Ransom Note: CEE
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Caption
Torrick Ablack aka Toxic American, born 1965. Ransom Note: CEE, 1984. Spray paint on canvas, 61 1/2 x 52 1/2 in. (156.2 x 133.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Carroll Janis and Conrad Janis, 1999.57.20. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1999.57.20_SL3.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Ransom Note: CEE
Date
1984
Medium
Spray paint on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
61 1/2 x 52 1/2 in. (156.2 x 133.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Carroll Janis and Conrad Janis
Accession Number
1999.57.20
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
Copyright for this work may be controlled by the artist, the artist's estate, or other rights holders. A more detailed analysis of its rights history may, however, place it in the public domain. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Is this actual street art or was it made for the museum?
These works were made specifically for exhibition in an art gallery. In the early 1980s, collectors' interest in graffiti art was rising quickly, and some influential art dealers approached NYC graffiti artists and asked them to make canvases that could be shown indoors.Street art as actual "Art" was a controversial issue at the time, when graffiti was still a big problem around the city. The people responsible for street art were seen as vandals, and their work wasn't seen as anything worthwhile. Art critics and viewers alike thought this wasn't suitable material for an art gallery.I have a great quote from a New York Times review from 1983, for a show at the Sidney Janis Gallery (a gallery that championed graffiti as art)."...there's much to be said for encouraging some of these potentially talented kids to turn their efforts into more constructive channels. But pushing a few into the money jungle of the art world (some are 18, 17 and even 14) before they are ready will not solve anything. By and large, their products are as much an eyesore on canvas as they are on the trains."This feels like the 90's. Where did graffiti art originate and why?
This work is from 1984 but the 80s style of street art definitely carried over into the culture of the 90s.In the early 1980s, graffiti art was a new trend among contemporary art collectors, and some influential art dealers approached NYC graffiti artists and asked them to make canvases that could be shown indoors.Graffiti comes from the Italian word "graffito" and was used to signify writings or scratching on walls. Writing on walls has been popular since ancient times (examples exist in Greece, Rome and Egypt). You can even see some ancient graffiti in the Mummy Chamber on the third floor of this museum!
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