April; I woke up in the middle of the night on the morning of my birthday with a heavy heart. Life feels like itās passing me by at 35. Identity feels unreal. Home, family, love, propose: are they enough or divine or chosen? The birds chirp and it reminds me of the beauty in the ephemeral nature of life. Holding on to youth, with an aging body and mind. Hope is warm like spring.
My first public exhibition in 11 years!
āØ XL2 āØ
Portals, Paintings, and Poems
Michael Owen and Friends
9/3/26 at @the.alchemy.of.art
āØ
Logo by @billy_nerva
Junglist BASSprint is back, with another night of heady Jungle and soulful DnB. šš„š
OG Junglist DJ Slant @djslant is on deck with MD Dub 2 (fb.com/MCDub2). DJ Ha @ryandjha will be throwing down LIVE drums. Gingersnap @gingersnvp is back, fresh from opening for LTJ. All new, we have a chillout room with the incredible Missy @missy222222222 and certified viber Oldboyslug @old.boy.slug .
Saturday, May 9th 2026, 9 pm - 2 am
4000 Buena Vista Ave, Baltimore, MD 21211
$10-$20
Tickets: ra.co/events/2414152
March felt like a shift I couldnāt predict. Bright days with nervous butterflies turned into cold nights and betrayal that turned into warm weekends with a sense of unity. There was a blood moon, the first hike of the year and flowers of forgiveness. Iām staying creative, DJing and wiping up delicious meals. It feels like maybe, an important seed was planted.
One of my 2026 goals was to DJ outside Baltimore in two different cities and I checked that off early this February. First time playing St. Petersburg, second time in DC, plus a 4.5 hour run back home. Cold month overall, even with the Florida trip barely dodging snow. The conference was solid despite catching a different kind of cold. Caught Takuya Nakamura, Mala, and Mia Koden. Big themes of resilience and manifestation both professionally and personally. š§š
NEXT TUESDAY UPSTAIRS FOR A SPIRIT WORLD,
@billy_nerva BRINGING IT BACK FOR SOME DANCE/HOUSE WITH A VIBE SO IMMACULATE, YOUāLL START TO REALIZE WHY WE GET DOWN AND PARTY ON EVERY LOVELY TUESDAY
ALWAYS FREE FOR YOU.
January: Renewed sense of creativity. Passion, love, commitment, trusting the universes. Connecting with co-workers, opening up to strangers, trusting myself. What does success look like if not all this. One door closes another opens.
Iām so blessed to have seen so many amazing shows this December. Suzonne Cioni and friends were one of the best shows Iāve ever seen, truly inspirational. Underground Resistance resonated with intense energy. DJ Manny and friendsā urban grit left me feeling like something special and rare had happened. Junglist Bassprint, which I organized and DJed, was one of my favorites, building community and uplifting jungle culture in Baltimore. Karizma and friends didnāt disappoint, leaving me dancing in my emotions. Oh, the woes of being lonely, rediscovering oneself, and learning to be new. New understanding of what it is to be a friend, a lover, and to navigate relationships. Approaching relationships with an open heart and authenticity, knowing that vulnerability can cause pain. Rediscovering spirituality from new perspectives. Cleansing and healing my home with art. Reflecting on the past. Joyous connection with children over the holidays. Darkest night, brightest light.
If you didnāt know, the name Nerva (which is now my DJ name) has been with me since middle school. I came up with it for a graffiti name over 20 years ago. The name has a few meanings for me. In Buddhism, Nirvana is the ultimate spiritual goal: a transcendent state of liberation from suffering. This name also conjures associations of nervousness or the bodyās nervous system. These drawings represent characters and āurban calligraphyā that found their way across the streets of Baltimore and a little in Chicago. As tradition in graffiti culture, other artists hit my āblack bookā with notable names such as Cope (NY), Pets (Chicago), Sinis (Balt), and Cicero (Balt), among others. I maintain my passion for street art/graffiti; however, in early college, I stopped producing it. The fear of legal consequences from illegal graffiti paused that line of exploration. I did some sanctioned Street art and mural work, but was relegated to minimal pay and mostly assistant positions. No one can tell you not to make art, and that is what draws me to graffiti. Other works and ideas are sprinkled throughout. I wish I could find the sketchbook with the drum-and-bass producer High Contrastās signature, signed at U Street Music Hall around 2010. This is part of a sketchbook dump; the other post contains primarily representational figure drawing. Post cut down from a Facebook post to fit IG's 20-image max.
#graffiti #blackbook #streatart #sketchbook #tagging
I dug through my sketchbooks and realised I had some gems in there, and that much of it had never been seen before, or by many people. I forgot I was a good artist, and it was an eye-opening reminder never to stop creating. There is a lot of pain that has kept me from making art, with financial pressure especially forcing much of it to end. These works span high school and some college. Some of this is deeply personal, involving people who have passed on and also past lovers. There is a mix of highly representational drawings and more gestural, caricature, and illustration styles. I really wish I had had the chance to explore more non-literal expressive figure illustration in high school and college. I feel like, to an extent, I miss my calling, and I was often relegated to personal sketchbook work. Works edited down from a Facebook post to fit IG's 20-image max. Iāll be posting a separate thread of black book graffiti, conceptual work, and other sketchbook finds.
#illustration #portrait #drawings #sketchbook #highschool
