While fleeing the scene this dude drops his blackbook, a shoe, and ditches all his paint. Cops find it all. Lesson learned?

A man police believe is a graffiti artist called “Pyro” was arrested last week in West City on Franklin County Charges. Saline County charges are pending in the case.

Michael L. Williams, 20, 11 Small St., Harrisburg, was arrested 12:42 p.m. Wednesday in Harrisburg for the West City Police on a charge of criminal damage to property between $300 and $10,000. He was taken to the Franklin County Jail for booking.

West City Police believe he is responsible for painting graffiti on the rear wall of the CVS pharmacy in West City early Monday, Oct. 1. He is also believed to be responsible for several graffiti paintings earlier this summer in Harrisburg, including several “taggings” on Church Street.

West City Police Chief Steve Mumbower said the village’s overnight patrol officer interrupted the suspect early Oct. 1 in the act of completing the fourth of four drawings on the wall of the pharmacy at the Rend Lake Plaza.

The suspect, also known as the “Roof Side Writer,” fled into a nearby woods before completing the lettering.

But in his haste to escape, he left behind what Mumbower called two key pieces of evidence: a shoe and a notebook containing many incriminating drawings and a telephone number belonging to the man’s girlfriend.

Read More: Graffiti artist ‘Pyro’ held in Franklin County

Here’s a few more flicks of the latest batch of pics taken at one of the local yards by my homie TIPZ. Enjoy.

ASER – FART

ASER

ASIC

DRONE

EATS

TARS

Much, much more to come!

Recently, finally, writers are finding out exactly who JA is. Already known widely throughout the graffiti community, Jonathan Avildsen has already been “tagged” Mr. Parascandola. Better luck with “tagging” other writers next time. Nice read though, by the way.

There, at the side of the Long Island Expressway, on a retaining wall of Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, is one of the more significant graffiti tags: JA.

It’s not especially fancy or artistic, but it is a reminder that JA – Jonathan Avildsen – is still out there, leaving his mark and reaffirming his reputation as perhaps the city’s most elusive tagger.

“He’s tough,” says a police source familiar with JA. “He’s not always out there. He’s not easy to find, not easy to catch. He’s like a ghost.”

While graffiti still is scorned by public officials, it is increasingly part of the cultural mainstream, and JA, 38, remains one of the city’s most prolific taggers and possibly its most interesting case study.

If the name Jonathan Avildsen sounds somehow familiar, there’s a reason for that. JA’s father, John Avildsen, is a director who won the Oscar for “Rocky” and also directed “The Karate Kid” and “Lean on Me,” among other films.

JA himself is no stranger to Hollywood, with a handful of minor roles on television and in films, including “The Karate Kid Part III” and “Rocky V,” both directed by his dad. In “Rocky V,” JA plays a drug addict – a case, police sources say, of art imitating life, as drugs have long been JA’s problem.

That might explain why he is said to be estranged – or at least not all that close – to his father. Father and son made headlines in 1989 when JA was sued by the city for tagging subway cars and signs along the Henry Hudson Parkway.

Read More: Tagging legendary graffiti artist JA

Like my play on words? Hehe.

A slogan created by an artist who famously burned £1m has been scrubbed off the wall of a Sussex art gallery by cleaners who mistook it for graffiti.

James Cauty used white emulsion paint to scrawl “Portslade Massif” across the window and wall of the Ink-d gallery in Brighton to advertise his exhibition.

The Rize and Fall of the Portslade Massif opened there on Thursday.

Brighton and Hove City Council said the removal of the writing by its graffiti team was a “genuine mistake”.

But gallery studio director Dan Hipkin questioned the action, and said the slogan had been on private property.

He said he believed the cleaners feared the slogan – which referred to the exhibition’s theme of gang culture – would create gang warfare locally.

“Brighton and Hove City Council, like anywhere, have problems with graffiti gangs but this is private property and my problems with the cleaning crew doing this is more about freedom of expression.

“Who holds the right to say what is and isn’t a form of expression?

Read More: Art slogan mistaken for graffiti

Reminds me of that one time at band camp…

CHILDREN as young as seven are being taught graffiti vandalism techniques through a new range of toys.

Graffiti opponents have called for an Australia-wide ban on Urban Colourz, toys inspired by street graffiti, for fear they glorify a criminal act.

The State Government is investigating if sale of the toys breaches new laws that outlaw promotion of illegal street art.

The toys teach children how to create graffiti “tags” of the sort illegally scrawled on Victorian walls and buildings.

A range of products are available under the Urban Colourz brand name including:

A BATTERY-powered airbrush that sprays paint.

MULTI-coloured coloured pens shaped like spray paint cans.

BOOKS filled with graffiti tags, drawings and pictures.

STENCILS of graffiti motifs to colour in and copy.

TEMPORARY tattoos and graffiti stickers.

Residents Against Graffiti Everywhere (RAGE) president Steve Beardon says the toys glorify a crime that costs Victorian tax payers millions of dollars each year.

Read More: Outrage on graffiti toys
You can check out the toys they are arguing about here: Urban Colourz

THE NEWS HAS BROKE!!!

A graffiti vandal, making the second stop on what his lawyer called a “triborough tour” of the city’s courts, was conditionally discharged Thursday and was ordered to pay $5,000.

Alain Mariduena pleaded guilty in Manhattan in August to one count of third-degree criminal mischief for writing graffiti, much of it on subway cars, with his tag, KET. Conditional discharge means he must avoid future criminal conduct and pay his fine; the sentence differs from probation because it’s not court supervised.

According to his lawyer, Ronald Kuby, Mariduena’s tag has become known around the world.

Kuby said his client would be sentenced Friday for graffiti crimes in Brooklyn. In that case he is to be spared jail, fined $3,000 and ordered to paint a mural.

Last month, Mariduena, 36, was sentenced in Queens to probation and ordered to pay $1,274 in restitution and a $3,000 fine for graffiti offenses, Kuby said.

Mariduena, who lives in the Inwood section of Manhattan, said on his Web site that he pleaded guilty in all three cases to avoid prison. Kuby said Mariduena has retired from illegal graffiti.

Read More: New York graffiti vandal KET is fined $5,000
More: In Plea Deal, Artist Admits to Subway Graffiti in 3 Boroughs

SABER (Saber One; MSK – AWR – The Seventh Letter) has released his new book titled “SABER – Mad Society”. I just received a copy straight from the origin SaberOne.com, signed, sealed, and delivered. If you’re interested in Saber as an artist, graffiti mogul, or simply as a person his book delivers on all fronts!

168 pages, softcover- Los Angeles based graffiti legend SABER, is world renowned for his “Los Angeles River” piece (1997), the largest in the world. His piece on the sloping bank of the Los Angeles River is nearly the size of a football field, and can be read clear as day from a satellite photo. In a famous photograph—taken by his father just after it was completed—SABER stands on the piece and appears as a tiny speck amid a giant blaze of color. In the years since, SABER’s legend has only grown as his art has evolved, and his presence on the streets remains undiminished. This engrossing monograph is not only a picture-book, but features amazing stories about childhood, life and death, fine art and graffiti misadventures proving that SABER is a multi-dimensional artist with an amazing story to tell. SABER continues to push himself as an artist creating groundbreaking metal and wood sculptures, painstakingly rendered hyper-realistic canvases, and works in many other media. “Graffiti is about style, placement and proliferation…. SABER is one of the few people who is a master in all areas.” – Shepard Fairey.

New Pics coming soon! Yep! My homie Tipz shot a batch of pics at one of the local yards recently. Here’s a teaser. More to come!

QUEST