Jason REVOK

A conversation between Jason Revok and Mike Giant. Recorded live on Saturday May 9, 2026 at The Contemporary Dayton in Dayton, Ohio (the second museum talk during his exhibition at the museum). The museum director, Heather Jones, is speaking at the beginning and a Q&A with the audience at the end. Topics discussed include:

The Tower Records magazine rack, WCA/AWR crew, K2S, STN, TCF, Mystik, AM7, Krenz billboards, Riverside, getting kicked out of his home at 15 in 1992 for writing graffiti, moving to Nashville in 1994, tag banging, Tacks AM7, Beno MSG, LA, Atlanta, moving to San Francisco in 1997, buffing walls to start, Dubose Tunnel, racking, messenger bags, Amaze basket racking, public perception changes, pressure from law enforcement, doing graffiti in public, California 3-Strikes Law, raids/financial pressure, Site, Gkae, KUK crew, Kamala Harris/RICO case, bike messengers, Abhor, Sleazer, punk rock graffiti, Dystopia, Fate AWR, getting doored, the AWR Invasion of the Bay, Bles, Gone, Fable, Lone, Kept beef/race, “legal eagle”, legendary diss, climbing to avoid the buff, Oiler, Ayer LTS, falling from freeway spots, obsessive/compulsive, Tie, broken legs, Tie’s murder, Felon, Wane, T-Kid, painting NY subway trains, Ket, international legal pressure, learning how to survive as a freelance artist, Primary Projects, scavenging materials from the streets, cut wood assemblies, Nekst, renting a loft in Detroit, attending a show in disguise, broken water pipes, removing ego from artworks, “the instrument” devices, making your own tools, Twist’s racking jacket, On The Go magazine, H&M lawsuit, donations to Detroit non-profits, MOCA Los Angeles disguise, Art in the Streets/Roger Gastman, drawing in black books, Saber convinces Revok to freestyle his pieces (1996), gestural sketching, unfinished pieces, ephemeral nature of graffiti, removing his hand from his work, simple movements/marks, crossing out enemies, Anti-Trump posters, graffiti removal, redacted documents, political commentary, social media bans, ownership of illegally produced works, Banksy, Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Twist.