Duel Ris

Duel was exposed to art at an early age because his mother was a fine arts teacher, painter, and sculptress. He began writing graffiti in the local streets, parks, and handball courts in 1984 and took on the name, Duel, in 1986, while moving on to rooftops, subways, trucks, and highways (reasoning that half of New Yorkers drove cars rather than ride the subways.) After admittedly taking a wrong path in life, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines to further his goal of straightening out.  

After three deployments, Duel returned to NYC and creating art – in studio, on subway signs, street signs, and metro maps, among other media. He has been a member of highly respected graffiti crews, including RIS, and has been quoted as saying, “My art is influenced by many cultures from my travels. I combined them all to symbolize unity and promote world peace."