I’m known as Stero and have recently been experimenting with the name Kowbet. After spending the last four months in Toronto, Canada, my roots in Mississauga, where I grew up, significantly influence my approach to graffiti today.

My uncle was active in the late ’90s and early 2000s. He painted with a lot of Toronto heads back then and kept photo albums of the pieces, I used to flip through those albums constantly. The ones that stuck with me were WYSPER, KWEST, CAUSR, TEMPR, DASER. All wildstyle. That era left a mark. My stuff still leans toward that vibe: late ’90s, early 2000s energy.

I started sketching in 2014. I was 13. My uncle would show me walls around Toronto, and I got hooked fast. I tried spray painting that same year, but it was way harder than I thought. I dropped the can, stuck to the sketchbook. 

Then I got into skating heavy. Didn’t paint for years, I just filled pages. That changed in 2021 when I met WAEKO. We both stopped sketching and started painting walls for real. It got competitive between us, in a good way. That push made me fall in love with spray paint. I’ve taken it seriously ever since. 

Growing up in Mississauga meant not much bombing. Everything gets buffed fast. So we’d go under bridges, into drains, places out of sight. That’s where I painted. It shaped how I work. I didn’t see much handstyles or throws. That’s probably why I got so focused on piecing. 

Now that I’m in Toronto, that’s shifting. Bombing is everywhere here. Seeing people like AUTO,PIP, FENTO, BRICKS, GEO, MEKO out hitting spots with solid style, it’s hard not to want to be part of that. I’ve been trying to lean into it more. 

Crews like LSD, GIA, DOH, IBC, and KOS have all been influences. But really, the people I paint with matter most. BLAME2, BISKET, MEKO, MENTOS, WAEKO, SIMONE. They all bring something different. They keep me thinking, keep me changing how I approach a wall.

That’s the circle.

Much respect to all of them.

STERO/TORONTO

Bombing Science Source: https://www.bombingscience.com/stero-2/ Originally called Montreal-North Graffiti, Bombing Science Bombing is a website that documents graffiti around the world.