Lee Quiñones: Graffiti and the Gallery

Anyone who remembers New York City’s “golden age” of graffiti in the late ’70s and early ’80s knows about the lion spray-painted on the handball court at Corlears Junior High School, roaring next to metallic blue letters spelling the word “Lee.” In this episode of the Hyperallergic podcast, we speak with its creator, Lee Quiñones, whose paintings of dragons, lions, and Howard the Duck on over 120 MTA train cars were part of the movement that brought light and color to the otherwise dingy, dark, and drastically underfunded subway system.
Quiñones’s paintings caught the attention of art collectors and gallerists. By the time he was 19, he was showing his work at Galleria La Medusa in Rome, alongside fellow graffiti writer Fred Brathwaite, also known as “Fab 5 Freddy.” Among other writers, the following years would bring his graffiti art to more shows, both at home in New York City and in the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, and even Documenta 7 in 1982 in Kassel, Germany.
Quiñones is the rare graffiti writer from this era who maintained a successful career in the gallery space. Today, he continues to experiment through paintings, drawings, and collages in an ever-changing range of styles. His art is in the collections of several major museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art.
In this episode, Quiñones reflects on the monster movies that inspired him as a kid, running the tracks as a graffiti-writing teen, making art alongside Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jenny Holzer in the 1980s East Village scene, and much more. He also discusses the new book documenting his life and work, Lee Quiñones: Fifty Years of New York Graffiti Art and Beyond, which was published by Damiani on April 30. A solo show of his recent work, titled Quinquagenary, will be on display at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles until May 25, 2024.
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00:00 Intro
03:04 Early life and work
08:06 Cinema
19:43 “Howard the Duck”
27:17 Lee is “WANTED” by the police
28:58 “Lion’s Den”
38:57 The East Village scene
47:29 “The buff” in the 80s
53:03 The 21st century
57:00 Outro
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[@carlrauschenbach5315]

Yea Lee! A looooong time coming. Heads need to recognize the importance of your work.

[@From_here1]

One of my all time favorites Lee finally give this man his flowers

[@13453R]

Maybe position the camera so we can actually see Lee...

[@RichiePopsBaker]

I considered myself the 1980’s English equivalent of NYC’s LEE in terms of my social conscience expressed through spray painted social commentary. Big Love Lee for paving that way. I’ve also been believing and saying for years that I was one of the very first people in the world to paint (relatively crude) photo realistic colour portraits with spray paint beginning around 1987. And yet here I see for the first time (I think) Lee’s portrait of Debbie Harry of the band Blondie from the year 1981. I mean… There are pioneers like little me… And then there are pioneers like LEE Quinones. Haha! POPZ 100. KIA (Killed In Action) platoon… Some years on.
Oneness Lovingness, Allness Nothingness, Foreverness Nowness, Wombness Wowness !
Richie Pops Baker. Popxart 2024 ! 😍🙏🏽☯️♥️💥☀️🌳💧🌏🍇

[@mikegustafson6679]

great episode!

[@tonysmith5878]

HE'S AGEING BEAUTIFULLY....SALUTE LEE.

[@brianquick3729]

Legend.

[@miguelhurtado7227]

Thank you ;)

[@whcchw]

Respect OG 💯

[@raineterno8370]

Lee is a living legend, Wild Style '83 is gold.
'Beat Street' (84) was a personal favorite back in the day.😎✌️

[@TheGraffitiWanderer]

nice

[@user-oj3sp1yj7u]

There was explosive fire and a creative atmosphere downtown. Alphabet city was alive, raw and seductive. I had quite a sweet taste and I’m grateful

[@olyuppi7331]

I like the mic blocking his face the whole time…

[@Its_Mik3]

Awesome interview. How about SEEN next please.

[@shabazzalim5408]

SALLUTES 💯