"A TUNNEL IN THE HAMPTONS"

This article was posted by West One in his 12oz Prophet blog.

Much has been written and discussed about the Graffiti 1980 Studio. Spearheaded by Sam Esses (R.I.P) along with Futura, and Zephyr in 1979-80, this was the first time that this generation of Masters had put their work on canvas. Previous Graffiti artists from the 70’s had exhibited their work in organized shows. However, by 79-80 style writing was in it’s rennaisance, and this collection features many of the great masters of the day including Dondi, Zephyr, Crash, Daze, Futura, T-Kid, and Kel, among others. The Studio sessions were documented by Rafael Pasquera and Henry Chalfant showing these young artists touching the void, and investigating a new space for their work. It’s worth remembering that while this was going on every one of them was ROCKING the train lines.

There is a lot of history, and some controversy surrounding the collection. I am not qualified to speak in depth on either (see the links below). However, in the winter of 2004 I went to meet with Sam Esses to look at this collection at his home in East Hampton. The paintings were stored in the basement and the lighting was poor. The first one I saw was a Kel canvas and my heart dropped. Then one after another – Bilrock, Tracy 168, Mare 139, Pink, Shy, Cos, ….each one lit up as I pulled them out from the dark. I could feel the energy pulsing from those paintings, and I had the sense that I had come accross some kind of time capsule. The first thought that came to mind was walking through a dark train tunnel and seeing masterpieces lined up one after the other.

I was left alone with them for a while and at the end after viewing all of the stretched canvases I unrolled two of my favorites – one was a Kel / Crash Blockbuster with space ships and planets that felt like a whole car, and the other one hidden in the corner was the best – the practice canvas where everyone tested their paint – full of tags from all of them including Mackie, Rasta, and Noc.

This is a monumental collection. I look forward to the day that I am walking throught the halls of The Smithsonian, or some other great museum and seeing these paintings -including the canvas with the tags – in the light for all to see.

-Links:

Zephyr history.
Bilrock speaks.
Video interview with Futura.
Chino has clear shots.
Smithsonian Archive.