research Library. This oral history is brought to you through the contribution of Columbia University's Oral History Archives at Columbia (OHAC) and will be dual-listed in a collection there.