Any good gallery stories?

A whole group of heads, like CRASH, FUTURA, and I were in Paris for a couple of shows in 1990. There was one at a museum, and there was another one the next day taking advantage of everybody being in town, which included local writers. I got included in that show. It was right when FUTURA and I really started conspiring on different things that we could do. He said we should probably make more of those Krylon/Rusto shirts because it was a graffiti opening. They loved that Americana over in Paris. For the museum show, I walked around with the shirts in a backpack. I didn’t speak a lick of French—FUTURA only told me how to make change, then left me. The next thing I know, I’m getting roughed-up by security guards because I’m walking around this gallery selling t-shirts like it’s a concert.

So graffiti has had a major impact on your life?

It’s like walking down the street and having a piano fall on your head. It definitely created who I am. I don’t think, without the graf movement, I would have infiltrated corporations or the art world or what I’ve done without my background. What I got out of graffiti, besides learning how to paint in the dark, is that the risk taking doesn’t stop when crossing the tracks and making yourself open for critique. I think for me, what I got out of the graf world was the balls to commit to ideas.

Why didn’t you use your real name when you turned into an artist?

I don’t think I could ever use my real name ever again except for at the bank and for my lawyer. (laughs) It just happened that way. My wife calls me STASH. I don’t need to front behind it. People sometimes pronounce it like “staash” which is Stanley in Polish, and I live in Greenpoint. (laughs) I hear that a lot.

How do you feel about graffiti nowadays?

I’m like Peter Pan. I stopped changing feelings, thoughts, and processes somewhere around the early nineties. I still feel the same way about things. I love graffiti still. Every time somebody bombs my building, I have to check it off as a building I bombed. That’s the circle of life. It’s always some new jack that hits my building. It’s never been anybody cool where I would keep it—just somebody doing stencils. They never hit the building, either. It’s always in the doorway. (laughs)

Finally, have you gotten your kids into the game yet?

My daughter does drawings for me on paper. She has a style. She always does her little girl drawings with graffiti letters. I won’t let her use spray-paint because it’s too toxic. She can look at graffiti and make out letters, too just from being around me and my interests. She’s up on it. She grew up looking at FUTURA’s work and all the people in my life. I’m all for it. I just don’t want her getting arrested and then having my wife yell at me. (laughs)