Clones of Illadelph: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Executive Producers: Tom Grahsler, Alex Lewis, John Myers
Producer: John Myers
Associate Producer: Bibiana Correa
Engineers: Charlie Kaier, Al Banks, Tina Kalikay, Adam Staniszewski
Sound Design and Mixing: Rowhome Productions
Tile Art: Justin Nagtalon
Theme Song: SNACKMFTIME by SNACKTIME

Special thanks to Michaela Winberg, Michael Olcott, Sarah Moses, Mike Shiffler, and Kayla Watkins.

Art Outside is a production of WHYY.

CONRAD BENNER, HOST: Before we get started, a heads-up. This episode includes profanity and mentions some sensitive topics including illegal drug use and suicide.

SEAN LUGO There’s times I’ve driven around Philly for hours just to find the perfect spot. Almost led to a couple of divorces with me and my wife. But good times.

[DRIVING IN SEAN’S CAR]

CB: It’s early on a Sunday morning and Sean Lugo is driving around Philadelphia. Sean is an artist who has been in gallery shows and made commissioned work, but he’s best known for his wheatpaste street art.

SL: I think out of the 300-something pieces I put in the street. I think I might of only got paid for maybe 3 or 4 of them. [Laughs]

CB: Sean makes colorful, life-size images of people and puts them up around the city — mostly on vacant buildings. He goes by the name Sean 9 Lugo (More on the number nine later).

SL Yeah, so I’m just driving around trying to find the right spot for this piece. And I think I might’ve found it.

CB: It’s September of 2024 and right now Sean is looking for a place to install a piece that he made honoring the street artist known as “As Above So Below” — who passed away last year.

SL: Right now we’re, we’re on South and Broad. And this spot is just perfect because it’s the University of Arts building. And that means it is fair game. Due to the closing of the University of Arts, why not add some art to one of their buildings?

[SEATBELTS UNBUCKLING]

CB: In June of this year Philadelphia’s University of the Arts shut down abruptly. It’s one of several arts institutions in the city that closed, or scaled back, over recent years. And it’s left the state of Philly’s famed arts world feeling particularly fragile.

[MUSIC]

SL: I didn’t go to college but I can only imagine if I finally got to go to college, let alone an art school. And I looked forward to that, you know, a whole year and especially let’s double down after everything that happened with COVID. A lot of these kids, you know, they lose their high school. They did everything via Zoom. They could barely meet friends and they finally then get back to high school and an opportunity to go to college and they look forward to it to find out, yeah, we’re closing our doors. That’s so [EXPLETIVE] up, you know?

[THEME MUSIC]

CB: This is Art Outside, a podcast from WHYY about the art of our public spaces and the people who create it.

I’m your host Conrad Benner, and for the last 14 years I’ve been documenting these works for my blog, Streets Department.

Today we hear the story of the artist Sean 9 Lugo.

Sean grew up in North Jersey, just four blocks from the Lincoln Tunnel. That’s where he first found his love of graffiti and street art. Sean started putting up art in Philly about ten years ago and was shocked by how welcomed he felt in the city.

Sean is best known for his Clones of Illadelph series, where he draws animal heads on people that he admires. He’s done famous Philadelphians like Black Thought from The Roots and basketball great Kobe Bryant. He’s also cloned friends, family and fellow artists like Drew Leshko and Lace in the Moon (who by the way was on Episode 1 of this season).

Sean’s dedication to celebrating Philly artists is the reason we wanted to have him on right now. He builds community, inspires others, and has become a mentor in Philly’s art world.

[CARS DRIVING DOWN BROAD STREET]

SL: Yeah, beautiful Sunday morning, nine o’clock, nothing like doing something illegal at this time. No one really gives a [EXPLETIVE]. But still, this is better, less people around. You don’t look suspicious. You look like you’re kinda supposed to be doing it.

