DONDI

The collection of Leonard McGurr (Futura) (acquired from the artist)

Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above)

Acquired from the above by the present owner 

Dondi White was an American graffiti artist best known for his stick figures and dynamic style of “large block” lettering. During the early 1970s in New York City, a formative period that marked the start of Dondi’s career, he began painting trains alongside a group of artists known as The Odd Partners primarily on the M, J, and L subway lines. In the late 1970s, Dondi established a new group of artists known as CIA and cemented his reputation as one of the most iconic and influential street artists of his generation. In the 1980s, he continued to develop his bold, dynamic style of lettering in sketch books and on trains, as demonstrated in Tag – a record of his ephemeral artistic production -- as well as on canvases with legendary artists in the East Village, including his contemporaries Futura, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Prior to his death from AIDS complications in 1998, Dondi increasingly expanded his creative output, incorporating his signature lettering, symbols, and stick figures into multi-media collages. Known as the “Style Master General,” Dondi’s pieces “ranged from quickly written tags to creations that covered whole cars, making him a legend on the streets and in galleries years before ‘street art’ became popular, and setting a standard that is still followed to this day.” [1]

This work is being sold to benefit Art Without Boundaries, a Los Angeles based nonprofit organization focused on collecting and preserving street art. Founded in 2018, their projects seek to legitimize graffiti within the history of art while empowering emerging artists to continue advancing the medium.

[1.] Gonzalez, David. 2019. “Overlooked No More: The Underground Graffiti Adventures of Dondi.” The New York Times, February 27, 2019.