{"id":147742,"date":"2026-03-25T06:33:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T06:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/147742\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T06:33:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T06:33:31","slug":"honoring-phillys-original-sticker-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/147742\/","title":{"rendered":"honoring Philly\u2019s original sticker artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends.\u00a0Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You cannot walk around Philly without seeing El Toro\u2019s work and legacy \u2014 a friendly yet mischievous cartoon buffalo on the back of a street sign, lamp post or brick wall. The artist, born Justin Nagtalon, who helped elevate sticker art in Philadelphia into a popular and respected medium, died earlier this month on March 7. He was 43 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been describing him as a male Hello Kitty,\u201d Nagtalon told WHYY\u2019s Art Outside series<\/a> in 2023, \u201cwhich is also cute in kawaii, but also has a little mischievous side to him, a little bit of vandalism side \u2014 you know, make it a little saucy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s Philly\u2019s street mascot,\u201d said street artist Sean 9 Lugo<\/a>. \u201cThe city lost a legend, and I can only speak for myself, but I\u2019m pretty sure a lot of people could agree that this one hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Philadelphia, there are many city signs reminding you of rules and their consequences: \u201cdon\u2019t turn here,\u201d \u201cone way street,\u201d \u201cdon\u2019t park here,\u201d \u201d$300 towing fee.\u201d El Toro looked at the back of these signs as a blank canvas \u2014 an opportunity for art that pushes against orders and brings fun and levity to the mundane.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nagtalon began creating El Toro stickers and putting them up around Philadelphia in the early 2000s \u2014 back when sticker art was thought of as an illegitimate and taboo medium. He and artist Bob Will Reign are widely credited as two of the city\u2019s first sticker artists, helping launch the scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both sprinted off the starting line around 2003 together as Bob and Toro. We started as just accomplices, but eventually we became friends and family,\u201d Bob Will Reign wrote on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cHe was a brother to me. We were always pulling and pushing each other through the years to create and make art.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two were part of the 33 crew \u2014 a collective of early Philadelphia sticker artists that included Ticky 33<\/a>, Underwater Pirates<\/a>, Nos\u00e9go<\/a> and others in their orbit.<\/p>\n

Over and over and over again, Nagtalon created different versions of El Toro \u2014 drawing stickers and establishing the character as a regular presence in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sketches by El Toro, aka Justin Nagtalon in February 2026. (Via @eltoro215)<\/p>\n

\u201cThink about a big picture \u2014 imagining an artist sitting in their studio, hand drawing hundreds of works of art to then deliver to the public in these otherwise empty spaces,\u201d said Conrad Benner, founder and editor of Streets Dept<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s just a really beautiful way to make art in the public space\u2026 and that character lived in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

While most artists hope to gain recognition for their own creative ideas and style, Nagtalon had a larger goal. He was someone who wanted to bring success and attention to his community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a teacher,\u201d street artist Doomed Future said. \u201cHe taught a lot of people how to hone in on their character and design them better. He really cared about what everybody was doing\u2026 he really lived his character\u2026 He was his character.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Courtesy of Doomed Future)<\/p>\n

Sticker artist Jen, aka Ticky 33, remembers the first time that she met El Toro at one of his early shows. Back then, the bullish character was drawn to be cruder, bulkier and more intimidating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was terrified,\u201d Ticky 33 said. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Toro is going to be this massive dude. He\u2019s gonna bite into our heads and throw us across the street \u2014 he\u2019s huge. I\u2019m so scared. What if he hits us? What if he kills us?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her worries turned out to be unnecessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get there and you meet Justin and you\u2019re just like, \u2018Oh my god\u2026 the character he drew, it wasn\u2019t about his personality being big and overbearing, or anything like that. It was more about the size of his heart. He\u2019s just the most welcoming, friendly and encouraging person on the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Artist Ticky 33\u2019s new tattoo honoring El Toro. (Courtesy of Jen, Ticky 33)<\/p>\n

Over time, Nagtalon\u2019s character slowly became softer, more cartoonish, playful and inviting \u2014 just like him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s taken a lot of evolutions from the 20 years I\u2019ve been doing him and then creating. I think he just grows up with me, basically,\u201d Nagtalon told WHYY in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An artist from the beginning<\/p>\n

