#sabekst

Program: Ace AIR Location: Ace Hotel New York Date of Stay: 12.04.16 Artist: Sabekst

Using one of our showers as-studio, Sabekst lined the walls in plastic and embarked on an expressive, drippy journey into language. The works are of good size, so what you see here are select crops from a set of one dozen works.

The full list of phrases is:

Remember Become, General Sequence, Force of Absence, Delightful Disasters, First to Last, Perfect Nonense, Memory Cycles, Todays Tomorrow, Tomorrow Yesterday, Promised Instant, Sequence Generals and Become Remember

Sabekst was raised in New York City where he is also currently based. Whether his works are chemically processed or mechanically made, he considers them to be an exploration of probability, not abstraction. Thermodynamic art, a process he discovered by accident, involves freezing ink with gas, diluting it and then heating it to create an image. The end result is always random and arbitrary, resembling galactic scatter plots. The work is interdisciplinary fusing art and physics.

Animal: High Powered Graffiti Tags Unleashed In ‘Anime Blackbook’

Name In Lights

The day went well: a fifty carton cigarette heist.  Once I relinquish myself of said loot I will have made a decent profit.  One may ask what determines a decent profit when all finances amassed from stolen goods is considered net income.  Well, my friends, one may say it's a win-win situation because I paid nothing and gained a lot but I must tell you that I did pay a price - I gambled my freedom.  I gambled my freedom, my serene state of mind, my sanity, and last but not least, my nerves.  These few things are priceless so it doesn't matter if I netted five thousand or five hundred dollars none of it is worth being incarcerated, mentally unstable, insane, and last but not least, a nervous wreck.

Later in the day, a hair sliver before dawn, I sat down to listen to a story told by my good friend Kaze War.

"I reached home after a long day.  The KST kid hit me on the text and said he finally bought his bicycle so he wanted to know if I'd be down to ride across the bridge and go bombing.  I was down but I wanted to wait a bit until after midnight when it would be a little sweeter as far as police presence is concerned.  A moment later, while I was still in my boxers tending to a few things, I get a text.

"I'm outside."

"Shit, I wanted to take a power nap to recharge before going out but fuck it - I gathered up around fifteen cans, downed a quick cup of Bustelo and headed out the door.  

"We reached the bridge in no time.  Sabe is a beast on the bike.  He's ahead of me, chopping the air as he glides, ascending effortlessly across the bridge.  I pace myself to the apex of the bridge when I realize not only that the rest of the bridge is blanketed in darkness but so is the island of Manhattan for as wide as my view allows.  I stopped in awe as bikers passed me, the glare of their flashlights like a diamond in a sea of coal.  I marveled at the glorious view of blacked-out buildings. The rows upon incongruent rows of them looked like ebony building blocks laid upon a black carpet.  

"I descended with caution.  Sabe was nowhere in sight. My attention remained on the path as my descent into darkness quickened.  As I sped I exclaimed a "Yo" every couple of feet just to alert any oncoming travelers of a cyclist barreling towards them.  I emerged into Chinatown like a baby emerging from the womb of his mother into lightless world but not even an umbilical cord would've been able to hold me back from exploring this abandoned paradise.  I dipped behind Sabe and made a left turn onto a street that was completely dark and deserted expect for a lone oriental man speaking mandarin very loud into a cell phone.  

"We proceeded.  Sabe brought a flashlight.  He suggested I bring one but I didn't own any except for my bike headlight which couldn't be attached due to me breaking a piece of the holster.  He shined the light at the walls.  It was needed, those streets were so dark I couldn't see what was on the gates.  Northbound we went.  I caught a few tags here and there but much less than I would've normally.  As we headed uptown the police eyed us.  Some squad cars passed with normalcy and others suspiciously.  They probably wondered what we were up to, two men dressed in black, but they had more pressing matters at hand.  

"As we approached the Bowery we both noticed the famed Bowery wall at the same time.  We confirmed the sight: the wall was completely clean.  A pristine white surface greeted us and we met it with a divine gloss black.  Tag after identical tag we ragged the wall as , one by one, we looked out for one another.  The job of sentry was difficult in the dark due to the lack of traffic lights but it helped that all of the emergency vehicles were required to have their flashing LED lights on.  I watched traffic then he switched places until the euphoria of hitting the wall overcame us and we both hit the spot simultaneously. We were done.  I went to grab my bike when I noticed Sabe adding accents to our names. Turning to my right to look out for the police I saw a squad car on the eastbound side of the street.  Just as i saw them they must've seen us but they went straight.  I'd like to think that they were about to leave us alone but contemplated it.  Who knows what went through their minds as they went east for two blocks before making a u-turn to head full speed in our direction.  We split the scene - Sabe went west and I turned the corner to go north.  The cops turned my way and were a beat behind me but on the northbound side of the street while I was on the southbound.  They didn't have me, though.  They probably didn't know if we were on bike or foot.  I cut a left, west one block then turned south at the next corner.

"Yo," I yelled.

"Yo."  That was Sabe.  We know one another well. He fled to the same block that I did.  We went back to the wall to add some finishing touches before making moves.  

"We went to Lafayette and caught wreck before scheming on a billboard located across from a fire station.  A man exited a cab in the ebony night.  He lingered upon Sabe and I as we schemed on a wall.  He suspiciously eyed us.  What the fuck is up with him?!  Sabe was correct by figuring the guy was drunk .  The poor chap couldn't find the fucking door to his residence.  He was stumbling around in the darkness looking for the door to his apartment so Sabe helped him find it.  It's crazy how the same kids would've probably robbed him had this been twenty years ago.  

