Eric Rosenbaum, better known as Norm Will Rise and the owner of LA’s Love Letter Tattoo, has died.
The legendary tattoo and graffiti artist’s death was confirmed by several co-workers.
Love Letter Tattoo artist Anthony Carreiro paid tribute to Norm with an Instagram post, saying, “Thank you for everything NORMWILLRISE.”
Norm’s cause of death has not been revealed, however it appears his death was unexpected.
His last Instagram update shows that the late tattoo artist was scheduled to appear at the ‘Get Inked’ Miami convention this weekend and return to Los Angeles and Mexico by the end of the month.
The ‘Get Inked’ Miami Instagram page told how Norm died before he could make it to the tattoo convention.
“A very sad and tragic loss today. @normloveletters never made it to the convention today. Unfortunately passed away right before leaving to come here for our convention. @bigsleeps had to leave and fly back home. My deepest condolences to them in this very difficult time. Praying for your family.”
Norm was a member of some of the best-known graffiti crews: AWR (Angels Will Rise), MSK (Mad Society Kings) and TSL (The Seventh Letter).
Norm became a household name and transitioned to a tattoo artist, transferring his knowledge of street art on to the skin of his clients. The LA-based tattoo artist was from Baltimore and moved to California in the mid-90s.
Several fans have paid tribute to Norm’s graffiti and tattoo work during his successful career.
Rip to the legend norm awr msk pic.twitter.com/02oYhKcTLi
— YAKERZ (@yakzdubz) October 12, 2019
RIP Norm MSK, my condolences to his family and crew mates
— Since 1984™ (@Tahoe17) October 12, 2019
In an interview with The Hundreds, Norm revealed that he got his start in graffiti when he moved to San Francisco in 1998.
“I am from Baltimore, I moved to Southern California and then to the San Francisco Area where I started writing graffiti in 1998. I learned everything about graffiti and stealing and everything f**ked up about graffiti in SF from Fate.”
Norm Will Rise is remembered for his street art and contributions to tattoo and graffiti culture.