Overview

The late hip-hop pioneer, seminal graffiti writer, and iconoclast contemporary artist Rammellzee—a legend in his own time to his peers—was a profoundly transformative and influential figure across the art, graffiti, and music worlds. Rammellzee was an enigmatic yet key figure in the nexus of creative forces that defined New York City’s heady downtown scene in the late 1970s and 1980s. In the first major monograph on the multi-hyphenate artist, his inspired vision and wildly diverse artistic output are considered in depth. The oversize volume presents a treasure trove of material, providing extraordinary insight into his creative genius: a comprehensive selection of artworks (his iconic resin frescoes, paintings, sculpture, and performance paraphernalia), never-before-seen documentation of his graffiti work and performances, archival material, and ephemera. Gathered here for the first time, these materials tell this complex artist’s origin story and details his artistic evolution, cementing Rammellzee’s place in the art historical canon. Maxwell Wolf, lead curator of the much-lauded retrospective in 2018 on which this book is largely based, and co-editor Jeff Mao convene a historic gathering of the key actors of the time to tell Rammellzee’s extraordinary story in their own words in an extensive oral history. From graffiti writers, artists, musicians, and actors to filmmakers, photographers, gallerists, and family, those close to the late artist—including Toxic, Futura, Lee Quiñones, Charlie Ahearn, Jim Jarmusch, and Henry Chalfant—provide critical context about his life and work. This richly layered volume is a must-have for the legions of Rammellzee fans, as well as enthusiasts of contemporary underground art and culture, “old” New York, graffiti, and the history of hip-hop.

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9780847899371

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Reviews

“In the mid-1970s, a half-Black, half-Italian teenager from the projects in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens started hitting the A train with a spray can. At 18, he legally named himself Rammellzee, and since then no conversation about graffiti culture or the late-20th-century New York art scene has been complete without mentioning his influence. In Rammellzee: Racing for Thunder, the first major monograph on the multi-hyphenate artist who died in 2010, the co-editors Maxwell Wolf and Jeff Mao intersperse more than a half-century’s worth of art, photos and archives with an oral history as told by the fellow artists, friends and family who knew him best.” — The New York Times Book Review ""...the first major monograph devoted to the artist’s life and work, RAMMΣLLZΣΣ: Racing for Thunder is a publishing tour de force that embraces defiance and resistance as its starting point....bring[ing] together the stories and memories of Ramm’s expansive cohort of artists, musicians, gallerists, and family members including graffiti writers Lee Quiñones, Lenny “Futura” McGurr, Chris “Daze” Ellis; filmmakers Charlie Ahearn and Jim Jarmusch; and photographer Henry Chalfant."" — Animal New York   ""An intensely singular hip-hop pioneer, graffiti writer, and multivalent artist who worked in many other modes, Rammellzee was a mythological downtown New York icon whose legend has only grown in the years since his death in 2010. His mix of mystical and cosmological interests has figured in solo shows and surveys in recent years, and now comes the first major monograh."" — ARTnews   ""Rammellzee: Racing for Thunder presents the first major survey of the idiosyncratic and multitalented figure, combining a trove of visual delights and insights into other creative experiments. The new, large-format volume...chronicles the incredible scope of the artist’s output, from resin frescoes and sculpture to performance accouterments and graffiti. The wide range of archival materials and ephemera, gathered in print for the first time, is complemented by context from musicians, actors, photographers, gallerists, family, and more, who share vital insights into his life and work."" — Colossal   “…a thick, dense, oversized, richly enhanced book containing a treasure trove of iconic murals, paintings, sculptures, and performances from the late 1970s and the following decade… provid[ing] context around the work and life of such an enigmatic artist.” — Graffiti Art Magazine

""...the first major monograph devoted to the artist’s life and work, RAMMΣLLZΣΣ: Racing for Thunder is a publishing tour de force that embraces defiance and resistance as its starting point....bring[ing] together the stories and memories of Ramm’s expansive cohort of artists, musicians, gallerists, and family members including graffiti writers Lee Quiñones, Lenny “Futura” McGurr, Chris “Daze” Ellis; filmmakers Charlie Ahearn and Jim Jarmusch; and photographer Henry Chalfant."" — Animal New York   ""An intensely singular hip-hop pioneer, graffiti writer, and multivalent artist who worked in many other modes, Rammellzee was a mythological downtown New York icon whose legend has only grown in the years since his death in 2010. His mix of mystical and cosmological interests has figured in solo shows and surveys in recent years, and now comes the first major monograh."" — ARTnews   ""Rammellzee: Racing for Thunder presents the first major survey of the idiosyncratic and multitalented figure, combining a trove of visual delights and insights into other creative experiments. The new, large-format volume...chronicles the incredible scope of the artist’s output, from resin frescoes and sculpture to performance accouterments and graffiti. The wide range of archival materials and ephemera, gathered in print for the first time, is complemented by context from musicians, actors, photographers, gallerists, family, and more, who share vital insights into his life and work."" — Colossal   “…a thick, dense, oversized, richly enhanced book containing a treasure trove of iconic murals, paintings, sculptures, and performances from the late 1970s and the following decade… provid[ing] context around the work and life of such an enigmatic artist.” — Graffiti Art Magazine

Author Information

Maxwell Wolf is a curator, art dealer, and author based in New York. Wolf founded New Canons in 2021, a nomadic curatorial office and art advisory. As the founder and chief curator of Red Bull Arts, an experimental arts space in New York City, he staged major exhibitions of artists such as Gretchen Bender, Mel Chin, Bjarne Melgaard, and Akeem Smith, among many others. Jeff Mao is an author, music journalist and historian, and curator. A longtime member of the creative collective ego trip, with which he has co-written two books, he worked extensively with Red Bull Music Academy as an interviewer and radio and film producer, and was an associate curator for Red Bull Arts’ 2018 exhibition Rammellzee: Racing for Thunder.Jeffrey Deitch is a gallerist and curator. Carmela Zagari was the artist’s wife and muse.

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