Graffiti Photographer Talks Uniqlo, Banksy and Museum Exhibition

As part of its ongoing “Art for All” ethos, Uniqlo is supporting the Museum of the City of New York’s “Above Ground: Art From the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection” exhibition.

While the show highlights how artists have gone from writing illegally on subway cars to having their work exhibited in galleries and museums, the fast-fashion chain continues to infuse art into its abundance of styles.

The exhibition, which opens to the public Friday, features 300-plus canvases and works on paper that were donated by artist Martin Wong 30 years ago. Visitors will find work by Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Keith Haring, Lady Pink and Futura 2000.  

To give “Above Ground” a further boost, Uniqlo’s print-on-demand customization program UTme! teamed up with three of the artists, who are featured in the show — Enrique Torres, who is known as “Part One,” John Matos, who goes by “Crash,” and the acclaimed photographer Martha Cooper. Each has created an exclusive line of T-shirts inspired by their iconic artwork to not just hail graffiti’s creativity and resilience but to also broaden its audience. As of Friday, shoppers can find them in Uniqlo’s Fifth Avenue flagship and its SoHo store.

Cooper, whose 1984 book “Subway Art” with Henry Chalfant is considered to be a “bible” for subway artists, has worked with other brands like Puma. She never imagined that graffiti would evolve as it has, saying, “I thought that I was photographing something that was going to disappear and that I would have the exclusive photos. I also used to say that this could only happen in New York. I was completely wrong.” As a New York Post photographer, she learned about graffiti while doing a personal project about kids being creative. One teenager showed her a notebook of his “He3” sketches and explained that he was practicing to put them on a wall. “I hadn’t understood that kids were writing their names, and I certainly didn’t understand that they were designing their graffiti before they put it anywhere. I just assumed that these were random acts of vandalism. As it turned out, they were highly planned acts of vandalism.”

Through He3, she met the late graffiti king Donald White, who was better known as “Dondi,” in East New York. “I got very lucky because early on I met somebody, who was revered among other graffiti writers. He recognized my name [from the photo credit of a Post story that hung on his wall,” Cooper said. “He knew I wasn’t a cop, and he also knew that I could get him fame, which is always a goal with graffiti writers. Then he invited me back and he taught me a lot. That’s when I got hooked.”   

Although underground graffiti still exists, all in all the medium is more mainstream with many artists preferring “style writing” instead of graffiti. Surprised by the degree of the art form’s popularity, Cooper attended a graffiti festival on Réunion Island, which is located in the Indian Ocean. Her work can also be seen in the book “One Week with 1Up,” which chronicles the Berlin artists at work including spraying fire extinguishers to create a smiley face on a subway wall.

While Louis Vuitton was among the first fashion labels to embrace graffiti with Stephen Sprouse’s collaborative handbags in 2001, Dior, Coach and Theophilio’s Edvin Thompson have shown graffiti-inspired designs in recent collections. Cooper remains interested in fashion’s adaptations of graffiti, and will periodically shoot graffiti-inspired styles on the street or save tag-inspired ads. “Some people think writers are selling out, or they don’t like it. But I think it’s pretty amazing that from low art to high art, designers are designing things that are inspired by youth,” Cooper said.

As for those who think that higher-profile graffiti artists have sold out commercially, she said, “Artists deserve to make money from their art. As a freelance photographer in New York City, it’s been so difficult making a living, not so much anymore. I understand perfectly if someone comes along and offers you money for what you do, take it.”

A few weeks ago an archive of 173 prints, stencils and ephemera from the anonymous graffiti artist Banksy generated about $1.4 million at auction. Although she knows people, who know Banksy like the street artist Aiko Nakagawa (who has collaborated with him), Cooper does not know him personally. Amazed that his identity has been protected for so long, Cooper said, “I think what he has done is very clever and he is a good artist. That cannot be an easy lifestyle. He’s sacrificed an ordinary life.”

Cooper, whose preferred pajamas are black Uniqlo sweatpants and whose winter coat is a years-old one from the chain, hasn’t sold out either for the MCNY collaboration. She also has a few Uniqlo T-shirts imprinted with art by the late artist Haring, whom she crossed paths with years ago. Ending an interview Wednesday to meet Nakagawa at the just-opened fantastical fairground “Luna Luna” at The Shed (where Haring’s work is among those featured), Cooper said, “I feel like I’m in good company.”