In a decisive nod to the city that shaped him, legendary graffiti artist DAZE (Chris Ellis) has unveiled two new large-scale murals at 550 Madison Avenue, transforming the building\u2019s soaring street-level space into a canvas that bridges worlds. Painted live in public view, these works are part of \u201cAbove Ground Midtown: MCNY x DAZE.\u201d With their vibrant forms, layered textures, and intuitive energy, DAZE\u2019s murals draw from the pulse of New York City, the geometry of Philip Johnson\u2019s iconic building design, and the surrounding garden oasis that gently appears in midtown Manhattan.<\/p>\n To fans of New York graffiti and street art, DAZE needs no introduction. A member of the second wave of graffiti writers in the late 1970s and early \u201980s, he began painting subway trains as a student at the High School of Art and Design, developing a signature style marked by wildstyle lettering, surreal characters, and a painterly sense of movement. Over the decades, he has nurtured a career, evolving into a fine artist while continuing to honor the raw urban energy of his roots. \u201cI think of these pieces as a continuation of a language I started developing underground,\u201d DAZE tells us. \u201cOnly now, we\u2019re bringing it out into the light\u2014quite literally.\u201d<\/p>\n Curator Sean Corcoran<\/strong> of the Museum of the City of New York<\/strong> sees this installation as an extension of the museum\u2019s current exhibition, Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection<\/em>, which includes early works by DAZE and many of his contemporaries. \u201cThis project is about visibility\u2014making sure the public understands graffiti not just as something from the past, but as a living, evolving art form with deep ties to the city\u2019s history,\u201d he says. \u201cHaving DAZE create these murals in real time, for anyone to see, reinforces the idea that this movement was always meant to be in dialogue with the street\u2014and with the people of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n BSA asked DAZE and Corcoran a couple of questions about the project:<\/p>\n Brooklyn Street Art (BSA):<\/strong> DAZE, these new canvases feel like they\u2019re in direct conversation with the city itself \u2014 its architecture, movement, street energy, and natural elements. How do they reflect your biography as a New Yorker and a writer who came up in the 1970s and \u201980s?<\/p>\n DAZE: <\/strong>\u00a0In creating these two paintings I wanted to capture the feeling of someone somehow say, in a taxi, going uptown and watching how the cityscape changes from one neighborhood to the next. At the same time I wanted to inject certain natural images within the painting. Even though we all live in a city that is noisy and congested, there are still areas where one can find a nice park to sit and have a quiet moment. I felt like that side of the city had to be represented too.<\/p>\n BSA: <\/strong>You created these pieces live, in a high-visibility Midtown space, a far cry from painting trains in the dark. What does it mean to you to create something so public and above-ground in the heart of a city you\u2019ve been documenting and writing a visual diary for over 40+ years?<\/p>\n DAZE:<\/strong> I was very aware of the architecture of the building and its history. One of the unique things about the space is that the ceilings are so high. It\u2019s an interior space, however, you feel as if you\u2019re outside, which is quite unique.<\/p>\n It was amazing to create something large scale in an area of New York City that receives both many tourists and people who are working there. It exposes my work to a new audience.<\/p>\n BSA:<\/strong> Sean, DAZE\u2019s career spans the early days of illegal train writing to significant institutional recognition \u2014 how does his presence here at 550 Madison, and possibly in the Martin Wong Collection, help tell a fuller story of graffiti\u2019s evolution in New York?<\/p>\n Sean Corcoran:<\/strong> Daze\u2019s career is an excellent example of the trajectory of a number of the artistically ambitious writers who emerge from the \u201ctrain writing\u201d\u2019 era movement that developed a long and impactful studio career that helped export the regional subculture to a worldwide phenomenon. Martin Wong, the Lower East Side painter and generous donor of the majority of the Museum\u2019s collection of more than 300 paintings and 60 black books, was interested in telling the story of this a youth culture that largely sprung up in New York City.<\/p>\n He wanted to trace the youthful rebellion of you people painting on subway trains and public spaces, but he was equally interested in the communication and artistic inclinations as well, and he actively encouraged and supported this by not only buying canvases, but by being a friend and sometimes mentor.<\/p>\n BSA:<\/strong> The title Above Ground<\/em>\u00a0for the Martin Wong Collection\u2014and this above-ground exhibition by a writer known for his work on underground trains\u2014suggests a subculture being brought into the light. In curating this collection today at the MCNY, what conversations do you hope it sparks about the place of artists like DAZE in both the art world and the cultural history of the city?<\/p>\n Sean Corcoran:<\/strong> Above Ground<\/em> is intended to loosely trace the early efforts of train writers as they moved out of the tunnels and layups and into the studio. The exhibition notes the importance of several transitional moments in this history \u2013 The United Graffiti Artists (founded in 1972), Sam Esses Studio in 1980, the advent of East Village galleries like Fun and 51X soon after in the early 1980s, and then the jump to blue chip galleries, including Sidney Janis, and opportunities in Europe. These are all examples of the long road these artists took in developing their careers. The paintings in the gallery reflect both Martin\u2019s collection and the various paths the artists took, from maintaining a letter-based art to moving into abstraction and figuration. \u00a0The exhibition ends in the early 1990s just as the \u201ctrain writing era\u201d ends, but we all know that that was just the end of the beginning of the story\u2026..<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.brooklynstreetart.com\/theblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/brooklyn-street-art-daze-jaime-rojo-museum-of-the-city-of-New-York-06-2025-web-3.jpg\")
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