Among New York City’s best graffiti artists is Toofly, a Queens, NY, native and one half of the female team behind art collective The Younity. This year, Toofly is lending her name to a great indie shopping event in Lower Manhattan.

On December 11, the Lower East Side’s The Panda NYC will host an “art & designer market” with goods from artists including Toofly and Brooklyn resident Junkprints, whose accessories are often made from recycled materials and fabric scraps. Add to that cupcakes, a DJ and tarot reading and this is the perfect alternative to the usual holiday shopping experience.

Click here for more about The Younity.

TOOFLY & WERDS Rooftop Collaboration BROOKLYN, NY

I was a resident of Queens the first time I truly appreciated graffiti art. Before that, my exposure to graffiti art was via the monetization of graffiti rendered in art toys, one of the many products sold by Kid Robot. However, my true exposure to graffiti art, in gentrified SoHo times, came via a trip on the 7 train. The subway line most only take to watch tennis or baseball actually offers an amazing journey into modern art thanks to Five Points and PS1, both in Long Island City, Queens.

But, my first look at New York native Toofly’s work and Greenpoint, Brooklyn, was during the installation of art for an annual party for The Younity, an art initiative Toofly, aka Maria Castillo, created with another native New Yorker, Alice Mizrachi. Aimed at encouraging young women to create and giving them an outlet and access potential mentors, The Younity is a growing organization. Among the stars in the making present at the last The Younity event was Chanel Kennebrew, the maker of Junkprints, a collection of accessories made from scrap materials. Toofly recently announced new work on public edifices, among them, the above photos of Brooklyn rooftops. One weekend, trade your museum donation for a subway ride and check out her work in Queens and Brooklyn.

Our favorite female graffiti artist is the latest talent to score a deal with KidRobot. If you aren’t already a fan of KidRobot, the art-cum-toy company that has adults collecting tiny figurines, you better get your AS* down to SoHo. Queens native TOOFLY is one of 18 female artists that designed for the Dunny series. This series, an estrogen-only affair dubbed Dunny Fatale, offers a variety of different 3-inch Dunny figures, each packaged with a trading card and some with accessories.

Of course we are partial to TOOFLY’s Dunny, which features her signature design, but there are many other great artists in the group. Featured artists include: Alex Anderson, Catalina Estrada, Klor, CW, Aiko, Kathie Olivas, Wendi Koontz, Koralie, The Baroness, Anna Chambers, Amanda Visell, Amy Ruppel, Julie West, TOOFLY, Junko Mizuno, Aya Kakeda, Tara McPherson, and Sara Varon.

Available in late January, these are only $7.95 and will surely be collectibles. Check out kidrobot.com for more details. Plus, for more art from Toofly, check out the collective she started with fellow Queens native and artist, Alice Mizrachi, The Younity.

Many artists were “green” before they realized what green meant simply because canvases cost money many don’t have. Those artists that have long struggled to make ends meet were automatically green because when there was no money for new canvases, they turned to wood, cardboard and walls. The green classification is just a label for a characteristic of progressive culture that always existed, from art on skateboards to composting for free soil. But, in its modern, labeled state, its use is meant to help the average individual internalize the greening of every day life and to then apply those practices to their own existence. In art, we have the all female art collective The Younity to explain this to us.

The Younity is the brainchild of two native New Yorkers and artists, Alice Mizrachi and Toofly. While Toofly remains consistent, with roots in street art, now often transformed for products via licensing deals, Mizrachi’s work also shows a unique voice, and traces of influences that include Frida Kahlo, Picasso and, as evident in some sketches, Jean-Michel Basquiat. As her work progresses, her paintings and sketches tell a story of American culture and the struggles of minority groups, be they blacks or women.

All of this is why The Younity results in group shows that are both poetic and political. They make you grateful, happy and sad, because the vision of great work reminds us that the desired middle ground success state is nearly impossible to maintain, for any artist or performer. How does one achieve a state where they have the disposable income, time and freedom to pursue the projects they wish to, without escalating to the point where too much attention pushes them to star-factor level? How do they gain recognition but avoid rising to the level where too much fame turns their work into a manifestation of their celebrity, or just another product?

The Younity is a group working to ensure that women artists will have their day and their voices will continue to be heard. Projects like this ensure their visions will remain honest and organic. Among the collection of work being exhibited at 107 Suffolk in the Lower East Side, through Oct. 24, we connected with many pieces, which run the gamut from painted decks to portraits on recycled wood to handmade bags made from tossed fabric scraps. This is the new-old eco rendering, where art and product meet in an attempt to consume less, buy less, waste less and yet create more.

One young artist we think has a bright future across many artistic genres is Chanel Kennebrew. For this show, she exhibited two handmade duffles  compiled from fabric scraps. But, she also makes clothing and hot necklaces cut from old records.

Marthalicia Matarrita’s Environmental Escape. Is this the future?

Niz has been reusing for years, tapping old skateboard decks instead of walls or canvases for her artwork.

Kerri O’Connell’s work is a study in woodwork and modern street-inspired jewelry.

While few use VHS tapes for entertainment, some are using them as a surface to paint on.

What is a journey, a wonderland to you?

