Crash (born John Matos; October 11, 1961 in

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 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) is a

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.

Early life

As early as 13, John Matos was spray painting New York City trains, the full image art as opposed to simpler tagging soon transferred to silk screened canvas.

Recognition

Crash was first noticed through his murals on subway cars and dilapidated buildings and is now regarded as a pioneer of the Graffiti art movement. His work is said to convey a "visual link between street life and established society". and in 1980, Crash curated the now iconic exhibition:"Graffiti Art Success for America" 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 ...

, launching the graffiti movement that has remained very active through today. During the 1980s, Crash had exhibits across the United States and abroad. Galerie Yaki Kornblit was the first instrumental gallery in Amsterdam that helped launch his career in Europe. In 1981, Crash, along with 10 other artists were chosen by The

Public Art Fund Public Art Fund is an independent, non-profit arts organization founded in 1977 by Doris Freedman, Doris C. Freedman. The organization presents contemporary art in New York City's public spaces through a series of highly visible artists' projects, n ...

to design animated imagery for The Spectacolor Billboard in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

. In 1983, Crash was given his first gallery showing by

Sidney Janis Sidney Janis (July 8, 1896 – November 23, 1989) was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York City, New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited work by the Abs ...

at the Sidney Janis Gallery, Chase Manhattan, N.A., as well as CITIBANK, N.A., and other collections came calling. In 1988, he sprayed ''Notes in the Wind'' measuring 178 x 178 centimeters to be exhibited and eventually to be owned by the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation in

Zevenaar Zevenaar () is a municipality and a city in the Gelderland province, in the eastern Netherlands near the border with Germany. Population centres *Angerlo *Babberich *Giesbeek *Lathum *Ooy *Oud-Zevenaar *Zevenaar History The earliest signs of h ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Eric Clapton Graffiti Guitars

In 1996, Crash painted an Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster and gave it to the artist as a gift. Clapton went on to use the specially designed guitar through his 2001 tour and later appeared with another. In total Crash has created 5 guitars for Clapton, though only three of them have made public appearances. One of Clapton's "Crashocasters" (nicknamed by Eric's former guitar tech, Lee Dickson) auctioned for $321,100 (USD) by the name of "Crash-3" and was used extensively during the first

Crossroads Guitar Festival The Crossroads Guitar Festival is a series of music festivals and benefit concerts founded by Eric Clapton. The festivals benefit the Crossroads Centre founded by Eric Clapton, a drug treatment center in Antigua. The concerts showcase a variet ...

in 2004. Soon after

Fender Musical Instruments The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC, or simply Fender) is an American manufacturer of instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, bass amplifiers and public address equipment, however it is best known for its sol ...

commissioned the creation of 50 such graffiti designed guitars from Crash and named the line "Crashocasters." Crash went on to also design a line of custom painted

Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bod ...

s with matching Fender amps. Other artists such as

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

have used the custom painted Crashocaster guitars. Crash painted another Crashocaster which Clapton played at the

Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019 The live and video album ''Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019'' is the sixth release in the series of Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festivals to support his rehabilitation centre in Antigua, the Crossroads Centre, documenting the 2019 performance ...

held at

American Airlines Center The American Airlines Center (AAC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood in downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena serves as the home of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association and the Dallas S ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

(

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

) on September 20th and 21st, 2019.

Crash x Teddy M Stratocaster for Ed Sheeran

In 2015, musician

commissioned a collaboration between Crash and British artist

Teddy M Teddy McDonald is a British contemporary artist. He has painted guitars used by Ed Sheeran, painted with members of the royal family, and painted a Range Rover Autobiography Art Car. Work Mcdonald loaned a guitar named "Green T" to Ed Sheeran ...

to create the 'Crash x Teddy M'

Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

. The guitar features Crash's famous eye design and the Teddy M Heart and was debuted by Sheeran during his sold out

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, London shows in July 2015.

Keith Haring Collaborations

In 1984, Crash along with

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

painted mural installations for the 5/5 Figuration Libre France/USA at the Musée d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and in 1995, Crash was commissioned by

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco plc (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2019, it is the large ...

to create a commission for

Lucky Strike Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies." Throughout their 150 year history, Lucky Strike has had fluctuating ...

brand cigarette, joining fellow artist Keith Haring to create a special work for this company and their collection.

