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A graffiti mural by MFONE along the Eliza Furnace Trail (Three Rivers Heritage Trail) stating that "MF STANDS FOR MAD FRESH".

MFONE is the nom de plume of Daniel Montano, an artist and graffiti artist and who was active in Pittsburgh in the mid and late 2000s. At the peak of his tagging activity, he was considered to be "the most notorious tagger in [Pittsburgh] history."[1] According to police, he is the most prolific graffiti writer in the city's history.[2] He replaced Mook in local graffiti folklore.[3] His graffiti activities are alleged to have caused up to $713,801 in damage.[2]

A member of the Pittsburgh Police's Graffiti Task Force said "Montano has real talent; he's an artist. These other guys are copycats. But they're all vandals."[1] MFONE's artistry was so well-respected that subsequent taggers have been referred to in the media as "no Daniel Montano."[1]

Personal life

His father is an engineer who emigrated from Colombia and his mother is a nurse.[2] He attended the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, graduating from Peabody High School.[2] Following graduation, he studied at Art Institute of San Francisco.[2]

In August 2005, Montaro was caught in East Liberty.[4] During his subsequent 2006 preliminary hearing, Judge John A. Zottola felt that Montaro had showed a general attitude of disrespect, and sent him to Allegheny County Jail for 5 days before resuming proceedings.[4] After entering a general guilty plea for three graffiti sites, Montaro received no probation and was ordered to pay restitution of $1,001 (in addition to the 5 days previously spent in jail).[4] The sentence was denounced as too lenient by local community leaders who lived in areas targeted by his graffiti, including Schenley Farms Neighborhood Block Watch network and Lawrenceville United."[4]

Subsequent arrests and Mattress Factory installation

On March 17, 2007, he was arrested after an intensive police investigation, totaling over 100 police hours, that had been possible only because of changes in police tactics that included extensive tracking of graffiti in a police database.[5] At the time, it was described as the "largest graffiti bust in U.S. history," with the damages then-calculated as $560,764.50[5]

In spite of the opinion of among property owners and community groups, Montaro was developing "nascent esteem in the art world."[2] In 2007, he was commissioned to produce installation art at the Mattress Factory, a contemporary art museum in Pittsburgh.[2] His work, guest-curated by assistant curator of contemporary art at the Carnegie Museum of Art, was "a boy's room with a twin bed, a dresser, shelves and a traffic light.[4] On the wall, mixed-media collages and scrawled messages form a continuous row.[4] He brought the furniture from home and slept in his exhibit for the better part of two weeks while installing it"; the book Goodnight Moon was placed on the dresser.[2] During the construction of the work, he slept on the bed "making himself as much a part of the show as his personal effects."[3] In spite of objections to his appearance at the museum as the result of his graffiti, the facility supported Daniel Montaro, with the curator saying "It's hard to see the artistic value in something that you have to have removed...That's a natural conflict. But at the Mattress Factory, we're just about the art. Everyone who comes here comes here because we find their work interesting. If the only stuff he did was on the street, he wouldn't be in the Mattress Factory."[2]

On January 17, 2008, two days before the work's opening, he turned himself in to police after being charged with more counts of criminal mischief related to graffiti.[2] He was sentenced to 2 1/2 to 5 years in prison, probation, community service, and a restitution of $232,000.[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to MFONE.
  1. ^ a b c Ove, Torsten (August 28, 2007). "City police say 15-year-old confessed to graffiti vandalism". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Jones, Diana Nelson (January 27, 2008). "The writing on the wall - With an art exhibition behind him and a trial in front of him, it's still not clear where 22-year-old Danny Montano belongs". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Norman, Tony (January 29, 2008). "Daniel Montano, artist on the run". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Jones, Diana Nelson (August 2, 2006). "Graffiti vandal gets slap on wrist". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Ayad, Moustafa (April 14, 2007). "Skill with a spray can became his calling card". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
  6. ^ Carroll, Lindsay (June 25, 2010). "NYC man pleads guilty to vandalism for graffiti". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 22, 2013. Mr. Montano, who used the tag "MFONE," was sentenced in 2008 to 21/2 to five years in prison as well as probation, community service and a restitution of $232,000.
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