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Nic 707, born Fernando Pablo Miteff (1959 - 2020), was an Argentine-American graffiti artist, comedian, and art collector based in New York City. He is best known as the creator and original curator of the innovative InstaFame Phantom Art Project, a collection of artwork produced by himself and other well-known and emerging artists, designed for and extensively exhibited on New York City's transit system from 2009 to 2020. He is also recognized for his historical relevance within the graffiti community as an early style writer and his founding of the OTB (“Out to Bomb” or “Only the Best”) graffiti crew in the mid-1970s.

Early Life
Fernando was born on November 14th, 1959 as the middle child of Pablo Alexis Miteff, an Argentine professional heavyweight boxer and Elba Diana (née Tommasi). He was born in Argentina during a protracted one year visit to his parent’s homeland after their previous immigration to the U.S. Upon his families return to the U.S., they lived for a short time in Yonkers, New York until finally settling in the Claremont section of The Bronx in New York City, where Nic 707 spent his entire youth.

Early Career as a Graffiti Artist
Nic 707 was attracted to graffiti and it’s emerging culture at the age of 10 after being excited by the exploits of graffiti writers Taki 183 and Checker 170. He began his writing career soon after using the early tag names of Stine 169 and Tuc 2 before adopting the name Nic 707. In the mid-’70s, his tags and pieces became regular sights on the insides and exteriors of the IND and IRT lines of the New York City Transit System. During this period, Nic 707 became well known as a prolific “Style Writer” and founded OTB (“Out to Bomb” or “Only the Best”) graffiti crew, becoming its first President. Over the years, OTB members have included a number of significant and world-renowned graffiti writers such as Noc 167, Ban 2, Pnut 2, Tracy 168, and Cope2.

Nic 707 attended and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx, which proved to be a competitive proving ground for budding graffiti writers who also benefited from the proximity of the school to one of the city’s primary train yards.

Fernando Pablo Miteff applied for and was granted U.S. citizenship when he was eighteen years of age.

Later Career
After two years of college at SUNY at Binghamton and a tour of service with the U.S. Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Fernando returned to New York to work as a limousine driver with his father’s company before an earnest pursuit for a career as a stand-up comedian. In the 1990s through the early 2000s, he would appear frequently at local comedy clubs in Harlem and throughout the city.

Return to Graffiti
In 2006, drawn back to graffiti by his love of the art form, Fernando abandoned his aspirations as a comedian and dedicated himself to re-establishing himself as a graffiti writer and reinvigorating the genre. After a lengthy period of renewing and refreshing his skills, he launched a series of canvases he called his “Future Early Works”, art that represented what he would have painted in the early 1980s if he had continued pursuing graffiti art. He began to frequently paint large scale works on permitted walls throughout the city and became a regular attendee and frequent guest at gallery openings, signings, and art exhibitions. He actively re-engaged with earlier graffiti artists and supported community events while also encouraging the efforts of new and emerging artists from many different genres.

Kilroy
A recurring theme in many of Nic 707's works is the use of a character that he referred to as a "Kilroy." It is a call back to the original character seen in the "Kilroy was here" graffiti that was popular in the later WWII era and beyond. Nic 707’s portrayal takes a radical departure in meaning and substance from the original, ascribing extraterrestrial but benign origins for the character, as well appearing in dozens of different iterations and shapes.

InstaFame Phantom Art
In 2009, Nic 707 launched the InstaFame Phantom Art Project, which was designed to be a transformative approach to the way the public interacted with graffiti while observing its roots and origins. The IFPA Project utilized the concepts of “Mobile Graffiti” and “4th Dimensional Art.” Mobile Graffiti is genre art fashioned in a way to be easily mounted and removed from most surfaces, made from relatively resilient materials, making their exhibition easy to set up and takedown in an entirely non-destructive manner. 4th Dimensional Art exploited the relationship between human memory and circumstance, with the exhibition of the art itself occurring with the immediacy and impact of natural events. Nic 707 vigorously eschewed conventional gallery shows and settings. Instead, he preferred the dynamic nature, challenges, and freedom presented by his frequent public exhibitions held on the trains and buses of the New York City Transit system. The preferred exhibition sites for IFPA events were usually along the IRT and IND subway lines of which over seventy exhibitions were held over the course of eleven years. Later this would extend to the stations themselves and above ground exhibits along surface transit stops as well.

Nic 707 and the InstaFame Phantom Art Project were the subjects of an article in the New York Times print and web editions on March 1st, 2015. The article covered the movement’s exploits and the addition of other artists, which has grown over time to include artists from other parts of the U.S. and the World, including Japan, Great Britain, and Columbia.

To date, dozens of artists other than Nic 707 have participated in InstaFame Phantom Art exhibitions. These include Brian Convrey, Checker 170, Cope2, Cornbread, Crash, D’mon Borkel, Easy, Gear 1, King Bee, Lava 1 and 2, MadC, Michael Cuomo, Praxis, Pulse, SAMO, Skeme, Snake 1, Sonny 107, Taki 183, Thomas Crouch, Tracy 168, and Zimad. The entire InstaFame Phantom Art collection alone numbers over 600 individual pieces, and is accompanied by hundreds of other related artworks including original black and white poster art.

Death
Nic 707 died unexpectedly due to complications from Covid-19 in New York City on April 12, 2020.