Notable Exhibitions

In July 2006, the pieces titled "Aeroplane 1" (1983) and "A-U-T-O-matic",(1985), along with other paintings from their permanent collection were displayed in the

Brooklyn Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

in a featured exhibit titled "Graffiti." In 2009, Crash held his first exhibition of painted guitars and guitar related artwork in NYC. In 2016, a new series of canvas spray paintings were displayed at JoAnne Artman Gallery in Chelsea for his solo exhibition entitled, "Breaking Ground: Redefining the Urban Experience." In 2018, Crash showed a
JoAnne Artman Gallery
again for another show, "Concrete Jungle."

30 Year Retrospective

In 2010, Crash held a 30-year retrospective at Fairfield University's Walsh Gallery. Crash was asked by

Sanrio is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the ''kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are sold ...

to create a series of paintings to be shown at

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach; Hong Kong and from 2022, Paris. Art Basel works in collaboration with the host city's local institutions to help ...

, Miami Beach, FL, featuring

Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...

and other characters from Sanrio's catalogue.

Notable Projects

Also, in 2010, Crash was commissioned to create a special limited edition luggage for TUMI, Inc. A painting was created and used for the design, which was released worldwide in 2011. Same day releases were coordinated in Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Germany, Paris and London. Crash is one of the New York artist featured at MOCA, The David Geffen Building, Los Angeles' "Art in the Streets", April–August 2011. In 2011, Crash held his first print survey exhibition in Southport, Ct., at Southport Galleries. In 2012, Crash was asked to participate in painting on Paris' Le M.U.R. In 2014, Crash was asked to create a series of murals for The Little Italy Street Art ( L.I.S.A. ) Project as well for T.A.G. Project, The Bronx, NY. He was also asked to participate on painting at The Bushwick Collective, Brooklyn, NY. Crash also created a line of shoe wear for ASH Footwear. In 2014, Crash along with partner Robert Kantor, opened WALLWORKSNY, in the South Bronx, to showcase both young, emerging local artists as well as established artist both local and international. In 2015, Crash continued his long standing association with the TATSCRU by painting a series of murals, as well with The L.I.S.A. Project. Also in 2015, he was commissioned to participate and install a mural in Coney Island for Coney Art Walls in cooperation with Thor Equities and Jeffrey Deitch, Brooklyn, NY. He created a site specific mural at Villa Tamaris, La Seyne sur Mer, France, as wall as a retrospective exhibition of his work, spanning 30 years. The end of 2015 found Crash creating his last installation for the year at Wynwood Walls, Wynwood, Miami for Goldman Properties. In 2016, Crash was commissioned to create a 200-foot mural at the new wing of The Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada, as well as accepting a mural commission at Sun Life Stadium, Miami, Florida, and new installations for The L.I.S.A. Project and a new mural for Coney Art Walls in cooperation with Thor Equities and Jeffrey Deitch, Brooklyn, NY. (Houston/Bowery Wall, NYC) In 2019, Crash participated in the New York City's "Beyond the Streets," bringing a massive new showcase of the evolution of graffiti and street art to the city that helped it become a global phenomenon.

Public Collections

Boca Raton Museum of Art Founded by artists, the Boca Raton Museum of Art was established in 1950 as the Art Guild of Boca Raton. The organization has grown to encompass an Art School, Guild, Store, and Museum with permanent collections of contemporary art, photography, ...

Museum of Modern Art, NYC Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, AZ Museum of the City of New York, NYC Flint Institute, Flint, MI Groniger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands Museum Boymans-van Beuninger, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Aachen, Nue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig, Germany Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Ft. Wayne Museum, Ft. Wayne, Indiana Cedar Rapids Museum, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Vero Beach Museum, Vero Beach, FL Vieques Museum, Vieques, Puerto Rico Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL

References

External links

Crash HomepageCrash Journal - PadCrash - BlogCrashocasters

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matos, John 1961 births Living people American graffiti artists People from the Bronx Artists from the Bronx