James Reitano spent most of his young life in the small beach town of Santa Cruz. It turned out that, in 1982, graffiti legends Zephyr, Futura 2000 and Dondi had painted a city bus as well as some commisioned walls at the local university. After stumbling upon that and seeing the book Subway Art he got involved with graffiti art at age 15."I painted my first piece in an alley after school in broad daylight. I had no clue". "But after seeing Subway Art, I was pretty much hooked. It was all I could think about.". After later embarking on a career in commercial art, he decided to return the subject he knew all to well with Nineteen Eighty Five.

James Reitano has created work for various clients including Santa Cruz Skateboards, HP, Wu-Tang Clan and Spike TV. James has also written and animated several music videos for MF Doom, Kool KIeth and Cut Chemist. He is currently creative director for the design/animation shop TFU Studios based in Los Angeles.