Filmed and Edited by Kristen Miller
Web designer by day and artist by trade, local Trenton artist, Leon Rainbow, has made a name for himself with his graffiti artwork for more than 20 years. From complete murals to gallery openings, to body painting, ink canvassing and teaching art, Rainbow spends a majority of his life surrounded by color and creativity.
Rainbow grew up in California and says as a kid he loved playing with bristle blocks, brightly colored plastic shapes that stick together with rounded bristles. By second grade he was drawn to artwork at the same time as break-dancing and hip-hop became popular. He became inspired to get into the related world of graffiti.
Rainbow made his first graffiti tag–a stylized single-color graffiti signature–at the age of 13. He cut school and stole markers. “That was like our rebellious thing that we did when I was a kid,” he says.
Rainbow’s rebellious childhood later lead to a battle with addiction, but now he has 22 years clean and he has used his decades in recovery to advance his work.
“Being in recovery totally revolutionized my life…I couldn’t have been successful, or at least to the level I am now, if I was still getting high,” he says.
The success Rainbow was able to achieve exists in many different forms. He made his first Trenton mural 20 years ago in 1999. For a time he attended MCCC and is an alumn. In 2005 he began working for the Trenton based organization, Terracycle.
Veronica Rajadnya, Writing and Content Manager of TerraCycle says the organization is “a company on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste…Leon Rainbow has been working with TerraCycle since before I got here…I believe as far back as the very first graffiti jam.”
The graffiti jam is part of a larger and popular Trenton festival called Jersey Fresh Jam, which features art, music and creativity from the locals.
Rajadnya says, “[Rainbow] has a big personality, really fun to be around…very much a friend of TerraCycle…sometimes he’ll come in and say hi to all of us during the graffiti jams.”
Originally called the Worm Poop Jam, the Jersey Fresh Jam festival consists of 50 graffiti artists, 10 music performers, 5- 10 DJs and food vendors. Rainbow describes it as “A real hip-hop party.” It is located right outside of the TerraCycle office at 121 New York Ave. in Trenton.
Graffiti artists from Trenton, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore travel to this event to repaint the walls of their “cork yard”.
“[It’s] basically like an all day party,” Rajadnya says.
Currently, Rainbow and Terracycle are collaborating on a newer project called “Scrapped,” a showcase of work made from upcycled and reclaimed art located at the BSB gallery; a short walk from Mercer’s JKC campus. All of the artworks are created by artists associated directly with the TerraCycle company.
In the past, Rainbow has done graffiti aerosol classes at
He has also taught after school classes in Trenton and Princeton for 3 years.
Another music festival Rainbow is associated with is the Levitt Festival in Trenton’s Mill Hill Park section. This project lead Rainbow to get an even bigger project with the Cure Insurance Arena.
According to Rainbow, a lot of effort is needed to obtain larger and more advanced projects. “A lot of it is just taking calculated risks and trying to, you know, be able to complete the projects that you do at a high level,” he says.
Rainbow adds, “There’s a lot of people that probably could be more talented than me that might not have the same mindset that I have and might not be able to do the things I’ve been able to do because they’re not going to apply themselves,” he says.
He continues, “If you’re dedicated and you do it enough and have a passion for it, then you’ll get noticed.”
Jersey Fresh Jam will be held at the end of August. See Rainbow’s work at the running show “Scrapped” at the BSB gallery, ending April 13th, and his website www.leonrainbow.com
