Thing of the Day

Graffiti Legend DUSTER UA hits London

December 2nd 2010 

Legendary American graffiti artist Duster UA is in London town this week - this Saturday December 4th, at the London Miles Gallery in Portobello. “Enjoy a cozy Saturday indoors with a film screening and an afternoon with Duster UA” says the flyer. There’ll be a question and answer session with the man himself, you can listen to him talk about the history of subway graffiti (yes, he was there when it all kicked off back in the 70’s and early 80’s over in New York), you can watch Style Wars on the big screen, view a unique exhibition of photos from Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant and grab a first look at some new original artwork by Duster…

Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant’s work is always worth seeing. Their collaborative book Subway Art opened up so many eyes to all kinds of possibilities when it first came out in the early 80’s – sent shockwaves around the world! Ordered my copy from the local shop and went and collected it during my school lunch break, got no work done for the rest of that day, everyone crowded around looking at it – “Hope you’re not getting ideas, Sean” said a slightly alarmed passing teacher. Their photos of the Duster Lizzie full cars were almost shocking – did they really do that?  That one iconic photo of the train up on the open track above New York skyline, one of the most powerful images…

The London Miles Gallery is under the Westway at Studio 303, 242 Acklam Road, London W10

www.londonmiles.com
www.dusterua.com


STOP PRESS: There’s a good video of the event here for those who didn’t (or maybe did) make it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAjwL_N5xMg