"My, how times have changed..

"Heading north we had a plan.  Sabe was going to tackle a spot that he's had his eye on for quite some time.  Let's do it. 

"We were walking the bikes up Lafayette when a familiar car slowed to the speed of our walk twenty feet away from us.  The Vandal Squad.  I remembered the Taurus distinctly from a previous altercation.  That marked the second time that evening I saw them.  They shined the spotlight in our direction.  Maybe they were trying to confirm whatever fucked up, vague description the Bowery squad car sent through the airwaves.  Whatever the case we mounted the bikes and made a sharp turn.  Losing them, for the time being, we headed to the location.

"As we get there it's completely dead except for some blinking lights midway up the block.  These blinking lights later turned out to be the flashing lights of some photographers bicycles.  As they set up their equipment we set up ours.  The spot that Sabe wanted was up on the third story of an abandoned building.  It looked like a ledge but it really was a building without a facade.  He needed a boost to grab ahold of the lowest part of a fire escape on the building adjacent to the target.  Once he was up there it was so fucking dark that I didn't see him again until he dropped back to the concrete forty minutes later.  I jumped on my bike to remain mobile as I watched for police.  Adrenaline rushing I stashed my paint as I rode around the vicinity.  Since nowhere was open for me to use the bathroom my colon was about to burst with whatever I ate earlier.  The pain was imminent and unsafe for my bicycle seat to bear. I held it as much as I could before yelling up to Sabe to see if he was okay and tell him I had to take a gravely urgent shit.  

"Unable to contain my bowels I found a safe spot, pulled my pants down and took a nice, loud shit on the ground in front of a building on Bond St.  Glad that Sabe bought two bottles of water from a vendor, I used it and my t-shirt to wipe my ass then used my tank top to reinforce my underwear.  From the sound of my exploding ass I thought the shit would've been messy as hell but it wasn't.  I put my coat back on then pulled my phone out to take a picture of the regal pile of doodoo when a squad car pulled up to the corner, flashed the spotlight on me then parked.  I jumped back on the bike and went up the street to check on Sabe.  He was still up there.  The photographers gained a few people.  I was skeptical so I parked the bike and went over there to see if any cops were with them, blending in to watch us.  Halfway to them a squad car approached me slowly, turned on the spotlight and passed the building Sabe scaled cautiously.  I played it off like I was checking my phone.  They passed.  I exhaled.  My bike wasn't near - it wasn't too far away either - so I would've had to make a mad dash if they stopped me. 

"The operation continued.  I still couldn't see my companion but I heard the steady hissing of a spray can being emptied.  I waited, cruising around, circling adjacent blocks keeping my eyes peeled for patrolmen.  The squad car that rolled by me when I conveniently used the front of that building as a toilet was still posted on the next corner.  I wasn't sure whether or not they were there to watch us or just there to provide a beacon of light to that specific corner but I kept a suspicious tab on them by getting close enough to see if perhaps they were standing outside of their car watching. 

"I went back to the building.  A cab pulled up and two men jumped out.  My paranoia said they looked like police.  I listened to my paranoia.  I fled into the shadows and watched them as they stood and looked around.  Not sure if they were cops or not I took this opportunity to ride around the block.  When I returned they were gone but Sabe was still up there.  I told him that I would help him down if need be.  He responded but I didn't hear him nor see him.  My once-steel nerves were slowly turning to silly putty but I was focused on doing my job while he did his.  There was no way I would leave him and I knew that it would take a helluva lot of light in this deathly darkness for any cops to see his ass up there.  Assuming he was ready I told him that I would make sure the coast is clear for him to come down.  This took me about ten minutes.  When I finally returned I called for him but looked in the darkness and saw him just about to drop down.  The sight of him elicited a startling 'oh shit!' from me and right as i watched two men pulled up on bicycles.  Sabe jumped down, stumbling when his feet touched the ground, right before the two bikers went to the door of the building to gain entry.  

"We fled.

"Our combined adrenaline could've fueled a marathon.  His experience up there and my nerve-wracking time trying my damnedest to look out in the darkness were two outstanding feats.  We cruised.  When we reached Houston Street we came face to face with the vandal squad again.  They probably were looking for us since the Bowery wall is their primal location to catch vandals and we defiled it with such grace.  Their headlights scowled at us from their position ahead at a currently defunct traffic light.  Thinking fast I told Sabe to follow me as I turned right then faked left on Lafayette just to cut through the gas station and make a left onto Crosby St. before making a sharp left onto this little side street that's between Lafayette and Prince.  When we reached the intersection of said side street and Lafayette we simultaneously craned our necks around the corner and saw the vandal squad, facing south on a northbound street, at a standstill with their high beams on.  One thing was confirmed: they were looking for us.  We doubled back to Crosby and cut a left to see flashing lights in front of us.  They must've alerted their homies.  We backtracked to Houston and headed west as fast as we could considering how difficult it was to see a few feet ahead of us. Cutting a left on Mercer we headed south.  About two blocks ahead of us there were more cops.  One block south we dipped west then south again.  I advised Sabe to stay on the sidewalk because we were easier to spot riding in the street.  Going south another cop car cut a corner so we turned east on Grand St. and started to make moves.  There was no way we wouldn't be making it home, kid.  No surrender, baby.  Not tonight, not ever.

"We made it to the bridge moments later with our freedom intact. The next morning Sabe headed out to Houston to take photos of the Bowery wall and it was painted over by How and Nosm as they were starting their mural!  Martha Cooper was there and Sabe asked if she caught any pics of our exploits.  She didn't.  

"Fuck.