CB: Back on Broad Street, Sean gets out of his car and walks up to the shuttered UArts building. The windows are boarded up and painted black. They look like empty picture frames. The perfect spot for his portrait of the sticker artist As Above So Below.

As Above So Below’s stickers were often made with just a Sharpie and a mailing label, courtesy of the post office. They featured a ghoulish character with a big head and an overbite accompanied by phrases like “Empty Vessels Ring True” and “Time is a flat circle.” Sean was a fan, but, he didn’t get a chance to let As Above So Below know that before he died.

SL: As Above, So below. It was one of those moments in this day and age of technology where you could just DM someone and be like, “I’m a fan.” And don’t, and then they pass away and regret that. I don’t like living regrets. And that’s a moment I regretted. So, ‘cause of that, I felt like it was only right to do his portrait with his passing last year, and me regretting it. And me like having to pay homage to someone who I could have just DM’d, who I used to enjoy their stickers all throughout Philadelphia.

CB: Yeah, he was a street artist in Philly.

SL: Yeah, huge, huge part of the sticker culture, with crazy zombie-like illustrations, with funny sayings. And huge fan. Just never reached out. And it just goes to show how many people you come across in this city. You know they’re here, but you don’t say “Hey, I like your stuff.”

CB: Right. Well, with the As Above So Below piece describe what it looks like, and where you installed.

SL: Yeah, it’s someone praying. Since the person passed away, I took an old image of someone I did from Jersey City praying. And I had this, I just felt like if I was doing something with someone who was no longer here, to try to create an image, that you looked at and knew that, okay, this has to be paying homage. So I thought praying hands was perfect. So then I just included his head from one of the stickers that I happen to have on my phone that I took a photo of. And I just incorporated that on the body and then made a scroll with it saying, “rest in peace” to the artist’s name: As Above So Below. And I found a beautiful location in the University [Laughts] of Arts building that no longer is being used. Thanks for the location. And I put it there. I don’t know if it’s still there. You never know when it comes to these things.

CB: Yeah, it’s a very ephemeral art form, huh?

SL: Yeah, but you got to be cool with that. You know, that’s like my life. I don’t take shit for granted. I’m blessed, but you could be here today, gone tomorrow. So when I put something in the street, I accept that it could be here today, gone tomorrow.

[MUSIC]

CB: This idea that the art Sean makes might not be here tomorrow is central to his work and life. And it’s a big part of what motivates him as an artist. Sean says that for years he knew that he wanted to create street art, but he procrastinated. Then, in 2012 he was in a terrible car accident. Doctors told him he was lucky to be alive.

SL: I didn’t believe when doctors tell you, “Oh, you know, you’re lucky to be alive. You’re lucky to be alive.” You’re just like, “Yeah, Okay.” You know? I didn’t realize it until the day I was leaving the hospital after being there for a month that the guy who was at the scene who worked the EMT was dropping someone off. And I happened to just be walking around outside my room and I see this gentleman and the gentleman’s like, “Hey man, by any chance, were you in an accident in Jersey City?” And I’m like, “Yeah.” He was like “Wow, man, I didn’t think you made it.”

CB: Oh, wow.

SL: When he said that, that kind of was like, Oh shit, I guess I’m lucky to be alive. You know, the guy who hit me died. So, goes to show.

CB: Oh my gosh. What was your mental health during that time?
SL: Oh, my mental health has been [EXPLETIVE] ever since I was probably seven, eight years old.
CB: That’s honest..
SL: So it was, it was just something else. Another hurdle. You know, another hurdle.
CB: But you focused some energy into developing your skills at art.
SL: Yeah. I think art’s always been my therapy. It’s always been my gateway drug. Just the thing that lets me get all the demons out of my mind.
CB: Now I’ve heard something like this from so many artists. What does that mean?

