Please join in welcoming BLADE & FREEDOM to LA! This Saturday, August 30th they will both be displaying new works at the Seventh Letter Flagship Store. Also the new book BLADE: KING OF GRAFFITI will be available there. The book is fantastic and I worked on it for the past 6 years. As a favor to me if you could come pick up a copy andhave them both sign it (FREEDOM write it!) it would mean a lot to them.
BLADE is considered “The King of Graffiti” because by 1980, after painting 5,000 wildly creative trains, he stopped counting. Known and loved by the graffiti community, BLADE is not a myth but a crowned head visionary who has painted a rich collection of artwork on the street and on canvas.
BLADE’s first solo show in Los Angeles, this exhibit features new large-scale spray paint and paint marker artworks on canvas and NYC subway maps. Inspired by his own characters, letters, colors, and abstract imagery from some of his own subway train masterpieces from the 1970’s, the collection of artwork is a throwback to his innovative style that influenced generations of contemporary artists all over the world. Titles like “METALLIC MADNESS” and “METEROIC RAINBOW ” are reminiscent of the silver spray paint and metal trains that BLADE painted fiercely. His
gifted perception for color and letter style are not just nostalgic but defining for the golden era of subway art. In “JOINT MAN ,” BLADE paints a character he originally created in 1976, at age 19, on an IRT Train. These new paintings are a look at the past fused with BLADE’s ever-future imagination of today.
BLADE: KING OF GRAFFITI is a colorful hardbound collectible book about BLADE, the prolific and legendary graffiti artist from the Bronx. BLADE’s career has spanned over forty years and writer/NY graffiti artist Chris Pape, aka FREEDOM , sits down with him to recount his high’s and low’s in this 250 page book, packed with vintage photos of his life and artwork. This book parallels the New York graffiti movement almost from its inception, moving through its glory years in the mid-1970s, when BLADE earned his title, and ending in the global art scene, where he remains a major presence. BLADE helped New York graffiti become internationally famous by making it look fun, and, for reasons of quantity, quality, and, perhaps above all, for sheer spirit, BLADE may very well be the most popular graffiti artist with his peers. This recently released book is available for sale at THE SEVENTH LETTER STORE for $39.99.
