SCRAP YARD

JAMES ESPINO

As a self-taught artist James Espino II started drawing cartoon characters for family members and his high school yearbook but he felt it wouldn’t take him anywhere. Switching gears from drawing he went to a community college where he obtained his Culinary Arts Degree while bartending.

At 29 years old, unsure of his career path, he woke up one morning and purchased a one-way ticket from Tucson, AZ to New York City. Six years later he has since created an ambigram for a men’s line Diplomacy and now owns the longest standing Grafitti store in New York (@scrapyardnyc1 www.scrapyardnyc.com). He enjoys art across the board and strives to keep street art relevant while crediting some of the greatest street artists the medium has to offer from the capital of the world, NYC.