SL: Well, I don’t know. I thought about killing myself when I was nine. I’ve had that thought in and out, I’m 43\. I can’t imagine how many times I’ve, you know, offhand, how many times I’ve felt that way. You know, it’s just growing up how I grew up, the life I had, seeing the things I saw. My mother tried killing herself twice on pills, my father was abusive. He was incarcerated when I was nine. You know, I’ve gone through a lot in life. So to me, it’s just another obstacle. You know, I don’t, I don’t really let things get to me. You learn not to.

CB: How does art, is it a processing thing? Is it a way to distract yourself?

SL: It’s peace. It’s peace, you know, for me to be in front of a piece of paper and it just being me in that paper and whether I’m listening to music, podcasts, whatever it is at the end of the day, it’s just, it’s alone time with myself. You know, I don’t need to look at a mirror. I got that object that I want to tell my story.

CB: Did you, are you self taught? Did you use any institutions? Did you take art classes?

SL: No only high school, you know

CB: Like art classes in high school?

SL: Just art classes just like shop class and gym, you know, your basic classes. I never was taught. I learned a lot though. My wife in 2012, wanted to do murals in Jersey City, and I was like, sure, let’s do it, and our first mural was during Hurricane Sandy.

CB: You’re painting it during the?

SL: Right after Hurrican Sandy.

CB: Oh, right after, okay.

SL: And it was an artist called Dulk from Spain. An amazing artist. And we did a wall with him, a little small wall, and he was in town, and that was the first wall of our project. Our project was Savage Habit. So we did 30 walls, all self funded. And we got to work with the Mayor of Secaucus for the last, like seven or eight, which was awesome. Then those were funded, but watching those artists create and paint, I took so much from them.

CB: And this is also, you’re self taught, this is also like, you are incubating your soon to be famed street art career that’ll launch like, right around that time, 2013. Have you developed a style by then? Is that what you’re trying to do?

SL: Yeah, I developed it fall of 2011.

CBr: Describe your style.

SL: I don’t know, man. That’s like one of the hardest questions. I illustrate things. I take people, put animal heads on them. The reason of doing it is like the misconception. You know, my purpose of adding an animal head of any sort or that bear head that I’m known for, it’s just a misconception one has.

I always like going back to this scenario. If I paint a street corner where I grew up with four dudes and, you know, you got black, brown, white, whatever the case is, and I paint their faces and the way they look, there’s a good shot someone’s going to be like, “Oh, they’re drug dealers.” “They’re gang members.” They’re this, they’re that, right? The moment I put teddy bear heads, dogs, cats, squirrels, you remove all that from your mind and you go, “Oh, that’s a silly image,” you know, it separates you from the scene. And yeah, they might be drug dealers. They might be gang members, but it literally separates you from the scene.

CB: How did you get there? To this idea?

SL: I think for me, it was more so growing up, I wore a mask. Now I’m unapologetically myself. Growing up it was hard for me to be me. I had an upbringing in a household that was rough. It was hard for me to say, yeah, my, my dad’s in jail. It was hard for me to say, my mom does drugs and almost killed herself. It was hard for me to say the other things that were happening in my household to people. So I kept all that inside.

And then to boot, like, if that wasn’t hard enough, then I’m dyslexic. So now I’m in school and I’m in special ed, you know? So it’s hard. Now for me to read and write and I feel awkward. So it’s hard for me to be myself. And the only time I could be myself is when I’m on my block and I’m with my friends that I’ve had for literally 35 years or more.

You know, so the whole time I’m just pretending just to get by, you know, so I wore a mask, I wore a mask probably into my 20s, and then it pretty much, when I almost died, I said, [EXPLETIVE] that, if someone don’t like me, then they’re not gonna like me, this is me, this is who I am, this is my story, those are the cards I was dealt.

CB: So is street art one of the releases for you then? Creating this project?

SL: It’s a huge, huge relief. For me, I didn’t want to just keep putting up work that didn’t mean anything. I wanted to do something that meant something to me that would hopefully mean something to others. Me putting stuff up in Philadelphia, I was like, alright, if I create portraits of people who inspire me, who motivate me, who keep me pushing and thriving, if I put them up, people are going to be like, well, who the [EXPLETIVE] is that?

