In February 2026, the Museum of Graffiti opened its Artist Studios, a new creative space located adjacent to the Museum in Wynwood, expanding the museum's mission by providing a home for working artists that is open to the public. The program launched exclusively with local artists who began their careers as graffiti writers and have since developed established, successful studio practices. The inaugural group includes Jel Martinez, Ras Terms, Nico and ENTES each representing a distinct trajectory from graffiti origins to respected contemporary studio practice.
We stopped by the Wynwood studio of ENTES, one of the resident artists at Museum of Graffiti Artist Studios, to see his work up close and hear him talk through it in his own words.
To start — who are you and how long have you been doing this?
"I'm ENTES from Lima, Peru. I started painting on the street since '98. I got like almost 28 years painting on the street. This is my work. This is my identity."
What is this body of work actually about?
"My work is talking about graffiti — how graffiti covers layers and layers and layers and layers. The people hate the tags, hate the bombing, hate everything, love the murals and stuff like that. But for me, that's the first thing you need to grow in the street art world or graffiti art world."
How did your work evolve from letters to the figurative work we see now?
"All my work is talking about how my progress on the street came from painting letters and tags and stuff like that. And then the evolution of that gave me the vision to paint characters. The evolution came because you are investigating about materials. You spread yourself with graffiti on the street."
Walk us through the process — how does a piece actually get made?
"The conversation of all my work is talking about the street from Lima. Then somehow if I put some posters around, I create a vibe and start talking something. Something that reminds me of a spot on the corner — looks rough — but then in the studio I can see a pretty thing there, and I can transform my canvas in that. That conversation gives me more contact with my vision.
You can see the layers, the graffiti, the tags — and we peel those things to try to see the graffiti there. And it's a fight. So then I'm starting to learn how you can do composition with that.
The beginning is: do tags, throw ups, then came the marker work to get the texture, then I pass to put the posters on top, and then I'm trying to scratch something else for more texture. In the end it's a conversation of composition — about what I need, what the canvas needs."
Tell us about the technique you use to actually bring the wall into the studio.
"I figured out how the conversation gives me that — a person looking inside the wall, looking that deep. Then I'm starting trying to peel the wall off because my investigation can be deeper.
I don't try to only show a canvas. I try to do something else through this process — I call it the strappo. El strappo is a process of preservation, to try to preserve murals when earthquakes come, or whatever thing happened to the mural — to be able to rebuild the wall entire and translate it to other places.
With that I mix materials to do my own. You can see how rough it is. Fill the wall, and then through that process the wall stays with the paint. So I go to these abandoned places in Peru, go in illegally, paint there, and then do my process and be able to peel the wall off."
Who are the people in your paintings — and why are they there?
"My conversation about Black people and Brown people from Latin America gave me a movement — I call it indigenism. I took my own way to put these Brown people around doing regular stuff.
This reminds me of my auntie. That one is called Tía Eva. That's my father and my auntie's stair. That's a conversation with my guys.
It looks like the past but also the present. I try to open that gate with my artwork. This one specifically is talking about Pancho Fierro — who is one of the Black painters from the beginning of the days."
What is the driving force behind all of it?
"To be a Black person in Peru — how people look at you and say, 'Where are you from?' That question is too present in my life about who I am. My identity is the reason I paint all of this."
To view ENTES works available click here
Would love to check out ENTES studio and learn more about his work? Please contact Museum of Graffiti's Private Gallery to schedule an appointment with a consultant.
Call 305-394-9789 or email galleryassistant@museumofgraffiti.com.