John “Crash” Matos

New York / USA

John Matos, also known as Crash in 1961 was raised in the Bronx, New York City. He is known as one of the first graffiti writers in New York City to transition from train yards to galleries Crash is recognised, as a forerunner of what became a subculture over the decades. His works are featured as a part of the opening of the URBAN NATION Museum in 2017. […]

Biography / John “Crash” Matos

John Matos, also known as Crash (born in 1961) was raised in the Bronx, New York City. He is known as one of the first graffiti writers in New York City to transition from train yards to galleries Crash is recognised, as a forerunner of what became a subculture over the decades. His works were featured as a part of the opening of the URBAN NATION Museum in 2017. Crah takes part in the exhibition “Love Letters to the City”, 2024-2027.

At the age of 13, he followed older boys from his neighbourhood to the train yards and started bombing under the pseudonym Crash. In 1980 he curated the ground-breaking show, ‘Graffiti Art Success for America’ in the Bronx, which can be seen as a birth of graffiti as a movement. At he same time this exhibition is Crash’s transition from graffiti on trains to graffiti in galleries, as he shows his works in museums and galleries all over the world since 1981. Today his visually iconic art is part of many permanent museum collections and he collaborated with many international companies.

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