And then they can look up the person and find out what they do. And every time I post one, I write what that person means to me, you know? So doing this, and by the end of this year, it’ll be 45 different walls. So it’s, it’s, it’s been a lot of people, having done Black Thought, DJ Jazzy Jeff, from Drew Leshko to Doom Future, you know, to El Toro to Lace in the Moon And you have been a part of the project.

CB: I’ve been a part of the project. Thank you so much.

SL: You were, you were the first season I did it. I did, I did the core group of people I met in Philadelphia, from Mike, the owner of Jinxed. And it’s my way of showing the people who’ve adopted me in this great city, giving back to them, giving back to the community, so I just try to make sure I create the best work I can put out there to the public. And so that way I have a legacy. And I felt that way before having a child. Now having a child, I want to leave even more of a legacy.

CB: Yeah, you have a two year old son now.

SL: That’s [EXPLETIVE] wild. That’s wild.

CB: Life just keeps marching.

SL: Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing though. It’s hard to explain the beauty of it unless you experience it, you know? It’s not for everyone. I thought at a young age I was going to be a father. And then by the time I was 40, I was like, Oh, this [EXPLETIVE] ain’t happening. And then my wife said, “Knock me up!” [Laughing]

CB: That’s censored. I want to just call attention to something real quick as we move on. More than any interview I think I’ve ever done, you’ve mentioned your partner, your wife, so much already. What does she mean to you, personally, but also as part of your art career?

SL: Ah, dude, without her I would be [EXPLETIVE], you know? She’s literally my everything. Literally. She’s the person who could look at an idea I do and be like, “That’s [EXPLETIVE].” You know, and me get upset at the moment, but then be like, “Yeah, she probably got a point.’”

CB: Yeah.

SL: You know, she literally is everything. I, you know, if I go into detail, I’ll probably cry like a [EXPLETIVE].

CB: Go into detail. I’m Barbara Walters. [Laughing]

SL: No she’s literally everything. And literally the first day we moved in with each other my closest friend died.

CB: Oh, I’m sorry.

SL: Yeah, that was crazy cause he died at 21 and then like her being there with that, to then my accident, through everything is just, it’s just amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As I cry.[Laughing]

CB: Do you want to take a second?
SL: No, I’m good
CB: What’s her name by the way?
SL: Inez. The beautiful Inez.
CB: Okay. At some point you are, you choose a name for yourself, right? Like your street art name is Sean 9 logo.
SL: Yeah. The nine is from my friend who passed away.
CB: I was going to say
SL: So the nine is strictly for him.
CB: The one when he was 21

SL: Who passed away at 21 years old. Yeah. We were tripping balls on acid, and the song by the Beatles, Revolution number 9, came on. ” Number nine, ” “Number nine.” And when we left the house, I just started writing nine on everything. Every street sign, mailbox. I wrote nine all over the town. And then it just wound up being a thing of ours. And one day he said to me “Nine watches over us” I said sure buddy, you know He fell nine stories to his death. It’s just crazy how that number haunts me. My birthday is 8 18 81. You could break that down. That’s number nine. So, the number is like always with me without even knowing it’s always with me. And because of that, like, me putting nine is for him. You know, I go by my name, Sean Lugo, the nine is strictly for him to keep his memory alive.

[MUSIC]

CB: Coming up, Sean 9 Lugo explains the process of taking art from his sketchbook to the street.

And we hear the story of one of Sean’s newest Clones, Sarah Magazzo. She leads the nonprofit Pheed Philly and, full disclosure, Sarah is also a good friend and former roommate of mine.

That’s after the break.

CB: This is Art Outside. I’m Conrad Benner.

