ZEPHYR, born Andrew Witten, is a

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

artist, lecturer and author from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He began writing graffiti in 1975 using the name "Zephyr" in 1977. He is considered a graffiti "elder", who along with Futura 2000, Blade,

PHASE 2 Michael Lawrence Marrow (August 2, 1955 – December 12, 2019), known as PHASE 2 and Lonny Wood, was an American aerosol paint artist based in New York City. Mostly active in the 1970s, Phase 2 is generally credited with originating the "bubble ...

, CRASH,

Lady Pink Lady Pink, born Sandra Fabara (born 1964), is an Ecuadorian-born American graffiti and mural artist, active in New York City. Early life Fabara was born in Ambato, Ecuador in 1964, and moved to the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York wh ...

and

TAKI 183 TAKI 183 is the "tag" of a Greek-American graffitist who was active during the late 1960s and early 1970s in New York City. The graffitist, whose given name is Demetrios, has never revealed his full name. Biography TAKI 183 was a graffiti tagg ...

invented styles and standards which are still in use.

Graffiti

Much of Zephyr's original work was

applied on New York City Subway rolling stock. Witten has commented on this period of his work: From 1977 to 1981, Zephyr was a key member of graffiti crews including The Rebels (TR) and Rolling Thunder Writers (RTW), composed largely of artists affiliated with a scene of teenagers spending time in Central Park. Witten was influenced in part by psychedelic artists and underground cartoonists such as

Vaughn Bodē Vaughn Bodē (; July 22, 1941 – July 18, 1975) was an American underground comics, underground cartoonist and illustrator known for his character Cheech Wizard and his artwork depicting voluptuous women. A contemporary of Ralph Bakshi, Bodē h ...

and

Victor Moscoso Victor Moscoso (born July 28, 1936) is a Spanish–American artist best known for producing psychedelic rock posters, advertisements, and underground comix in San Francisco during the 1960s and 1970s. He was the first of the rock poster artists of ...

but he credits

Rick Griffin Richard Alden "Rick" Griffin (June 18, 1944 – August 18, 1991) was an American artist and one of the leading designers of psychedelic posters in the 1960s. He was a key figure in the underground comix movement as a fouding member of the ' ...

as his biggest influence. Witten was part of the first wave of graffiti artists to make the transition to galleries, collectors and commercial work. In the early 80s, he showed at New York City galleries specializing in graffiti, such as the

FUN Gallery The Fun Gallery was an art gallery founded by Patti Astor and Bill Stelling in 1981. The Fun Gallery had a cultural impact until it closed in 1985. As the first art gallery in Manhattan's East Village, Manhattan, East Village, it exposed New York ...

and 51X. In 1984, T-shirts bearing an original Zephyr design were exhibited at the Ronald Feldman Gallery as a part of designer

Willi Smith Willi Donnell Smith (February 29, 1948 – April 17, 1987) was an American fashion designer. At the time of his death, Smith was regarded as one of the most successful African-American designers in the fashion industry. His company, WilliWe ...

’s WilliWear Productions debut of artist designed T-shirts. The T-shirt collaboration merged art, fashion, and the commercial production of artist designed apparel. Witten's art was part of a five-man show including

Fab Five Freddy Fred Brathwaite (born August 31, 1959), more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Freddy emerged in New York's downtown ...

, ERO (Dominique Philbert), Futura 2000 and Dondi White that toured Japan in 1983. In 2005, he was included in the " East Village USA" show held at The New Museum. His works can be seen in the hip-hop culture documentary ''

Style Wars ''Style Wars'' is a 1983 American documentary film on hip hop culture, directed by Tony Silver and produced in collaboration with Henry Chalfant. The film has an emphasis on graffiti, although bboying and rapping are covered to a lesser extent ...

'' and he was featured as himself in the landmark

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

motion picture ''

Wild Style ''Wild Style'' is a 1982 American hip hop film written, produced and directed by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Adam Horowitz, Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, L ...

''. He is co-author of a 2001 biography of fellow graffiti artist, Dondi White: ''Dondi White Style Master General: The Life of Graffiti Artist Dondi White''. He is interviewed in the 2005 DIY graffiti vide
The Art of Storytelling
where he talks about fallen graffiti artist '' Nace''. He was featured in the documentary

Bomb It ''Bomb It'' is an international graffiti and street art documentary directed by Jon Reiss that premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Filmed on five continents, featuring cities such as New York, Cape Town, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Tokyo ...

. His name was inspired by a brand of surfboards and skateboards. Many of his most popular pieces have been done by simply redesigning his trademark name "Zeph" or "Zephyr". Sharp contrast in the edges of the letters are also featured throughout his artwork. Witten's influence on New York City's self-image is exemplified in

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter of Folk music, folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s she released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the ...

's 2007 song "Zephyr and I," which uses a conversation between Vega and Witten as a framing device to create what Vega describes as "sort of a little snapshot of what

West End Avenue West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

used to be like in the 70s."Interview, 07/11/2007.
Online link
Zephyr was one of the artists represented at the L'Aérosol Graffiti Museum in Paris from 2017 to 2018 for the exhibition Maquis-art Hall of Fame.

Published works

*Powell, Ricky. Zephyr (illustrator). ''Oh Snap'' 2.13.61 Publications: 1996. *Witten, Andrew; White, Michael. ''Dondi White Style Master General: The Life of Graffiti Artist Dondi White''. Regan Books: 2001. * Cooper, Martha; Walta, Akim; Zephyr; Ahearn, Charlie; Fabel; Astor, Patti. ''Hip Hop Files: Photographs 1979–1984''. From Here to Fame (Powerhouse Books): 2004. *Zephyr; Miller, Ken; Sutherland, Peter. ''Pedal''. Powerhouse Books: 2006.

References

External links

zephyrgraffiti.com Zephyr's Official site
at the

Field Museum The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...

Chicago {{DEFAULTSORT:Zephyr American graffiti artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)

Graffiti

Published works

References

Further reading

External links