先驱与大师

涂鸦最初于1960年代末起源于费城，而非纽约。至1970年代初，纽约地铁上开始出现带有某种设计风格的姓名缩写及署名，也即后来所称的涂鸦“签名”（tag）。街头艺术正是从那时起，逐渐被更多的公众所熟识。

各种相关的视觉表现“代码”也是在那段时期开始形成，并一直沿用至40年后的今天。Blade以及素有“涂鸦教父”之称的Seen等街头艺术家被视为早期的涂鸦大师，他们的知识、技巧和手法被代代传承下来。这些艺术家从简单的墙上涂写起步，逐渐形成独特的风格，并为创新艺术形式的诞生和发展奠定了基础。

1970和80年代的作品通常被称为“老派”涂鸦，其风格如今看来依然鲜明可辨。无论是在地铁、墙面还是画布上，这种用喷罐在所选表面进行创作的方式与街头艺术有着千丝万缕的联系。相关创作实践后来演变成为一种风潮，在这个过程中A-One、DONDI 或 Futura等人发挥了关键作用。他们一边大胆尝试，一边想方设法倾注自己的热情。他们的早期作品大多是在肾上腺素飙升的状态下，在相互竞争仿效的过程中完成，因此往往充满活力且风格独特。

Highlights

Crash (b. 1961)
Untitled, 1982
Spray paint on canvas
Lourdel Collection
Photo: courtesy of Stéphane Bisseuil

Crash is known for his classical graffiti that is tinged with pop art references. After initial success early on in the 1980s, specifically at Fashion Moda Gallery, New York, Crash (aka John Matos) went on to have a successful career exhibiting in galleries all over the world. His style drew inspiration form the visual environment in which he grew up – America of the 1960s and 1970s – with the omnipresent language of advertising and the birth of Pop Art.

QUIK (b.1958)
I'll never grow old, 1987
Spray paint on canvas
Lourdel Collection

Photo: courtesy of Stéphane Bisseuil

I’ll never grow old, the work displayed here by Lin Felton aka QUIK, is an unusually playful, ironic work from an artist who is known to have paved the way for graffiti that carried deeper meaning. QUIK questioned an America that was increasingly obsessed with consumerism and the conformist Pop Art aesthetic and his work often addressed issues of integration of African Americans into wider society. Of his approach, he said, “I can’t sing, I can’t play an instrument, so I paint the blues.”

Futura (b.1955)
Untitled, c. 1982
Spray paint on concert background
Lerouge Collection
Photo: courtesy of Stéphane Bissseuil

Futura began painting in the New York subway in the 1970s and soon developed his own abstract graffiti style that he called Futuristic. From the outset he chose not to follow the lettering trend, but rather worked to produce visualisations of movement and speed. He excelled in his handling of the aerosol can. He created atmospheres – ethereal worlds full of evanescent symbols – he blended colour explosions and pure lines.

A-One (1964–2001)
The Babylon System, the Prophet, 1985 Spray paint on canvas
Private Collection

Photo: courtesy of Stéphane Bissseuil

Anthony Clark, a.k.a. A-One was a prodigious talent. Like many self-taught artists his education took place on the streets. He made the decision not to paint trains and instead chose walls and canvases. A-One set himself apart with a particularly expressive style, one where spray-painted silhouettes with bulging eyes blended together. His compositions included a multitude of clashing objects and phrases, swirling together in plumes of smoke. Dense, to the point of being difficult to decipher, his pieces embody the graffiti aesthetic of explosion and eruption.

DONDI (b. 1961)
Untitled, 1984
Spray paint on canvas
Private Collection

Photo: courtesy of Stéphane Bissseuil

The artist DONDI (Donald Joseph White) began to graffiti in 1975. He set himself apart from the other street artists of the time, abandoning the sacrosanct contours of graffiti-type in order to paint letters as if they were three-dimensional or abstract elements. Like others, he transitioned to canvas where the visuals of his writing were in contrast with the brightly coloured graffiti seen on trains and exterior walls.

Blade (b. 1958)
Distant Traveller, 1987
Spray paint and marker on canvas

Lourdel Collection

Photo: courtesy of Stéphane Bissseuil

Blade was only 15 years old when he formed the Crazy Five Crew. He was later nicknamed the “King of Whole Cars” after having spray painted 5,000 subway cars in total on lines 5 and 2 of the New York subway between 1975 to 1980.

Blade’s contribution to graffiti culture is fundamental as he was the first artist to develop the entire composition around an initial tag. With this approach, the trend was not just about writing one’s name as big as possible but also about the careful choice of colours and the addition of objects and symbols to the composition, as well as the use of perspective and geometry.

< Back to main | Chapter 2 >