Tats Cru
Top Artistic Talent[1] | |
 | |
| Founders | |
|---|---|
| Founded at | New York |
| Type | Graffiti crew |
| Headquarters | Hunts Point[2] |
| Location |
|
Key people | |
| Website | Official website |
'Tats Cru, also known as The Mural Kings, is a collective of Bronx-based graffiti artists.[3][4]
The group was originally formed in 1980 by Wilfredo “BIO” Feliciano along with BRIM (Brim Fuentes) and MACK. Later they were joined by BG183 (Sotero Ortiz), and Nicer (Hector Nazario).[3] Initially the crew would paint at block parties and on subway cars together under the name T.A.T Cru changing the styling to TATS CRU in the early 90's.[3][4]
The core membership later came to include Basque born artists HOW and NOSM (Raoul and Davide Perré). Invited to join following a visit to New York in 1997. They would move to New York permanently in 1999.[5]
Work
The collective is known for creating New York City–style memorial murals. Notably creating a graffiti mural of the late Puerto Rican hip hip artist Big Pun in 2000. It's a mural that the crew have subsequently refreshed multiple times. Overall since the 1990's the group is estimated to have created around 120 RIP Murals.[6]
Tats Cru's work work has also included tributes to artists and performers such as Jennifer Lopez, Nas, Missy Elliott, Rick Ross, DJ Kool Herc, Nicki Minaj, and Metallica.[7] They have also produced murals and advertising campaigns for a wide range of clients, from local businesses to multinational corporations such as Coca-Cola and Sony.[7]
Artists
Bio
Wilfredo “BIO” Feliciano is a Puerto Rican–American graffiti artist based in New York City.[8] He began his artistic career painting on New York City subway cars with the TAT Cru in the early 1980s. Alongside his fellow crew members Nicer and BG183, he went on to co-found Tats Cru as a business, producing murals across the city. Before pursuing art full-time, Feliciano worked for a nonprofit organization while taking on small art jobs. He decided to commit to an artistic career after losing his job and learning he was going to be a father, describing the decision as a leap of faith.[8]
For more than three decades, Feliciano has worked as a professional muralist and painter. He has created murals for corporations, small businesses, schools, films, and music videos, while also producing canvas works and exhibiting internationally. His practice has included collaborations with companies on products featuring his artwork, and he continues to develop new prints and mural projects.[8] He has also articulated his professional values, emphasising reliability, respect, and maintaining high quality in all projects.[8]
Nicer
Hector “Nicer” Nazario is an American graffiti artist and muralist from the Bronx, New York, and a founding member of the Bronx graffiti collective Tats Cru.[9] He began tagging subway cars and walls in the early 1980s, working with classmates Wilfredo “Bio” Feliciano and Sotero “BG183” Ortiz, whom he met at James Monroe High School in the South Bronx.[10]
Over more than three decades, Nazario has contributed to Tats Cru’s transition from clandestine subway graffiti to widely commissioned murals and institutional projects. In a 2013 gathering at the Bronx Documentary Center, he described how early graffiti functioned as a form of communication across boroughs, with trains painted in the Bronx traveling into Manhattan and Brooklyn.[11] He has worked collaboratively on murals for hip hop artists, local businesses, and public art projects, helping to reposition graffiti from illicit expression to recognized cultural and artistic practice.[12]
HOW and NOSM
Twin brothers Raoul and David Perre, respectively known as HOW and NOSM, are graffiti artists and professional muralists residing in New York. Born in the Basque country of San Sebastian, Spain, the Perre brothers were raised in Düsseldorf, Germany, practicing the Bronx-born art form of graffiti. Their late teenage years were spent spraypainting around the world, visiting more than 60 countries and leaving their remarkably detail oriented artwork on everything from buildings to subway trains. During a visit to New York in 1997, HOW and NOSM were asked to become members of Tats Cru. Shortly thereafter in 1999, they permanently relocated to New York, a move that influenced their transition from tagging and spray painting trains to creating refined large scale murals and paintings on canvas. HOW and NOSM have been featured in several publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker and LA Weekly. Their artwork has stirred the likes of Reverend Al Sharpton with its controversial undertones of radical subjects manifested within their art. As adept with a spray can as only few artists could ever hope to be with a brush, the Perres’ body of work includes everything from canvases and large-scale multimedia sculpture to practically anything they feel compelled to leave their signature on.
While stylized and technical work is often compromised by the use of vibrant colors and flashy effects, How and Nosm have taken an opposite approach. In their most recent work, the brothers have restricted themselves to a sparse color palette of red, black and white. This limitation of color accentuates every line, creating a framework that jumps to the forefront. The drawings maintain the aesthetic of Jacks, Queens and Kings pulled from a deck of playing cards. The meticulous lines and intricate patterns presented in such a minimalist fashion make How and Nosm’s work instantly recognizable and unique.
Totem
Graffiti artist Mister Totem has applied paint to walls for 20 years.
Totem’s well-known style and technique is renowned worldwide, most noted for his signature robotic armored letters, characters, and wild versatility. His strongest points are backgrounds and creating a very complete final mural, not just the average piece by piece graffiti normally seen.
Starting in Atlanta, Georgia, as his home he has traveled and painted across the globe. Spraying countries such as Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, France, and the United Kingdom. His work showcased in galleries from New York and Los Angeles to Japan. His work has also been commissioned by many corporate companies looking to borrow street credibility from his art.
References
- ^ Wright, Sarah H. (28 September 2005). "Artists describe their 'Journey From Subways'". MIT News.
- ^ Nicer. "Tats Cru". wideopenwalls.com.
- ^ a b c Tats Cru profile, Beyond the Streets. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
- ^ a b "Tats Cru – Thrive Collective". Thrive Collective. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
- ^ "How & Nosm". Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles. Retrieved 26 September 2025.
- ^ "Big Pun Mural". City Lore. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
- ^ a b "TATS CRU". Pop International Galleries. Retrieved 30 September 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Meet Wilfredo "Bio" Feliciano". Bold Journey. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
- ^ "Tats Cru: The Mural Kings of the Bronx". ABC News. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
- ^ "Tats Cru: The Mural Kings of the Bronx". ABC News. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
- ^ "UP6: Exploring the History of Hip-Hop & The Bronx with Tats Cru". UP Magazine. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
- ^ "Tats Cru: The Mural Kings of the Bronx". ABC News. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2025.