访谈丨CRASH 向世界展示涂鸦的重要性

被称为涂鸦艺术运动的先驱者Crash与Basquiat、Keith Haring齐名。1961年出生的他，从13岁起就开始在纽约地铁里涂鸦，从社区到火车站遍布着他的作品，偶然的机会下因为不小心撞坏了学校的电脑后，他的名字“CRASH”便开始出现在途经纽约市的各列火车上。Crash在时尚MODA策划了开创性的“美国涂鸦艺术的成功”，被认为是把涂鸦上升为艺术的标志性展览，之后他在欧洲、美国乃至亚洲迅速走红。进入90年代，他以Eric Claton等其他创作而著名，当时纽约已经看不到他早期的墙面涂鸦作品，但由Crash作为发起人之一的涂鸦运动，一直持续到今天。

Born John Matos in 1961, CRASH was raised in the Bronx, New York.  At the age of 13, he began following the older teens from his neighborhood to the train yards and began bombing.  Taking the name “CRASH” after he accidentally crashed the computer in his school, his name began appearing on trains circulating all throughout New York City.  He curated the ground-breaking "Graffiti Art Success for America" at Fashion MODA, launching the graffiti movement that has remained very active through today.  CRASH’s career took off and he saw instant popularity throughout Europe and America.

CRASH的作品在上海当代艺术馆展出

作为此次展览中涂鸦界的元老人物，MoCA君有幸采访了CRASH，提问了关于他如何将作品传达出“街头生活与现代社会之间的视觉联系”：

MoCA君：在你最初开始涂鸦的那个时代，当时的市民和政府是如何看待涂鸦？

CRASH:大众对于涂鸦的态度是负面的。因为涂鸦本质是非法的，所以我们面对的挑战非常多，但是这种负面的态度让我们更想要创作涂鸦。

MoCA: In the time period when you've just started painting graffiti, what was the attitude of public and the government towards graffiti?

CRASH: The original public attitude towards Graffiti was negative, because of the criminal aspect of Graffiti, because it was illegal and those challenges were very strong towards us, but that same negativity made us want to paint more, to go and create more Graffiti.

CRASH作品《Lost Horizon》在MoCA展出

 MoCA君：为什么会想到把涂鸦艺术带入主流艺术圈，例如画廊美术馆。

CRASH:70年代晚期我领悟到涂鸦作为艺术形式的影响力。涂鸦越来越大胆，抒情，政治性。涂鸦从一个小孩成长为一个有声音和主见的青年。我在1979年开始在画布上创作。当时，我打心里觉得我们的创作是非常重要的，我必须参与涂鸦的推广。早期的展览非常原始，但我们也要向世界展示出我们的重要性。

MoCA: Why did you decide to mainstream graffiti, such as museums. 

CRASH: In the late 70's, I realized that Graffiti was a powerful art form, which made incredible changes from the very early 70's. It became much bolder, more lyrical, sometimes more political. Graffiti grew up from a young child to becoming a young man with a powerful voice. I started to paint on canvas in 1979, and felt in my spirit that what we were doing was very important and I had to be involved in getting Graffiti to be recognized.  So the early exhibitions were raw, but also very important because we had to show the world the importance of what we were doing...

MoCA君：你现在依旧在街头涂鸦吗？是在画布纸板上作画较多还是在街头创作较多？有何不同吗？

CRASH:我还是会在街头创作涂鸦，也会和别的艺术家一起合作。虽然我大多数是在工作室里创作，主要是画在画布上，但是，在过去的6-8年，我又开始在街头创作，因为我觉得还有挺多事要做的。

MoCA: Are you still involved in street graffiti?  Or are you more involved with graffiti on canvas? Do you differentiate the two?

CRASH: I am very active in still painting on the streets with many murals and helping other artists.

I primarily work on canvas in my studio, but the last 6-8 years, I decided to be more active because I felt there was more to do.

CRASH的系列作品《Untitled》在MoCA展出

MoCA君：相较于上世纪近70年代，你如何看待涂鸦艺术现在的走向？

CRASH:我觉得涂鸦的国际影响力越来越强，而且这些来自于不同国家和艺术家的变化会让未来有更有趣的发展。我是看好这个趋势的，也认为未来的成长会是正向的。

MoCA: Compared to the last century, around       1970s, what do you expect graffiti to develop      towards?

CRASH: I think the global growth of Graffiti is powerful and the changes from all the countries and all the challenges from all the artists will make things very interesting for the future. I think it's going to be very positive, and the growth will continue to be strong.

 当前展览 / CURRENT EXHIBITION 

《 后当代城市自白7019 》 

  "Post Contemporary——Urban Graphics 7019"  

 策展人 | CURATOR    孙文倩 | Miriam Sun

 林志秀 | Jisoo Lim

主办 | Organized by  上海当代艺术馆  MoCA Shanghai

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