L.A. Book of Friends

Fabian “Spade” Debora is an artist, advocate, and activist.

He grew up in L.A.’s Boyle Heights, surrounded by colorful Chicano murals and bold graffiti art. As a kid, he found refuge in his notebook. “Art for me was like a big brother,” he says.

He now works on large-scale paintings inspired by his lived experience as an ex-gang member and Angeleno. Today, he runs the Homeboy Art Academy, which creates access to art for gang-affected youth.

He’s also one of the artists of Getty’s Book of Friends, also known as the L.A. Graffiti Black Book, along with 150 other Los Angeles-based street and graffiti artists. The project was inspired by a 17th-century manuscript in Getty’s collections called the Liber Amicorum (Book of Friends).

In this video, Fabian talks about becoming an artist, and what it was like to participate in the L.A. Graffiti Black Book.