As an ex-graffiti writer of 12+ years there is no denying the influence of 80′s NYC subway graffiti had on me. I still remember the first time watching Style Wars and how much of an impact it had on me and my work. Dondi’s work stood out to me amongst them all. The way he spoke about his work, the colors and the style in which he wrote his letters were very inspiring. I no longer practice writing graffiti and have taken on yarn as my new medium of choice. I wanted to create a piece about one of my biggest influences non-destructively. The result was a performance piece with Dondi’s “Children of the Grave” series split up into small rectangles. Each rectangle was built up using individual strands of yarn in a gray color scheme to mimic the color of the subway. I then took Dondi’s iconic subway whole cars and created stencils of them. I broke up the stencil into sections and created what you see. Every time a subway passes through the station, it is as if Dondi’s work is back on the trains, just like they were back in the 80′s. Rest peacefully Donald. You are missed by so many. April 7, 1961 — October 2, 1998
See more of Dondi’s work - graffiti.org/dondi/
See more from HOTTEA - flickr.com/photos/hotandtea/
See more of Patrick’s work - iampatricksullivan.com/