PHASE 2

Michael Lawrence Marrow (August 2, 1955 – December 12, 2019), known as PHASE 2 and Lonny Wood, was a self-described aerosol paint artist based in New York City. Mostly active in the 1970s, Phase 2 is generally credited with originating the "bubble letter" style of aerosol writing, also known as "softies".

Early life Born to John Thomas Marrow and Adele "Crichlow" Marrow, he was a native of The Bronx, New York City, and attended DeWitt Clinton High School. Many famous graffiti writers of the early 1970s would meet at a doughnut shop across from the school before heading down to the 149th Street–Grand Concourse station to watch tagged trains on the IRT subway lines pass.

He began writing in late 1971 under the name Phase 2. Part of the appeal of aerosol writing for Phase 2 was that it allowed him to get his "name" known, yet remain anonymous. He noted later that tagging provided disadvantaged urban teens "the only significant vehicle to represent their existence."

Career

In late 1972, Phase 2 first used an early version of the "bubble letter" or "softie", a style of writing which would become extremely influential and is considered a "giant leap" in the art form. The puffed-out, marshmallow-like letters drawn by Phase 2 were soon copied by other artists who added their own variations. Phase 2 quickly embellished on his original form, creating and naming dozens of varieties of softies, such as "phasemagorical phantastic" (bubble letters with stars), "bubble cloud", and "bubble drip". He described the thrill of tagging subway cars as "impact expressionalism". Hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang has noted that Phase 2's canvasses from 1973 have "been widely recognized as defining the early genre."

Over time Phase's work become more complex, moving away from the simple tags of the early 1970s to "hieroglyphical calligraphic abstraction."

Phase participated in hip-hop shows organized by Kool Lady Blue during the summer of 1982 at The Roxy in Chelsea, Manhattan. These shows brought together the top DJ's, rappers, break-dancers, and aerosol artists from the South Bronx and introduced hip-hop music and culture to the downtown punk and new wave scenes. Phase 2 designed the flyers for these events and often created aerosol pieces live on stage. He was also part of the first "international" hip-hop tour when stars from the Roxy performances toured in England and France.

In 1982, as part of his involvement with the Roxy scene, Phase 2 released two rap singles. "Beach Boy" was a collaboration with Barry Michael Cooper, who later wrote the script for New Jack City. "The Roxy" featured the Bill Laswell-led group, Material, and Grand Mixer DXT.

Phase 2 was also a b-boy and claimed that his dance crew pioneered the uprock (or "battle rock") style of dance, despite claims that it originated in Brooklyn.

In February 2025, Italian art restorer Antonio Rava and his son Leone finished their project to uncover a mural by Phase 2 in the Vrij Paleis ('Free Palace'), an art and culture community center in Amsterdam. Phase 2 had sprayed the mural on an inner wall in 1992, but it had been painted over in 2015.

Personal life Marrow died on December 12, 2019, at age 64 in New York City, after suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.