Born 1979 in Brooklyn, New York, Jersey Joe aka RIME spent his early years playing hide and seek with his brothers, getting in trouble, and learning about women from trash found Playboy magazines. The only artistic person in his family, Joe was influenced by the art from Garbage Pail Kid trading cards, Looney Tunes, and characters from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Baseball card collecting and bike rides up to the comic book store became a thing of the past once graffiti came into the picture. Joe began writing graffiti along his newspaper route in late 1991. Using the name "RIME", the initial interest soon lead to a full-on obsession that seemed full of possibilities.
After a few arrests as a juvenile in 1995, RIME ended up in New Jersey; a blank canvas filled with a labyrinth of virgin highway walls and trains. Thriving in his new state, RIME began to travel and paint other parts of the USA and Europe. Wanting more, RIME dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles in 2005. With Los Angeles as his base, RIME continued to paint, exhibit, and teach graffiti to kids from inner city public schools. A habitual traveler, Joe has circled the globe several times over painting and exhibiting in dozens of cities. To Joe, not much is more satisfying than bumming it abroad with a wrinkly, stamp filled passport in your front pocket. Professional Joseph makes a living doing the same shit he does for pleasure. Staying active with work that is a true translation of his personality. Not really into dressed up formalities, RIME would say that you should already know or go figure it out for yourself.
