Back in the Day - Ares SK8 CBS

This piece was painted shortly after SK8's passing around 1993-1994. This was painted by Ares CBS who is also the guitar player of the band downset.


Ares SK8 (RIP) CBS

Mear's conart piece was also on this wall.


This is how the same wall looks today - SK8 CBS

Related:
Reminiscing SK8 RIP P1
Reminiscing SK8 RIP P2
SK8 Memorial Plaque at Wattles Garden Park

Mear Before and After

These are two amazing pieces done by Mear. I think the frist one was done sometime in 2007. This is located in a Melrose Alley close to Farfax in Los Angeles.

Mear


Mear Close Up


Mear Close Up


Mear Close Up


Mear


Mear

The wall was falling apart. Mear painted over the original mural. This was done in April of 2008.

Mear Dalai Lama


Dedicated to the Legends Sk8 One and Rob One CBS Crew


Mear Dalai Lama




Peace in Tibet - Earth People


Mear1


Mear Dalai Lama - another angle

Video showing Mear paint the Dalai Lama mural
At 45 seconds in you see him switch hands painting. Amazing!

SK8 One Memorial Plaque at Wattles Garden Park

We went hiking in the lesser known Wattles Garden Park. The park is really close to the very popular Runyon Canyon dog park in Hollywood.



We actually hiked all the way to the top of the mountain which connected to Runyon Canyon.


During the hike we found a memorial to the late SK8 one.


I do remember being in the park once about 15 years ago and seeing a SK8 and Blosom tag on one of the trash cans.




A little further in the park there was a CBS piece done by Axis and Anger.

Reminiscing SK8 One RIP Part 2

See Part 1 of Reminiscing SK8 One RIP

SK8 has passed 15 years ago but his legend is strong as ever. Most of these memorial paintings were done shortly after his passing. These graffiti paintings are by Mear, Anger, Simple, Tren and Rate. I am sorry, but I am not sure who painted the first piece.
Update: Steve Grody, author of Graffiti L.A.assisted with identifying some of these pictures. The letters in the first piece were done by Anger. Also, the train piece (#4) has characters done by Xpres and Mear. Mear also painted the train. Simple painted the piece to the left of the train.

Reminiscing SK8 One RIP

March 1, 2008 Update: New graffiti photos in part 2

I recently stumbled upon SK8's Rest in Peace MySpace page. It brought back memories of SK8. I never had the pleasure of speaking with him, but I did see him in person a few times.

I was at the Beverly Center on the 8th floor the first time I saw SK8. I must have been 12 or 13 years old most likely in 1990 or 1991. I don't want to sound like a total wimp but his mere presence made me shake. I was so in shock that I did not want to make any sudden moves to be sure that he would not focus his attention towards me.

I did see him another time in front of the Beverly Center again. He was mad at some guy. SK8 slapped the guy which caused him to fly what looked like 5 to 6 feet. SK8 was a person no one would want to have beef with. When I was at an early Downset concert, SK8 got into an altercation with a guy and the guy came away with a bloody face.

I still remember when I heard about the tragic incident. I was at the Hip Hop shop on Melrose and someone delivered the terrible news. He was painting some trains at the Budweiser train yard. A group that he went with was leaving the yard. He decided to go back and finish painting one of the trains and he was stuck by a train.

I was saddened to hear about his passing. He was an inspiration to me and a person that I very much feared and admired. I used to see his SK8 CBS, LOD tags all over Los Angeles.

Enjoy the picture below that I dug out of my archives of the memorial that was done at the old 01 Gallery location wall at Melrose Blvd in Los Angeles. I believe that this was Mear's amazing work. It has been 15 years since his passing and the graffiti community around the world still remembers his tremendous impact.

SK8, Rest in Peace. Your memory will never be forgotten.