ORFN (born Aaron Curry; 1974 – December 7, 2016) was an American artist and reportedly "one of the most prolific graffiti writers in

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

history."

Early life and education

ORFN was an

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

. He never had a relationship with his biological father, and his mother gave him up as a child because she was unable to care for him. ORFN spent time in several foster and group homes before coming to live with the Curry family in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

as a fifth or sixth grader. In middle school and as a young teenager, ORFN was a skateboarder who was widely thought to be on the path to sponsorship, but after failing to achieve his goal of becoming sponsored, his enthusiasm for skateboarding waned and his passion for art and graffiti emerged. ORFN moved to San Francisco in the mid 1990s to attend the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

for roughly one year. During the time he was in art school he was not actively writing graffiti.

Work

He was actively writing graffiti and making art in the Bay Area for over 25 years. ORFN used many alternate monikers, including Sad Jose, Helldiver, Muddguts, Chainsaw, Phantasmagoria, Hungry Waif, Vampire Wizard Zeus, and Very Viva Scout. He gained notoriety for the number of San Francisco "bus flow" style tags he placed across the Bay Area, most of which were dated with the year in which they were done. However, his work evolved to include straightforward patterns and tone combinations that often featured smiling faces, sad children, cobwebs, skulls and other spooky imagery executed in a lo-fidelity, accessible, and playful manner. ORFN's work has drawn comparisons to that of

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside Al ...

. ORFN's work was very rarely included in formal displays. ORFN was a member of a number of graffiti crews, including Under Shadows (US), Big Kid Fun (BKF), Down for Whatever (DFW), 640, and Big Time Mob (BTM).

Career

ORFN began experimentation with graffiti in middle school, initially spraying stencils in his then hometown of Palo Alto, California. By 1992, ORFN had taken on his namesake moniker and started to make a name for himself as a graffiti writer in

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

and San Francisco, along with his early graffiti partner Revers. In 1992 ORFN joined the Bay Area-based US crew (which stands for Undeniable Sickness or Under Shadows), with Revers. ORFN continued to represent the US crew throughout his career, and as its leader since the early 2000s, was responsible for ensuring the continuity of the crew when it would have otherwise ceased to exist. ORFN spent years going into the Sunset Tunnel between Cole Valley and Duboce Park writing his moniker on one of the train tracks throughout the span of more than 4,000 feet. ORFN was designated the "Best Graffiti Tag" in the 1996 "Best of the Bay" issue of ''

SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, ...

'', where it was noted that his tag was in view all over the San Francisco Bay Area.

Gallery

File:ORFN graffiti.png File:ORFN graffiti 5.png File:ORFN graffiti 7.png File:ORFN graffiti 9.png File:ORFN graffiti 3.png File:ORFN graffiti 4.png File:ORFN graffiti 6.png File:ORFN graffiti 8.png

Exhibitions

*Guerrero Gallery: Group Show "New Normal Three", 2015 *ArtPrimo SF: Solo Show "Big Grid", 2015 *V1 Gallery (Copenhagen): Guest of

Alicia McCarthy Alicia McCarthy is an American painter. She is a member of San Francisco's Mission School art movement. Her work is considered to have Naïve or Folk character, and often uses unconventional media like housepaint, graphite, or other found mater ...

"Snobody", 2015 *Oakland Museum of California: Group Show, featured in "Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California", 2015 *San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: posthumous Guest of

"Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award Exhibition", 2017

Death

ORFN died in a San Francisco hospice facility December 7, 2016 of

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

which affected his stomach, back, spine, liver, heart, lungs, and brain. ORFN was cremated, and his ashes were spread in the

Sunset Tunnel The Sunset Tunnel, originally known as the Duboce Tunnel, is a -long light rail/streetcar tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel runs under the steep hill adjacent to Buena Vista Park and is used exclusively by the N Judah Muni Metro ...

by a group of his friends. He is survived by a daughter named Scout.

In other media

Both ORFN and Revers are mentioned in ''Palo Alto Part II, Wasting'' by American actor and writer

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Ma ...

References

External links

ORFN Image Group
Flickr
Friday Spotlight
Juxtapoz.com
Rip ORFN
Juxtapoz.com
How ORFN’s graffiti inspires Alicia McCarthy
SfMoma.org {{DEFAULTSORT:ORFN American graffiti artists Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century American painters 1974 births 2016 deaths 21st-century American painters