Wooden boxes + paint + leather = wearable art

goddess-cum-street queen

Mother Earth, au natural…

The Dirt:

Jewelry designer Tarina Tarantino has tapped a KidRobot Dunny art toy made by Queens, New York-native Toofly as a pendent for her necklace. While the exposure is great, apparently Toofly, an established graffiti artist, was not contacted to get permission. Still, we love the mix of both artists’ work used to create Lucite necklaces. If you were ever a fan Hello Kitty, colorful high-tops, Manic Panic or graphic novels, this might be for. But, don’t forget to check out Toofly’s own work and that of the members of The Younity, an art cooperative she started with fellow native New Yorker and artist, Alice Mizrahi

Where:
For more information on Toofly’s art and licensed products , visit Toofly’s website. For more information on Tarina Tarantino’s jewelry , visit the Tarina Tarantino website. For more information on The Younity, a women’s art cooperative, , visit The Younity website. To view all of KidRobot’s Dunny collections, , visit the KidRobot website. To read Andrea Toochin’s article about another artist commissioned by Kidrobot, Dalek, , click here.

The Dirt:
You might see the two pit bulls roaming the boutique of the surf-meets-street Greenpoint boutique Alphabeta and assume the folks that hang out are unapproachable. Walk through the back door to the enclosed event space and the outdoor area and you’ll find the dogs are right there with you, keeping everyone company. The painters are part of an art cooperative business of sorts called The Younity that was founded by Maria Castillo, AKA Toofly, and Alice Mizrachi. They are proof of the evolution of graffiti art and its offspring, namely one-dimensional installations, stencils and street art and their influence on fashion and jewelry design. Today, these particular graffiti artists are the roots of the female art consortium that is a grassroots initiative empowering female artists. From the outside, the sneaker-clad graffiti artists might appear fierce, but a look beyond their style shows they are merely rough around the edges, ensuring that outsiders understand their mission. Spray paint cans in hand, M.I.A. and Outkast’s Jazzy Belle blare as the sun shines on this nook of Brooklyn, just another work in progress. The end result will be a visualization of their souls and the world as they see it, in the form of painted outdoor walls to accompany the indoor group exhibition. To some it is street art and objects of desire; to others, a country in need of a revolution; and to all, a gender in need of raising up.

The artist’s struggle is well known in New York City, but the electronic age has pushed that struggle to the outer boroughs. Now that the days of Jean-Michel Basquiat spray painting lower Manhattan are long gone, replaced by shiny museums and boutiques, the artists have made their way to the few neighborhoods they can afford to live and work in, such as Brooklyn’s Bushwick, Greenpoint and Bedford-Stuyvesant; Sunnyside, Queens; and recently, in parts of the Bronx near Grand Concourse. The result is the creation of a hodge podge of characters coexisting in enclaves formerly inhabited by one or two ethnic groups, from the Polish in Greenpoint to the Puerto Ricans in the Bronx and the Caribbean natives in Bed-Stuy. The greater impact is the realization that what was once counter culture is now mainstream, with graffiti artists gaining licensing deals from brand names attempting to lure the new youth and their allowance.

That is not what The Younity is about. The for-profit artist collective started by Toofly and Mizrachi is about empowering women through art, and as Mizrachi explains, “it provides a platform.” These artists are just one group in the subculture that struggles to gain recognition without losing their voice, in a world dominated by consumerism and driven by technology and the jetsetera. But, what they share with all Americans is the aim to live by doing what they love and achieve the goal of getting outsiders to judge them for their work, not their appearance. For these women, it’s not about finding that perfect place between the unknown and the mainstream recognition; it’s about getting a message to other women and girls looking for an outlet where their art is welcome. According to Toofly, it’s about being “approachable as artists and to make ourselves available.” The canvas, be it a wall, a piece of metal or a skateboard, is just a material where they paint their dreams and thoughts.

Ironically, the hipsters of New York City, with their ubiquitous indie rock bands, skinny jeans, reincarnated 80s fashion styles, fags and coffee diet, and overpriced accessories, show us that the appetite for something meaningful and an audience all our own is a bonding factor—that and our vices. If alcohol was both the muse and sustenance for artists of the 50s; love and drugs for the 60s and 70s; graffiti, hip-hop and hard core drugs for the 80s; and the beginning of excess for the 90s, then the millennium feeds off the merging of opposites. This is seen in suits supporting artists, hipsters buying new condos, the cool struggle, fashionable chipped nails and finally, the art world’s appreciation for graffiti and its commercial byproducts: clothing and collectible adult toy trinkets.

This is just another reason we are impressed by Younity. Toofly and Mizrachi are the organizers and curators of the annual show and the first book (2008) showcasing the work of 60 artists. Structured as a book of perforated postcards with the artist’s name and title on the back, we suggest leaving the book intact. Years down the road when these women have created a conglomerate, an art-focused version of Marc Ecko’s empire, you’ll have a trinket of their mid-career work and the vision to appreciate their mission.

Bonus:
The group plans to create a nonprofit with a focus on youth programs, and to expand its partnerships, which include Black Girls Rule.

Where:
For more information on Younity, visit The Younity website. The book had a run of 200 but depending on opening night (10/17/08) sales, they might reprint. The $19.50 book will split its profits, with 70% going to the artists, and 15% each going to the gallery and the organization.