Luxury Graffiti

In the 1980s, under the tag “Kace,” I navigated New York City's graffiti scene. I would mostly “get up” on walls and trains in Brooklyn - Flatbush, Crown Heights, and Bed-Stuy - and in graffiti black books that circulated through the boroughs. I went to Tilden High School which was one of the most violent schools in NYC at the time. Academically I was failing miserably, and my single mother gave me an ultimatum: either quit school and get a job or go to City-As-School in Manhattan. 

City-As was an alternative school offering a unique education through a combination of classes, college-level courses, and internships. This experience opened doors that would have been inaccessible at Tilden. I interned at institutions such as Marvel Comics, The Center for African Art, and Planned Parenthood, immersing myself in New York's cultural and artistic scene. Interestingly, Jean-Michel Basquiat attended City-As just a few years before me. One day, while across the street from the school, I had the unforgettable opportunity to meet my idols Run DMC, who were filming a segment for PBS’s Reading Rainbow. Their autographs on my portfolio cover remain a cherished reminder of that moment.

Throughout the 90’s, I never stopped tagging. Even when I was painting from life and working on comic books, I was still tagging Kace here and there on random spaces. Years later, the name “Kace” took on deeper significance when I named one of my twin sons after my tag.  As part of my Diovadiova Chrome Avoid a Void series, I made chrome sculptures of he and my other children Adison and Kent. The works were then used as the foundation for a monumental 10 x 13-foot oil painting. 

Diovadiova Chrome Tribunal, Oil on canvas, 126 x 162 inches

Now in 2020, I’ve returned to my graffiti roots. My Luxury Graffiti oil paintings re-present photographs of my chrome sculptures against backgrounds of Kace tags. The tags are cropped and enlarged to convey how we zoom in on images on our computers and smartphones. There are also references to the “bombed” NYC subway of the 80’s, traditional oil portraiture, Action Painting and Abstract Expressionism but mostly it’s about legacy.

Kip Omolade, February 5, 2020