[CARS DRIVING DOWN THE STREET]

We’re in South Philly with Sean 9 Lugo. He’s about to install another one of his Clones of Illadelph pieces on the brick wall of a vacant building. It’s a colorful full-scale image of two people walking with bags in their hands. If you saw it from a distance you might think they were real people walking down the sidewalk — except for the fact that they’ve got teddy bear heads.

Getting his work to the point where it’s ready to be installed takes some time. Sean’s got a process.

SL: So I draw the illustration, and then I print it to scale, like just the line work, and then I hand paint everything.

CB: To create each piece, Sean starts by making a black and white drawing. Then he blows it up, enlarging it until it’s full size, like a giant coloring book image. Next he hand paints the drawing and when it’s dry, Sean carefully packs it up and puts it in his car.

Parked on Washington Avenue, Sean takes out a big canvas bag with everything he needs to attach his artwork to the wall.

SL: I got usually got everything prepped in this lovely bag here. And this beautiful brush that covers a lot of ground and based on the image, I’m going to kind of set the glue.

CB: Sean puts on a pair of gloves, takes the lid off of a bucket of wallpaper glue and grabs the handle of a thick paintbrush. He starts slathering glue on the brick wall so that it covers the area where he wants his art to go. Then he gently takes out the painted image and presses it to the wall.

SL: We got a piece here of two people about, about 5’7″, 5’8″ strolling down the block, getting ready to hand out bags to the homeless. My lovely friend Sarah has an organization.

CB: Sarah Magazzo is the co-founder of Pheed Philly — a small grassroots movement that’s working hard to improve the lives of people who are homeless in Philadelphia. And, heads up — If you’re Googling, the word “feed” is spelled with a P H, just like “Philadelphia.”

SL: You know, I try to help out when I can…

CB: Sean has volunteered with Pheed Philly handing out bags of food, water, and essential items for those in need.

Today he’s installing a portrait of Sarah and her husband Steve, who also helps out with the handouts.

SL: So to be able to create their portraits, you know, wearing hoodies, like to go out in the street, giving out bags. It meant the world to me because my mother, she always wanted to feed the homeless. And when she passed away, I had the opportunity, when my artist friend Evoca and his art organization, Sketches of Mankind to feed the homeless in her name. So I went down to Miami and we fed a hundred something people. And I’ll never forget some dude running down the block, like three blocks away, you just saw this guy running, running, running, running, running, running, running.

[MUSIC]

And he finally gets to the car and we’re out of food. And he was like, “Do you happen to have any food?” And I said,” Oh man, sorry we’re all out.” And he goes, “Yeah, figured it’s my luck” and just walked away. And that [EXPLETIVE] broke me. And then it just so happens that Sarah comes into my life And the moment she said she fed the homeless, I instantly thought of my mom and I instantly thought about that dude who didn’t get food that day. And I was just like, Oh man, anything I could ever do to help, whether it’s donate, give my time or whatever, I’m going to do it.

CB: Community and collaboration is a big part of the street art world. And community is a major element in Sean’s work. One of the best examples of that to me is a curated street art wall at 11th and Christian streets in South Philly. Sean recently collaborated with dozens of artists for this project. Sean said he got the idea while hanging out with Rob, the owner of Tattooed Mom, Philly’s officially unofficial street art museum that recently hosted a wheatpaste exhibition for which Rob pulled in many local street artists. That was led by Doom Future who invited Sean to help out.

SL: And I was like, I’ll do anything for Rob, you know, I’ll take a bullet for Rob. Yeah, count me in. So, That day was [EXPLETIVE] wild. I had glue all over the place. [Laughs]

CB: I came for one minute and I got glue on my backpack. I had to like throw it away like too much glue.

