YNOT @ Primary Flight 2010

Via Primary Flight Blog:

On July 28, 2010, a talented graffiti artist passed before his time, brutally run-down in the parking lot of a club while celebrating his 21st birthday. However as Dose, YNOT’s best friend and the guardian angel who is so fiercely protective of him and his legacy, would say, “this is a person who lived a full life, even at such a young age.”

YNOT was an inspiration to his family and friends, born with the courage to follow his dreams and do exactly what he wanted to. Always turning a bad situation on its head, his charisma was contagious, his energy, magnetic.

He was a young man who grew up without a father-figure and like so many others, found his own way, choosing art as a means of expression. Whereas graffiti in Miami was looked down upon for many years, YNOT possessed unparalleled curiosity about the genre. His friends in the community loved that about him, and tried their best to share new techniques, brainstorm concepts and push his talent. Not only did YNOT master street art in his own right, but went on to develop a successful tattoo business, taking his art from a form that is intrinsically transient to absolute permanence.

A memory can be so much more than the sum total of facts or failures or achievements. YNOT left behind a young son who is now nine months and a family who loves him. Raising money for them and keeping his legacy alive, t-shirts sporting the artist’s signature tag have generated more than $3,500 in the past few months, the first set of which were distributed at his early August funeral. Dose is currently in the process of setting-up a foundation for YNOT’s son but until then, 100% of proceeds are going direct to the family. All who wear the shirts help keep his memory and dreams alive, championing what he stood for and the free spirit that he was.

In celebration of YNOT’s life, Primary Flight is proud to support the cause. T-shirts will be on-sale at the street art collective’s new space, Primary Projects at 4141 Second Avenue, Design District. Price will be reduced to $20 (regular: $28.50) for this special collaboration December 2 – 5, 2010, during Art Basel Miami Beach. For more information about the YNOT LIVES movement please visit the website at www.ynotlives.com.

A big thanks to Jill from Primary Flight.