No This Without That
August 29th - October 22nd, 2019
Graffiti Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of recent works by the legendary graffiti writer, Wane One.
No This Without That is a showcase of Wane One’s recent works on canvas, inspired by the graffiti writing he experienced and created in the early days of his career in The Bronx, New York City.
“Graffiti as we know it now, or street art, literally happened because of New York City, because of the subway train. It communicated with people in different neighborhoods without them leaving their neighborhood.”
Born in the United Kingdom’s West London, Wayne is of West Indian descent and lived in England and Grenada until he was 7 years old. In 1978, Wayne’s parents brought their 2 sons to the U.S. and moved to New York City’s North Bronx. The elevated tracks soon caught Wayne’s eye and he slowly became obsessed with watching and admiring the many great graffiti writers of the late 70’s and early 80’s.
In 1983, Wayne became ‘Wane One’ when he painted his first train. This was the beginning of a lifelong love for graffiti and the culture that surrounded it. Subway cars and train walls were his favorite canvases. He had an unquenchable thirst for painting his pieces onto these metal surfaces, thus transforming them into mobile works of art. Other writers knew his style was significant and a bond was quickly established with many serious subway painters. In 1988, Wane started experimenting and exploring other medias, such as painting with acrylic on canvas, denim jackets and jeans. He then began airbrushing onto t-shirts, which became popular in his neighborhood and gave Wane his first taste of being an entrepreneur. Wane was also one of the first writers to make the transition into Graphic Design and has designed logos for hip-hop groups like Gangstarr, Jeru the Damager and Group Home. Presently, Wane divides his time between painting, running his company Writers Bench, collaborating on projects with Nike, Reebok, New Balance, RYU to name a few, and traveling around the world. Wane works out of his studio in Holyoke and still resides in the Bronx.
Art Workshop Description:
In conjunction with the Wane One exhibition, youth are invited to immerse themselves in an underground, urban subway station, a place where graffiti art culture was conceptualized, and explore their own individuality by creating a unique tag, or stylized symbol. These symbols will be created by the use of colourful paint markers on translucent vellum paper, and then will be installed and backlit using giant light boxes, imitating subway station advertisements. These graffiti-decorated light boxes will be shown in the Kids Gallery alongside, and for the duration of, Wane’s exhibition. To book a group workshop, please email info@graffitigallery.ca or call Graffiti Gallery at (204) 667-9960.
On August 30th, Wane One will be facilitating a multi-media workshop with youth from 4 until 6pm, at Graffiti Gallery, 109 Higgins Avenue. Contact us to register, limited spots available!
The workshop will be followed by an artist talk with Wane Cod in conjunction with No This Without That. The talk will be taking place 6:30-7:30pm at Graffiti Gallery, 109 Higgins Avenue. Free, open to the public.