For 40 years, the streets of the world have been covered with his name. Fernando Carlo, Jr. became enamored with tagging when he was only 10, but from the first time he wrote “Cope2” out on an MTA 4 train he was hooked for life. We spoke with the artist about his roots, the golden era of tagging trains, how he worked his way into galleries, and more shortly before his latest show, “Balancing the Elements,” opened at Inked NYC. Here’s Cope’s story, in his own words.
GROWING UP
I was about 9, 10 years old growing up in the South Bronx with my mom. We’d take the train to go visit family members, so I always saw the graffiti on the subway cars and it was explosive. Just watching the names go by, I thought it was just