Nagtalon was born in the Philippines on January 10, 1983 and lived in Quezon City until the age of 10. His mother was a pediatric nurse and his father worked for the government\u2019s Bureau of Fisheries. He was a middle child and had two siblings, with a six year age gap between each kid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just always outside,\u201d said Jamille Nagtalon-Ramos, Nagtalon\u2019s older sister. \u201cAnd the Philippines is a tropical country\u2026 It\u2019s either sunny or raining, that\u2019s really it. But we were always outside \u2014 in the rain, in the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Justin Nagtalon and his mom in the Eagles helmet-mobile during game day as a poster artist. (Via @eltoro215)<\/p>\n

Nagtalon\u2019s mother, Jennifer, was recruited to come to the United States and work in 1986 to help fill a nursing shortage. She made the tough decision to move to Paterson, New Jersey to support her children and husband from abroad. Nagtalon\u2019s younger brother, Jethro David \u201cJD\u201d Venzon Nagtalon, is the only family member who was born in the U.S.<\/p>\n

While it was hard to be separated, Jamille reflects fondly on the family\u2019s years in the Philippines. She often took on the role of the third parent to Justin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eldest daughter is definitely the protector and the one who provides,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I took that to heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nagtalon once said that he often saw carabao (Filipino water buffalo) while growing up that inspired El Toro. From a young age, he had an affinity for art. He was always drawing, or stealing his sister\u2019s markers. He enjoyed the freedom of his Filipino schooling, which encouraged a learn-through-play approach.<\/p>\n

Roughly six years after Nagtalon\u2019s mother moved to the United States, the whole family finally joined her in Paterson.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Courtesy of Ticky 33)<\/p>\n

Coming to America was a big transition for Nagtalon. The family arrived in winter in the middle of the school year \u2014 isolated from friends and relatives back home. All of a sudden, young El Toro was exposed to a new culture with different food, different weather and a different language. They had never owned a winter jacket or seen a lemon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe starts Catholic school here, and they\u2019re wearing a uniform, and there\u2019s all these restrictions,\u201d Jamille explained. \u201cWe just were like, what is happening with our life?\u201d<\/p>\n

Even just figuring out how to exist within the family had its challenges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNavigating space and emotions and even just some kind of cognitive dissonance in being like, \u2018Oh my God, we\u2019re a family now again in the same proximal space,\u2019 that also was a transition for us,\u201d Jamille said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finding home in Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Art was always a safe space for Nagtalon. According to his younger brother JD, Nagtalon\u2019s rise as El Toro<\/a> was an inevitability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always with a sketchbook and a pencil in hand,\u201d he recalled. \u201cHe was always into anything comic book related \u2014 anything cartoons. Our shared love for cartoons is a big brotherly bonding experience for us. It was the Simpsons and \u201880s cartoons \u2014 Thundercats and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think of my older brother, he is Justin, but I also just think of him as El Toro because of how long he has been with the character,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve known El Toro as Justin since I was like 10 or 11 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Courtesy of Ticky 33)<\/p>\n

Nagtalon studied at the Art Institute of Philadelphia for a degree in graphic design. According to family members, this is when he really got to explore the city.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He] always loved being in Philadelphia,\u201d Jamille said. \u201c[The city] became his adopted home, and he left Philly after art school to take a job in Florida for a hot minute, and then came back and really started establishing himself as an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 2003, he was already out and creating El Toro, placing the character in different parts of the city and building community with other creatives. By 2006, he had his first show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ticky 33 reflects on how different the sticker art scene was back then.\u00a0
\u201cWe had to work together,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had to try every brand of marker, every brand of paper, every kind of sticker, to see how they held up in different weather. For the kids now, it\u2019s great. I have no problem. I\u2019m not trying to knock them, but there\u2019s a couple of things I noticed now with Instagram and the way it\u2019s so popular now and it\u2019s so easily obtainable to get all of this knowledge that we had to really fight and work through and fail a lot to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nagtalon also had a significant hand in shaping the bar, Tattooed Mom<\/a>, into the street artist hub it is today.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stays in my heart and my mind so strongly, because he really was one of the first people, if not the first person, that I reached out to pre-Instagram,\u2019\u201d said Robert Perry, the co-founder and owner of Tattooed Mom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nagtalon not only helped the bar by bringing his own artwork into the space, but also by connecting Perry with other street artists and encouraging them to do the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a super sweet guy, straight from the get-go, really down to earth, really just lovely and sweet and kind and creative,\u201d Perry said. \u201cFrom there, that just kind of ,over the years, blossomed into both a personal friendship and a professional one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere would not be the vibrant street art scene that you see here today without somebody like Justin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfemale El Toro\u201d<\/p>\n

