Socio-economic conditions of New York City’s five boroughs during the second half of the 20th century became a unique incubator for urban trends that cannot be ignored. The Train-Legacy-Project’s mission revisits collaborations that launched the historically epic period of graffiti in New York City that has created a category we now know and identify as Urban Art. Classic period graffiti writers join forces with decades of writers since to look back while looking forward, to mentor and focus the energies of new generations toward rewarding, self-actualizing applications.

Kel's work with DONDI is legendary. He was an iconic writer from 1976-79 during what Kel refers to as the ‘Graffiti Renaissance’ period. Their many collaborations elevated each of their individual contributions to Graffiti as a whole, while inspiring generations of writers to come. It was painted in the J yard of East New York in Brooklyn, one of the busiest, 2nd largest yards of NYC transit. What makes this yard special is that it’s a 2 level yard. Extremely high, handling many different train lines, also hosting a repair shop. Frequented by Kel, he called it his ‘playground.’ It’s so big, it’s almost impossible to be spotted. Most of the significant trains painted by Kel1st were painted here. These trains were bigger than the ‘numbered’ trains.

“I used ‘139’ because it's the street I grew up on, but I switched to ‘1st’ to further set me apart from my peers in the competitive environment of Graffiti. We are writers first and artists second, although the work can be called art. Yet, because what we do is write (tag) we identify ourselves as writers, not artists. An artist’s work is seen as a gallery or museum hanging piece. A writer’s tag is used to 'get up' —essentially to promote, advertise, market our brand.” This was done in the Broadway 1 tunnel between 137-145th streets. This is where Part often did many truly amazing masterpieces, it was a legendary place.This was the Broadway Local.

This the second time Kel painted with Futura. The Vaughn Bode inspired characters are by Kel. It was the 2 train, painted in the Gunhill Road layup. Kel 1st often painted characters originated by the underground comic artist, Vaughn Bodē, an artist and comic book creator whose style was rooted in sixties psychedelia, had a tremendous impact on graffiti artists. “The characters represented certain rebellious traits we had.”