SL: It was a wild day. It was chaos but the good kind. And, you had, about seven, maybe eight artists, you know, in Philadelphia, just helping to create this installation. And during the installation, I looked at Rob and I said, “Yo, bro, you got to make a legal street art wall,” like let’s just keep it wheatpaste only, you know, and let it get layered up and whatever the case is. And Rob just looked at me and goes, “Yeah, yeah, you could do that” in a joking way. And that [EXPLETIVE] resonated with me and I said to myself, all right, [EXPLETIVE] it. I’m gonna make this wall and I literally reached out to Rob like “Yo, you got any paste left over?” I reached out to Doom Future and Infiltrate and and Harlequin and I say “Hey, would you guys be able to help me install this” and I literally, I am shocked how many people said yes when I said, “Hey, can you give me [EXPLETIVE] so I can put up on this wall? ‘And, no one said no, which just goes to show how beautiful this community is. It was just on the cuff. Like, yeah, [EXPLETIVE] it. This is what I’m gonna do to this wall.

CB: I wrote down here, elder statesman, but yeah, you are like that mentor, that elder statesman of the street art world in Philly right now. People go to you for advice. People look to you to organize stuff like this, to bring people together. What does it mean to be a mentor?

SL: I don’t think I’m a mentor. I think I’m just an honest person. I think I just have no [EXPLETIVE]. And just going to let people know my life and my life is experience and having experience. I could share things. It’s nothing else but work. I am a self taught artist who did many many many things I should have not done in life. I was prepared for the consequences. I’ve gone through struggles. La lucha is real.

CB: What is la lucha?

SL: The struggle.

CB: Oh okay. Well, my last question is pretty simple and you might have just answered it, but I’ll just ask it and if you want to frame it a different way, but like, how do you think, you know, you would have just hit your 10 year mark of the street art version of this, but you’ve been in art since you were 16\. How do you think you’ve grown since the beginning of your art journey?

SL: I wouldn’t say art journey. I would just say, well, life. You know, I’ve experienced a lot in life between almost dying to getting married to creating a community in a place I’m not from and getting the love that I got and appreciation to all those things. You never know, uh, what life has in store for you, right? At all. I’m like shocked I am where I am, you know? It’s crazy. It’s like moments like this. I had no idea, you know, that the, the first person who would acknowledge something I did in Philadelphia all these years later would be sitting down in front of me. And we’ll be talking shit.

CB: On NPR! WHYY.! I was the first person to document your work? Woah, I don’t know if I knew that.

SL: Yeah, I have like, I have no idea what’s in store in life or, you know, or any of this [EXPLETIVE]. It literally all goes back to work. And if you love something, no matter what it, no matter what it is you do, you know, if you love working on cars, then work on cars. If you love teeth, become a dentist, you know, like whatever the hell it is. If you love something, if you put your best foot forward in it and you bust your ass in it and you work and you work and you work, you would be one of the best to ever do what you did and you would achieve things from it.

[MUSIC]

It’s like the world of karma And then you could get someone who gone through all this [EXPLETIVE] I went through and have all these opportunities from just working and not stopping and working and believing in others and believing in myself.

CB: And building that community.

SL: And it’s all about communitY, you know, it’s all about community

CB: Thank you so much. That was so good.

[CB AND SL MAKING AIRHORN NOISES]

CB: On the next episode of Art Outside, the Season 2 finale, y’all–Cornbread the Legend.

CORNBREAD: The elite graffiti artist of the world. When I say I started this [EXPLETIVE] I mean all of it.

CB: That’s next time on Art Outside

[THEME MUSIC]

This episode of Art Outside was produced by John Myers.

Our associate producer is Bibiana Correa.

Tom Grahsler is our executive producer.

Art Outside’s production, sound design and mixing is by Rowhome Productions. Rowhome’s Executive Producers are John Myers and Alex Lewis.

Our engineers are Charlie Kaier, Diana Martinez, Tina Kalakay, Adam Staniszewski and Al Banks.

Our theme song is SNACKMFTIME by SNACKTIME. Our tile art was created by El Toro, aka Justin Nagtalon.

Special thanks to Michaela Winberg, Michael Olcott, Sarah Moses, Mike Shiffler, and Kayla Watkins.

I’m your host, Conrad Benner.

Art Outside is a production of WHYY. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.