TRACY 168 (born Michael Tracy in 1958) is 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 pioneered the art form known as Wildstyle. Tracy 168 came to be known as one of the most influential graffiti and street artists of all time, as variations of Wild Style writing spread around the world. He is acknowledged to have been a seminal figure in the development of street art. Books about 1970s graffiti feature his car-long paintings with their characteristic kinetic script embellished with flames, arrows as well as cartoon characters and the "Tracy face," a grinning shaggy-haired visage in wrap-around shades.

Early life

Tracy grew up in the Bronx. He attended the High School of Art and Design. TRACY 168 was an honorary member of the

Black Spades The Black Spades are a mostly African-American street gang which started in the Bronx during the late 1960s and gained popularity in the 1970s. The gang began to spread from the Bronx to Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Rochelle ...

. He formed his own group called The Wanted in the 1970s. The Wanted headquarters were in the basement of a building at 166th Street and Woody-crest Avenue in

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 ...

Career

He is featured extensively in the documentary ''

Just to Get a Rep ''Just to Get a Rep'' is a documentary film directed by Peter Gerard. It premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2004 and played over a dozen international film festivals. The film covers the history of graffiti art and its rela ...

''. He discusses WiLD STYLE and the troubled relationship between graffiti and the established art world. In July 2006, a 1984 work by Tracy covered a subway car door. The work was shown at 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 ...

during its month-long exhibit, "Graffiti". Tracy was the mentor to many graffitists;

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 ...

and

SAMO Samo (–) founded the first recorded political union of Slavic tribes, known as Samo's Empire (''realm'', ''kingdom'', or ''tribal union''), stretching from Silesia to present-day Slovakia, ruling from 623 until his death in 658. According to ...

among them. Despite appearing in major gallery and museum shows, Tracy maintained a solid street presence with his STREET MURALS in Brooklyn and the Bronx, where he currently resides. Tracy 168 is famous for his tags of a drawing called Purple Haze which relates and serves as a tribute to

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

. The artwork was part of the

Experience Music Project The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized ...

References

External links

Short biography of the artist

1958 births Living people American graffiti artists {{US-artist-stub