Atomik

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Atomik Artist Statement 

Painting at Miami Marine Stadium 

The first time I came to the Marine Stadium to paint was in 1997. I was brought there by my friend, TVEE, who really was one of the early painters at the Stadium. According to him, he would hang out at the Stadium in 1996-1997. He started going there just drinking beer, watching sunsets, etc. He was a surfer, and he just came across the place while surfing on Virginia Key. 

At that time, the walls were bare of graffiti, except for a couple of random skater tags on the roof.  The first thing he did was paint a series of big army tanks on the roof. He painted one tank, and he got a good response from friends so he went back and painted all of them. It may have taken him a month to paint them. 

Eventually, they got covered over by a crew of street artists-DAMCREW-they painted their name in big letters some time in 1998-1999.

TVEE also painted a piece below sea level. When you walk into the Stadium, you can go to a lower level by the water. TVEE painted his name in large letters and he used silver paint. When the water rose during high tide, it began to eat away at the silver paint which made a very cool, new color. The letters of his name included boats, clouds, etc. 

I go there to paint now and it is really interesting. You never know who will come around the corner-law enforcement, a fashion shoot, a rival crew. Now, I just like going over there, hanging out, watching the water and painting a little bit. I paint in other areas of Miami but it’s usually on a freeway, a train track or a roof top. In the Stadium, you are really near the water. Painting on the rooftop is great because you get a really nice view of Miami, Brickell, and the Beach. The only place I can think of that is similar is the Los Angeles River before they stopped it-the slant of the roof was very similar to the slant of the walls by the LA River.