DANCIN' ROB™

A LONG TIME AGO, IN A TOWN FAR FAR AWAY...."JUST PLAYIN'". -as far back as i can remember i've alway loved to draw. it was something that just came natural to me, something i was good at i guess. it would be fair to say that the hiphop culture has a large part to do with that. early on it was rock music & my dream to draw for Disney, but that would start to change in the mid 80's when i first remember going to the city with my parents & seeing dudes dancin' on the concrete for some change & being blown away by how cool it looked. the trains & apartment buildings were covered inside & out with scribbled words & large colorful works of art displaying names , cartoon characters & some shit i didnt know what the fuck it said, but it looked cool as hell & would stay with me forever. -another major influence in my life has to be the meshing of cultures in my household. although growing up about an hour north from the city i was exposed @ an early age to many different environments. my mother being of italian descent from mid-class section of the Bronx, to my father of puerto-rican descent from poor sections of Harlem & the South Bronx. this i feel has given me a broader outlook on life & has added a greater perspective to my style of art in which i feel definitely has a strong street & pop-art influence, while maintaining its commercial appeal. -throughout junior high & high school my passion for art grew by hand- painting on clothing for friends, extensive art classes & school exibits. around this same time i developed a love for hiphop & house dancing, which continued into college (Fashion Institute of Technology) in the city around 1994 where i majored in Illustration. it would be fair to say that college took a back seat to the club scene. yo, i had a spot every night of the week. the illest spots were Soundfactory Bar on wednesdays & Vinyl ,but i went everywhere. the GiantStep movement was in effect, too. i would just stand outside the cypher & study these dudes getting busy. even when i was home i definitely would be one of those dudes dancing all night long in the clubs (hence the name "Dancin Rob"). the hiphop dance culture definitely went hand in hand with the art, supplying non-stop inspiration for new ideas within fashion, character design & just thinking creatively inside & outside the box. - back in the 90's i started taggin' the name "OOPS!",here & there, but didnt get serious with it. i just had more of a desire to express myself on clothing, rather than trains or walls. To me the illest thing is people you dont even know rockin' your designs in the streets because they think its dope & thats what i wanted. - i wanted to create a name for my designs that would best define who i am & what my art is, so i came up with a name that best describes what i'm about & expresses my ability to come up with simple, yet very creative ideas, which would soon define my style: "illCON FNDMNTLZ" or (ill concept fundamentals). my creative ideas & thinking outside the box mentality would be my trademark & what seperates me from others. - drawing freehand my whole life i didnt easily make the transition to the computer, a much needed designing tool i would have to learn. With help from fellow artist T.C. aka (REZ ONES), I learned to navigate my way through this unfamiliar medium. - to be continued ...