Celebrate Graffiti Icons Lady Pink, Keith Haring and More at the Museum of the City of New York

Exhibit draws from the Martin Wong Collection and loans from KAWS

They’re iconic now. But in the 1970s, graffiti artists like Futura 2000 (now simply known as Futura), Lady Pink, DAZE, Lee Quinones and Rammellzee pioneered an art form in New York City that wasn’t widely appreciated at the time. They were seen as vandals, illegally painting on buildings and subway cars.

But Martin Wong—an artist who moved to New York in 1978 and befriended graffiti artists while working his day job at art supply store Pearl Paint—saw beauty in their work.

And as these young artists transitioned to painting on canvases and paper, he collected their notebooks, rough drafts, sketches and early efforts, preserving them for posterity.

Before he passed away more than 20 years ago, Wong donated his treasured collection to the Museum of the City of New York, and gems from the aforementioned artists and other art stars like Keith Haring, who rose to prominence in the 1980s, are featured in an exhibit called “Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection” that runs at the venue through August 10.

The show—put together by curator Sean Corcoran—also features art from the artist KAWS’ personal collection, including Dondi White’s 1985 painting “Bishop of Battle,” as well as photographs taken by Martha Cooper and film footage courtesy of Charlie Ahearn, who directed and produced 1982’s Wild Style.

Here, Corcoran talks about the cultural significance of Wong’s collection, why he is passionate about this art form and what he learned while staging the exhibit.

MUSE: What makes Martin Wong’s collection of graffiti art so important?

The collection is significant for its sheer size. With more than 300 canvases and works on paper, it is the largest collection in an American institution. Additionally, he concentrated on collecting artist’s sketch books—the books writers would develop their style with, or create outlines of pieces to paint on trains. They provide a rare insight into the inner workings of the subculture. Today, many deem these the true treasures of Martin’s collection.

This isn’t the first time you’ve created an exhibit based on Wong’s collection. Back in 2014, I interviewed you about City As Canvas. On a personal level, what did it feel like to get a chance to dive back into his collection all these years later?

This exhibition allowed me to reexamine the previously unseen work, some of the oversized canvases we’ve never been able to display, including a beautiful, almost psychedelic canvas by A-One, a remarkable abstract piece by Futura and several oversized works by Lee Quinones that show his mastery with a spray can and abilities as a draftsman.    

Lady Pink’s work was featured in City as Canvas, and we see it in this exhibit, too. Fans of graffiti art know her work. But can you tell me about some of the other women who were doing graffiti back in the day that we should know about?

There were a number of women involved in the early days of writing—many that were well respected by their peers in the 1970s. Barbara 62 and Eva 62, Cowboy and Stoney from Brooklyn and Grape and Charmin 65 from the Bronx. Into the 80s, there were fewer women writers, and indeed, many of these writers wrote in public spaces, and their work was ephemeral. Lady Pink was one of the few who established a regular practice as a traditional easel artist.

What sparked your interest in this art form?

My earliest memories of graffiti were watching the 4 Trains runs by Yankee Stadium when we went to games as a kid. I was also attracted to the early films, Wild Style, Style Wars, even Beat Street and Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant’s seminal book Subway Art.

As an adult, I went off to focus on photography. When I began working at the Museum of the City of New York in 2007, I quickly learned about the collection, and it became an obsession. As the years went on, I delved deeper and deeper into the subject.

Meeting as many of the artists as possible, hearing their stories and finding other primary resource history became the key to truely understanding the complexities of this culture. I’ve tried to maintain a level of engagement since then and returning to it full-time for the last year or so has been a real pleasure.