Graffiti

In spring 1974, thirteen-year-old Lee Quiñones took his schematic drawings into a tunnel and spray painted “LEE” in gold, white, and black on the small panel of a New York City BMT train. An inspired outlaw with a meticulous design process and precision painting skills, his voice responded to the social and civil unrest of the era and found expression in painting graffiti, an ancient art form that he and many of his peers had to defend in the larger art world. On a clear, crisp morning, we met to talk about his legendary 50 years of painting, which is celebrated in his new book, Lee Quinoñes: Fifty Years of New York Graffiti Art and Beyond, as well as solo…

There are just certain artists who know their subject. For Tim Conlon, freight train graffiti is his muse, his subject, his love, his investigation. As a freight graffiti artist himself, Tim took that passion and understanding of the North American railroad system and turned into wonderfully constructed photoreal paintings of graff on trains as well as a series of train set works featuring graffiti pieces. His work is about not only a love of graffiti, but a story of movement, of communication and connection, friendship and the insight to a subculture of America that collect rail ephemera. It’s a story of the industrial revolution, but also of the power of moving art.