The Daily Swarm

Lee Quinones, the legendary New York graffiti artist who was one of the first street artists to move from murals to canvases, has a great 12-painting series on display at PS1 this summer. But don’t even think about hanging one of those on your DJ booth wall – the entire collection was apparently snapped up by Eric Clapton for $120,000.

(Update: Limited edition set of prints is available – see Lee Quinones’ email below.)

The 12 paintings depict classic break beat records – like James Brown’s Sax Machine, the Incredible Bongo Band’s Bongo Rock, and Shaft in Africa – each being tucked away by quick fingered DJs.

Painted as if the records were being tucked into a jacket, the compositions have an outlaw sensibility – as if the music were being pilfered or otherwise disseminated in secret. Imbued with a narrative quality, the works carry the heady optimism of a DJ with the showstopper tune or a graffiti artist with the biggest and boldest tag. Paying homage to sonic forefathers, Quiñones’s paintings encapsulate the music and MCs, break dancers and artists at the core of early hip hop culture.

Dante Ross has pictures of the full exhibition and explanations of all the breaks depicted on his SlamXHype blog. Like this great nugget:

Ok now this mug here’s been used by Diamond D ( Best Kept Secret) , Bizmarkie ( The Dragon) Masters of Ceromony and everybody under the son…the songs called Hard Times and it’s one of the hardest Breaks ever. I once used it for a hour long freestyle session with Craig G and Casual just killing it over this beat…. On a silly note this is the first record ever to name check Spam that Hawaiian delicacy!

Update: Lee Quinones just emailed with these details:

Mr. Clapton purchased the entire show but just to keep
other Music/Art collectors on cue, I have produced a
limited edition of 24 sets of prints. Each set consist
of all twelve original paintings beautifully printed
on canvas and will all be signed and numbered by yours
truly. The paintings are a visual memo of the those
pivotal and yet innocent years of music in New York
before the Hip Hop explosion. IE: Herman Kelly, Babey
Huey, James Brown, Babe Ruth, Jimmy Castor and others.

Being that there will strictly only be 24 sets world
wide, they are sure to become a special series to the
serious collector.

The first few sets have already gone to other
prominent VIP‘s but anyone serious enough to make the
right investment can move in on the remaining sets.
Each set retails out of the mother studio door for
12K.

A special closing party is planned for the beginning
of September where people filtering through the show
at PS1 will be invited to the party with a special
performance on hand, so keep an ear out.