El Toro died young, but according to friends and family he was also one of the lucky few to find his soul mate, Amanda Benson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe happiest that I\u2019ve ever seen my brother, other than drawing, was with his wife, Amanda,\u201d JD said. \u201cI remember meeting them for the first time, and the biggest smile on his face introducing Amanda to the family and everything. If he wasn\u2019t creating art, he was spending time creating memories with his wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benson is a graphic designer and artist. The pair met in 2007.<\/p>\n

\"\"Justin Nagtalon and his wife Amanda Benson. (Courtesy of Elizabeth Hunt)<\/p>\n

\u201cJustin is the kindest, most loving and creative person I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d Benson said, adding that the first thing that drew her to Nagtalon was his smile. \u201cI just had a comfortability with him that I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever had with anyone else. Right off the bat, we have a ton in common \u2014 art-wise, we have very similar tastes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ticky 33 noted that looking back, she\u2019s realized just how much El Toro\u2019s relationship with Benson has shown up in his work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the more recent designs and prints that Justin was making of El Toro, there\u2019s a female El Toro involved,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s got a lot of videos on his Instagram where he\u2019ll talk about his prints and what they\u2019re based on. And I didn\u2019t even realize it until a couple weeks ago that they\u2019re based on events that he and Amanda shared together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Courtesy of Amanda Benson)<\/p>\n

Benson and Nagtalon married at the Valley Green Inn in the Wissahickon in 2012. The couple loved traveling. After their wedding, they took a road trip to the West Coast \u2014 where they spent the next eight years, until the COVID pandemic and time to reflect brought the two back to Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked our way back across the country to Philadelphia,\u201d Benson said. \u201cI think all of the things that we had looked for out there, we had fulfilled in many ways\u2026 We just missed Philly. Los Angeles had never felt quite like home. And even though neither of us are from Philadelphia originally \u2014 we grew up elsewhere \u2014 we found a shared, chosen home here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m no longer afraid of who I am\u201d<\/p>\n

Nagtalon made the decision to start letting the public know more about his identity after his move back to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nieces and nephews that, they know I do [street art], and being unknown versus known is so different,\u201d Nagtalon told WHYY. \u201cI want you to be proud of me\u2026 We\u2019re going to celebrate this. I\u2019m no longer afraid of who I am. And I think it\u2019s such a big leap to connect and also to understand my art more. I think that, you know, bridging that gap before wasn\u2019t important, but now it is, and I think I have a lot more things to say because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Benson, the change was gradual and nuanced over time. While El Toro\u2019s work is lauded, much of it is also illegal. Coming forward, especially as an immigrant and a person of color, is not a decision to take lightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, he realized there were certain accomplishments he would not be able to achieve if he remained completely anonymous. Living in Los Angeles and witnessing international artists during their travels exposed Nagtalon to a different perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing so comfortable in Philadelphia and having such support here really helped him to lean in more heavily to trusting that he would be accepted the way he wanted to be,\u201d Benson said, \u201cand that he would be able to share his work even to a wider audience than he had already done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Courtesy of Sean 9 Lugo)<\/p>\n

Certainly, the city has embraced not just El Toro, but Justin. In the last five years of his life, Nagtalon was commissioned to create dream projects. In 2023, he created a large public mural with Mural Arts<\/a>. Not only did he talk with WHYY\u2019s Art Outside podcast series, but he created the cover art for it. Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles commissioned him to create artwork and one of their official game day posters<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, coming out about his identity gave him the chance to work more closely with Philly\u2019s Filipino community. He worked with the Asian Arts Initiative<\/a> and created artwork for restaurants like Manong<\/a>, Baby\u2019s Kusina + Market<\/a> and Tabachoy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An artist gone too soon<\/p>\n

