Phase 2

One of the original New York subway graffiti artists, Phase 2 (a.k.a. Lonny Wood) is credited with pioneering the bubble letters now widespread in graffiti art, also known as “softies”, as well as introducing the arrow motif. Wood grew up in the South Bronx and, as a member of an early b-boy crew, was prominent in the local hip-hop scene. In 1974, Wood, who was mentored by the graffiti artist Lee 163d! (Thomas Lee) joined a professional graffiti collective named the United Graffiti Artists. In the 1980s he founded the International Graffiti Times, an early zine to focus on graffiti writing.