With a style that precedes him, Harley Davidson Perez ( Harlito ) draws the spirit realm out from where it’s hidden. In doing so, Perez reveals the underneath — the deep folkloric past twisted into the urban atmosphere like phantom rebar. Within the mirage of Perez’s line tapestries, is playful movement that speaks of continual rebirth and the clever avoidance of spiritual destruction. Its structure is born of process, his decades of perpetual drawing, and an artist-block proof method he’s devised to arbitrarily lift the creative lid from the mundane and brings us with him into the primordial reverberations of urban time.

The Sunset Park-based artist spent the first seven years of his life living house-to-house and in shelters with his three brothers and mom, before landing in the heart of Crown Heights in section 8 housing. It was there, amidst an effusion of Caribbean culture, and in relative stability, that Perez began to explore what is still his foundational medium: pen and paper. His influences include Akira Toriyama, Masashi Kishimoto, Tite Kubo,  Picasso, Jean Michel Basquiat. His murals can be seen on various interior spaces in Brooklyn, and his art has been featured at the BWAC gallery, in The Ecstatic Magazine, on a ShwonDwon EP, or on sneakers, hats, and backpacks across the region.

Perez considers himself an independent artist, and describes his style as “mystical, raw, and authentic.” Perez sculpts, paints, and makes music. He remains connected to his Puerto Rican roots through all of these forays into art, and in how he continually engages the spirit realm in Brooklyn.