Tipster Chronicles

“The players on the scene always get the spotlight, but it’s the folks in the wings who make the show roll. In the wild early 80’s our East Village art scene was a newborn baby. There was excessive excess in our FUN Gallery clique, but nonetheless, everyone noticed Anita. She was beautiful and blonde and perky, and fit in about as well as Bambi in a wolf den. She saw us as important in our own right, long before the media did, and shot these extraordinary candid photos of the artists from the FUN. Later many became legend. Many died. But Anita got the intimate shots when we were young and pretty. Fitting it is that Anita, our beloved Bambi, has not aged a day—she is more blonde and beautiful—and perky—than she was in 1982.”

-Zephyr, graffiti artist

From 1979-82, I attended New York University Graduate Film School. Zephyr was my boyfriend, and Patti Astor was my inspiration. Zephyr was one of the great loves of my life. We met at the FUN Gallery, and he introduced me to his world. Zeph was “King of the Line,” which meant he had more pieces running on the subway at that time than anyone else. When Zephyr painted “Major Burners” with my name, I became “Down by Law!” Zephyr dubbed my scrapbook “The Tipster Chronicles.” It was my visual diary of friends, lovers, tags, major burners, and memories. Zephyr taught me the secret language of tagging and how to decipher the code. Everyone communicated through tagging. Zephyr called me a “tipster” because I was an uptown babe who carried my camera everywhere and took pictures of all the tags.