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 Terracycle, and he will be teaching them again throughout the spring and summer starting in April. 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 

From March 1 to April 13, resident design visionaries TerraCycle® and the Trenton Downtown Association will present Scrapped: A Collection of Upcycled Artwork. Designed to encourage viewers to question their day-to-day lifestyle and their impact on the planet, the exhibit, located at the BSB Gallery in Trenton, curates artwork created entirely from reclaimed materials. “Creativity and community are at the heart of what we do, so when the Trenton Downtown Association approached us about the chance to showcase the transformative nature of art in the city, we jumped at the opportunity,” said TerraCycle CEO and founder Tom Szaky “From hosting our very first annual graffiti jam 15 years ago to decking out global offices in what many would consider “trash,” Scrapped is in line with our mission to change perspectives and connect people through shared experiences.” The collection of upcycled art, which includes on-site installations and mixed media pieces of varying scales and styles, illustrates the power of unconventional thoughtand includes works from acclaimed artists Leon Rainbow, Ede Sinkovics, Heemin Moon as well as TerraCycle employees. All the featured art utilizes discarded and otherwise “scrapped” materials including old and broken toys, littered plastic collected off of beaches and shorelines, wine corks and cigarette butts, to name only a few. Scrapped will debut with an opening reception at the BSB Gallery on Friday, March 1, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., where TerraCycle will discuss its mission Eliminating the Idea of Waste®, how it has diverted over seven billion pieces of traditionally unrecyclable waste from landfills and unveil a special collaborative work put together by its employees using found materials. “Over the last decade Trenton has reinvented itself as a budding destination for the arts,” said Tom Gilmour, Executive Director of the Trenton Downtown Association. “Through grant funding generously provided by the George H. and Estelle M. Sands Foundation and Isles, Inc., the Trenton Downtown Association opened the BSB Gallery to support local artist, curate exhibits like Scrapped and act as a platform to recognize all the extraordinary art being created in our Capital City.” For more information on Scrapped or to learn about upcoming exhibits, please visit www.bsbgallery.com, bsbgallery on Facebook or email bsbgallery@trenton-downtown.com.

From March 1 to April 13, resident design visionaries TerraCycle® and the Trenton Downtown Association will present “Scrapped: A Collection of Upcycled Artwork.” Designed to encourage viewers to question their day-to-day lifestyle and their impact on the planet, the exhibit, located at the BSB Gallery in Trenton, curates artwork created entirely from reclaimed materials.

“Creativity and community are at the heart of what we do, so when the Trenton Downtown Association approached us about the chance to showcase the transformative nature of art in the city,we jumped at the opportunity,” said TerraCycle CEO and founder Tom Szaky “From hosting our very first annual graffiti jam 15 years ago to decking out global offices in what many would consider “trash,” Scrapped is in line with our mission to change perspectives and connect people through shared experiences.”

The collection of upcycled art, which includes on-site installations and mixed media pieces of varying scales and styles, illustrates the power of unconventional thoughtand includes works from acclaimed artists Leon Rainbow, Ede Sinkovics, Heemin Moon as well as TerraCycle employees. All the featured art utilizes discarded and otherwise “scrapped” materials including old and broken toys, littered plastic collected off of beaches and shorelines, wine corks and cigarette butts, to name only a few.

Scrapped will debut with an opening reception at the BSB Gallery on Friday, March 1, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., where TerraCycle will discuss its mission Eliminating the Idea of Waste®, how it has diverted over seven billion pieces of traditionally unrecyclable waste from landfills and unveil a special collaborative work put together by its employees using found materials.

“Over the last decade Trenton has reinvented itself as a budding destination for the arts,” said Tom Gilmour, Executive Director of the Trenton Downtown Association. “Through grant funding generously provided by the George H. and Estelle M. Sands Foundation and Isles, Inc., the Trenton Downtown Association opened the BSB Gallery to support local artist, curate exhibits like Scrapped and act as a platform to recognize all the extraordinary art being created in our Capital City.”