Nagtalon\u2019s death was sudden and unexpected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the last conversation I\u2019d be expecting to have with you right now,\u201d Benson told BP.<\/p>\n

Nagtalon passed away from a heart attack. His father had died from the same illness at around the same age.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear about cardiovascular risk in the African American population, but [Filipinos] also have a very high risk, similar,\u201d his sister Jamille said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jamille is an assistant professor at Rutgers University School of Nursing and a women\u2019s health nurse practitioner at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Pennsylvania Hospital. Part of her research includes working with the Filipino community.<\/p>\n

\u201cCardiovascular disease is a problem in the Filipino community,\u201d she said, noting that her father-in-law also passed away from a heart attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very tragic, but also I\u2019m more motivated than ever to continue my research and be able to better inform our community in terms of lowering our risk for cardiovascular disease,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s just the most tragic thing for him to be 43 and dying of a heart attack and not even being able to outlive my dad, who died very young at 44.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"El Toro created artwork, featuring a happy rainbow and sun, for WHYY\u2019s Art Outside podcast with Conrad Benner.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, I see a new tribute to him\u201d<\/p>\n

The loss of El Toro has left a giant hole in Philadelphia\u2019s street art community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t even put into words what a supportive, encouraging dude he is,\u201d Ticky 33 said. \u201cHe encouraged us to do art shows, projects, coloring books, T-shirts, sticker prints, anything. If there was any kind of event involving our characters together, it only happened because Justin curated it\u2026 It wasn\u2019t like he was running to the finish line without you, he was dragging you along with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost an amazing human,\u201d Lugo said. \u201cIf he was a dope creative and an asshole, this would have been easy. He was such a good dude\u2026 Philly will move on, just like anything, but it won\u2019t be the same without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past two weeks, street artists around the city have been overflowing with creativity and grief, putting together tributes to El Toro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"El Toro around town, RIP
(Photo by @twistedphilly) <\/p>\n

\u201cWith the news of his passing, every day I see a new tribute to him, somebody taking their own art and paying tribute to him, or taking his character and mixing it with their style or their character,\u201d Perry said. \u201cI haven\u2019t really seen something like this before, personally, where this community is just reacting with their love and respect and grief for his passing and shining it back to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Nagtalon is gone, El Toro and his presence is still all over Philadelphia. His stickers are there, winking at you \u2014 letting you know he\u2019s made his mark. He\u2019s there, even in the work he didn\u2019t personally create.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at sticker art now, there\u2019s a lot of amazing artists out there, but when you look at the characters, you can pretty much see that almost every character that has come out after, say, 2015 is basically Bob, Toro, Underwater Pirates and Ticky rolled into one,\u201d Ticky 33 said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the eyes, you\u2019ve got the teeth, you\u2019ve got the open mouth with the tongues hanging out. You\u2019ve got the horns, the arms, the robots. We started that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Justin Nagtalon during Eagles game day as a poster artist. (Via @eltoro215)<\/p>\n

Tattooed Mom is planning to hold a community gathering celebrating El Toro\u2019s life. Perry is still in the early stages of planning but you can follow the bar\u2019s Instagram page<\/a> for updates. There is also a Meal Train<\/a> set up for anyone who would like to support Benson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that Philadelphia will feel this \u2014 this void \u2014 with him being gone.\u201d Perry said. \u201cBut I also am so encouraged by the outpouring of love that I\u2019ve seen and the outpouring of support and kindness that I\u2019ve seen from that community, not just in Philadelphia, but all over the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Benson said El Toro spent the last weeks of his life hard at work doing what he loved \u2014 creating joy and art.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been getting up earlier and earlier, because we both find the early morning hours to be super productive,\u201d she said. \u201cSomething was telling me these last few weeks to just go get my tea and let him just work\u2026 I always want to pop my head in and say hi, but was trying to give him his space and his time, because he just felt like he had so much he wanted to share, and it never stopped.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, I just keep coming back to his work, because you can\u2019t look at it and not smile \u2014 it\u2019s impossible, and it\u2019s just so beautiful, and he is so beautiful. I miss him so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Photo by Landon Wise)<\/p>\n

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