Cope2

Cope2 in front of Time Magazine billboard. Manhattan, New York.

Fernando Carlo (also known as Cope2) is a artist from the kingsbridge section of the Bronx, New York. He has been a graffiti artist since 1978-79, and has gained international credit for his work. Though he is now known worldwide as being a general founder of graffiti, he didn't receive recognition in the mainstream graffiti world until the mid-1990s Cope2's cousin "Chico 80" influenced Cope into writing. In 1982 he made his own crew called Kids Destroy and eventually it changed to Kings Destroy after he dubbed himself "King of the 4 Line". Cope2 is well-known for his "throw-up" and is also one of the most known users of "wildstyle" graffiti, a style which originated in the Bronx.

Projects

Cope2 has achieved considerable mainstream success for his artwork and has collaborated and released many projects alongside such names as Adidas and Time Magazine.^{[citation needed]}

Some of Cope2's initial commercial artwork has been sold on the Christie's auction block for $1,000(USD) per paintingworld . Early work includes cover art for a Boogie Down Productions album titled "Sex and Violence."

In 2002 Cope2 provided artwork for Adam Bhala Lough's Bomb the System, including the infamous piece on the Brooklyn Bridge. He can be seen on the DVD's behind the scene footage painting one of the pieces at the end of the film.

In 2003 Cope2's book entitled "Cope2: True Legend" was published by Righters.com.

In 2005, Cope2 collaborated with and designed a pair of sneakers for Converse under the "Chuck Taylor All-Stars" line.

Also in 2005, Time Magazine commissioned Cope2, for $20,000(USD), to paint a billboard ad in the SoHo district of Manhattan, New York on Houston and Wooster. The ad depicts the magazines cover with graffiti tags scrawled over it, the text reads "Post-Modernism? Neo-Expressionism? Time. Know Why"

Cope2 designed Converse shoes.

In 2006 Cope2 appeared in Marc Ecko's video game, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure. He features as one of the "graffiti legends" who gives the protaginist advice on the graffiti world. His "throw-up" is also widely recognisable throughout the game. Cope2's "throw-up" has also had appearances in other media productions. It has appeared on walls in the videogame GTA IV and in the movie "Shrek The Third" amongst others.

In 2008 Cope2 collaborated with Adidas and Footlocker to release a collection of clothes and accecsories in Europe. The collection included Baseball Caps, Jackets, T-Shirts, Belts and Sneakers.

In 2010 Cope2 appeared in an episode of LA Ink

Controversy

Before the release of the game, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Cope2 called a local Councilman, Peter Vallone Jr., to complain about the shutting down of a 2005 publicity event for the title. The event, coordinated by Mark Ecko, called for the spray painting of vintage train cars during a block party celebrating Graffiti and Hip Hop culture. Vallone is noted as saying he was responsible for having the permit pulled for the event. The event permit was later reissued as Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Federal District Court in Manhattan over turned the previous ruling on grounds of freedom of speech.

Vallone is also quoted as calling Cope2 a "punk. It is said this confrontation by Vallone was sparked due to the interest of Time Magazine in the artist.

It has been said that Cope2 has been one of the main targets of the New York City Vandal Squad due to his high profile status in the graffiti world, however he openly brags to the police and others about his exploits and those of real Grafitti Artists.

Carlo was arrested as recently as September 2010 for allegedly painting subway cars in a tunnel in uptown Manhattan a year earlier. He was charged with two counts of felony mischief and one misdemeanor graffiti charge. The arrest took over a year as he was abroad.

References

Cope2 is currently going to court for 2 cases regarding painting graffiti on 2 NYC trains without permission. According to the NY Daily News Fernando Carlo (Cope2) was arrested shortly after where he confessed to these crimes:

Several months later fellow graffiti artists that go by the names ETHER and UTAH published an article online explaining their relationship with Fernando Carlo, and how they believe him to be a police informant. In this case, the authors of this article had photographed and scanned actual court documents regarding things they were charged with, also revealing Fernando's name and phone number as one of the things used against them in court.

this article wielded several hundred responses of similar stories regarding Fernando Carlo being a possible police informant, and giving up other peoples information to detectives.

Considering Fernando's long standing criminal history, he was released on ROR, and his court case remains open. Today Fernando still makes a living doing graffiti related art, and is allowed to travel the world freely to continue doing his artwork regardless of his multiple open court cases.

Cope 2 has always been known to have been an informant - if the Graffiti world, in particular the Bronx. Many writers avoid Cope 2 completely, not only due to the fact that he is a known snitch, but because he has never had any artistic ability.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-10-02/news/27076956_1_graffiti-artist-trains-subway-car http://www.utahether.com/2011/02/09/paperwork-wednesday-week-1/ http://animalnewyork.com/2011/01/graffitis-bonny-and-clyde-merge-sites%E2%80%A6-aww/

External links

• [vkontakte.ru/copetwo] Cope2 Official page in russian "vkontakte.ru"
• [1] Interview at britishhiphop.co.uk, June 2008
• [2] Cope2 Official Website
• [3] Curbs and Stoops Interactive Gallery: Cope2
• Liquidteks Magazine Interview with Cope2