TATS Cru: The Mural Kings

Mar 22, 2013 @ 8:00pm

With Q&A with director Mark Kotlinski and TATS Cru members BG183, Bio and Nicer
In the 70s graffiti artists would gather around DeWitt Clinton High in the Bronx which was just blocks away from the Transit Authority yard where subway cars were stored. With spray paint and felt tipped pens they would create guerilla art on the cars. The impulse to “tag” and leave one’s mark or name may arise out of a need to proclaim one’s existence and identity in an environment which doesn’t leave many possibilities for finding status or upward mobility. Also arising out of this was the tradition of memorial walls which used graffiti aesthetics. There is the historic precedent in Catholic countries of a memorial tradition.
Puerto Rico is the primary source for NYC’s variation on the memorial theme due to its large Puer- to Rican population. On the island roadside cross- es can be seen erected along the rural roads at the sites of auto accidents. The cross is a reminder to pray for the person’s soul–since that person did not receive last rites, it is believed their soul will stay longer in Purgatory before going to Heaven. The memorial walls place this tradition in an urban context and aesthetic. It was in the late 1980s that the memorial murals burst onto the scene, emerging in the same era when crack, AIDS and illegal guns were on the rise in urban communities. The murals reflected the consequences from the rising violence and drug use in the City’s neighborhoods and provide the public with a way to recognize the loss. It was also during this time that graffiti artists were driven from the subways, the original preferred sites, by city officials to the walls of buildings which became their new canvasses. Later artists turned to neighborhood businesses offering customized advertisements for a fee. TATS Cru have created hundreds of memorial walls throughout the City but also have gained international fame for their artwork and have been featured at the Smithsonian Institution’s Festival of American Folklife.
Mark Kotlinki (Director) is a co-founder of 88HIPHOP, the world’s first internet hip hop video channel that helped launch the careers of artists such as Eminem, 50 Cent, Big Pun, Nelly, Outkast and many others. Currently, he is a Producer of “Marley Marl Classic Recipes,” a web series featuring Marley Marl, one of the most respected hip-hop producers. Each episode tells the story behind one of his classic hip hop songs, while recreating the music on the latest equipment. Mark’s directorial debut documentary, TATS CRU:The Mural Kings, world premiered at
the Urbanworld Film Festival and then aired on The Documentary Channel (US), Sky Arts (UK), and SBS (Australia) television networks.