Crash (b. John Matos, Bronx, New York, Oct. 11, 1961) is a famous graffiti artist. As early as 13, John Matos was spray painting New York City trains, the full image art as opposed to simpler tagging soon transferred to silk screened canvas.[1][2] He was first noticed through his murals on subway cars and dilapidated buildings, he is now regarded as a pioneer of the Graffiti art movement.[3] His work is said to convey a "visual link between street life and established society".[4] By the 1980's Matos had exhibits across the United States and abroad. He was given his first gallery showing by Sidney Janis at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1983. [1][3] In 1996, Crash painted an Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster and gave it to the artist as a gift. Clapton went on to use the specially designed guitar through his 2001 tour and later appeared with another. In total Crash has created 3 guitars for Clapton, one which auctioned for $321,100(USD) by the name of "Crash-3" and used extensively during the first Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004. Soon after Fender Musical Instruments commissioned the creation of 50 such graffiti designed guitars from Crash and named the line "Crashocasters." [5] [6] Other artists such as John Mayer have used the custom painted Crashocaster guitars. [7] In July 2006, the pieces titled "Aeroplane 1" (1983) and "A-U-T-O-matic" (1985) were displayed in the Brooklyn Museum of Art in a featured exhibit titled "Graffiti."[1][3][8]
External links
- Crash Homepage [1]
- Crash Journal - Crash Pad - [2]
- Crash - Blog [3]
- Crashocasters [4]
- An interview with John "CRASH" Matos [5]
References
- ^ a b c "'Graffiti' by John Matos at the Brooklyn Museum", New York Times, 06-25-06.
- ^ "From Subway Cars to Canvas, Spray Can Still in Hand", The New York Times, 06-25-06.
- ^ a b c "Graffiti arrives at an elevated station", The Star-Ledger, 08-04-06.
- ^ Flint Institute of Arts. Recent Acquisitions. Retrieved on August 21, 2006.
- ^ Welcome to my homage to music. Crashocasters.com. Retrieved on August 24, 2006.
- ^ Fender Graffiti Stratocasters. Where's Eric!. Retrieved on August 24, 2006.
- ^ John Mayer with Crashocaster. Modern Guitar Magazine. Retrieved on August 24, 2006.
- ^ ""Graffiti"", Time Out New York, 07-27-06.
