Anthony Clark (1964 – November 11, 2001), known as A-One, was an American

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

artist. He developed a style he called "aerosol expressionism."

Life and career

A-One was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

in 1964 and grew up in the Mitchel Houses in the South Bronx. He was the son of Janette Gordon Clark and the grandson of Mannie Clark Sr., head caddy at the Mayfair Golf Course in Sanford, Florida in the late 1950s. He began painting at the age of six, and writing graffiti on subway cars in the mid-1970s. A-One joined

Rammellzee Rammellzee (stylized RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ, pronounced "Ram: Ell: Zee"; December 15, 1960 – June 28, 2010) was a visual artist, gothic futurist "graffiti writer", painter, performance artist, art theoretician, sculptor and a hip hop musician from Ne ...

's graffiti crew Tag Master Killers, which also consisted of Delta2, Kool Koor, and

Toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subs ...

. Each member designed their own style for arming letters based on Rammellzee's theory of Gothic Futurism, which describes graffiti as the weaponization of letters in a battle to reclaim language from a "diseased culture" of social control. In the early 1980s, they were among the graffiti artists bringing original art and music from

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

and

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

to the downtown art scene. In 1982, A-One, Toxic, and Kool Koor participated in the group show ''Camouflaged Panzerism'' at

Fashion Moda Fashion 时髦 Moda МОДА, whose name comes from “fashion” in English, Chinese, Spanish and Russian, colloquially referred to as Fashion Moda, started as a cultural concept guided by the idea that art can be made by anyone, anywhere. Fashion ...

in South Bronx. A-One was a friend and collaborator of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat became his mentor and taught him how get involved with art galleries. A-One is the subject of Basquiat's paintings ''Portrait of A-One A.K.A. King'' (1982), which sold for $11.5 million in 2020, and ''Anthony Clark'' (1985). In 1983, A-One participated in the exhibit ''Jenny Holzer: Survival Series with A-One, Mike Glier, and Lady Pink'' at Lisson Gallery in London and the ''Post-Graffiti'' exhibit at Sidney Janis Gallery in New York. In 1984, he participated in the group shows ''Arte di Frontiera: New York Graffiti'' in Italy, ''Classical American Graffiti Writers and High Graffiti Artists'' at Galerie Thomas in Munich, and ''Rapid Enamel: The Art of Graffiti'' at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. A-One became the youngest artist to participate in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 1984. His work was featured in the exhibition ''Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation'' at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from October 2020 to July 2021. A-One also had numerous solo exhibitions: Galeria Salvatore Ala, Milan, Italy in 1983; Piccolo Museum in Lecce, Italy in 1985; and Galerie Quintessens, in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, the Netherlands in 1990; Galleria Salvatore + Caroline Ala in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy in 2010. For some time, he lived in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, Italy. He later moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he continued to work until his death from a brain hemorrhage at the age of 37 on November 11, 2001. He is survived by his older brother Octavius "Ocky" Clark, a

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games were held in Havana, Cuba from August 2 to August 18, 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the PASO community, with events in 33 different sports. The main stadium was the Estadio Panamericano, a mul ...

gold medalist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:A-One 1964 births 2001 deaths American graffiti artists People from Manhattan Artists from the Bronx 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American painters African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists American contemporary painters American emigrants to Italy American emigrants to France 20th-century African-American painters 20th-century African-American people