Dr. J, Magic, Sir Charles and Jordan. Kids obsessed over these icons in the ’80s and ’90s. But what about Basquiat, Futura, Lady Pink and Rammellzee? For Boston artist Rob “Problak” Gibbs, these latter names captivated him like the era’s hoop stars.
“My introduction to graffiti was a book a middle school teacher gave me called ‘Aerosol Art,’” Gibbs said. “I knew that book front-to-back, left-to-right. I knew every artist, what region of the world they were from, this was like my basketball cards. I knew graffiti artists like I knew players in the NBA.”
In connection with the Museum of Fine Arts exhibition “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation” (originally scheduled for April, now slated for the MFA’s reopening this fall), Gibbs created an outdoor mural on a wall of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School.
The latest installment in his “Breathe Life” series, which will be celebrated later this summer, the mural represents a seismic shift in attitudes about street art in the city — the first two paintings are in Dorchester and Lower Roxbury, where Gibbs grew up. First, the mural is a cornerstone of the MFA’s 150th anniversary. Second, it’s supported by city hall. Finally, Gibbs is a Madison Park alum.
“It’s definitely surreal,” said the now MFA artist-in-residence. “I started (making street art) in high school and just imagine that blank wall you saw was an opportunity to splash and put your name up. But you couldn’t because the school police … You couldn’t imagine that the artwork that you do would ever belong there.”
Fellow MFA artist-in-residence Rob Stull, a comic book and graphic design pro with a resume that includes Marvel and DC, created black-and-white drawings honoring the influence of Basquiat, Futura, Lady Pink, Rammellzee and Gibbs for the exhibition. Stull has also created a comic book-style guide to Gibbs’ and other artists’ murals near the MFA.
A graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, Stull says he always felt the museum was a resource but “I never thought I would ever see Basquiat exhibited at the MFA let alone his contemporaries. Futura, Rammellzee, Fab 5 Freddy, come on, at the MFA in Boston, really?”
“But it’s a new day now,” he added. “And to know that (Gibbs and I) are leading that charge … to have us directly involved speaks volumes.”
Stull’s work is available free on mfa.org accompanied by “Co-Sign,” a documentary video exploring Stull and Gibbs’ connection to their art and hip-hop culture. The MFA wanted to make clear a distinction: It is not the museum co-signing these two artists, it is these two artists co-signing the museum.
“As a guy who never really had interest in the museum because I didn’t think there was anything in there for us, it’s a pleasure to have this opportunity to take anybody that grew up like myself, with that outsider’s view of the museum, and empower them to know that it is theirs,” Gibbs said.
Learn more about the artists at robstull.com and problak.com.
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July 19, 2020 at 05:06PM
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Boston artist Gibbs breathes life into canvas of the street - Boston Herald
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