Page 59 - OCEAN BLUE - FALL 2017

ART & DESIGN

R ammellzee first became known
in the late 1970s with his spikey
lettered graffiti on the A train.
A pioneer of graffiti writing,
his creative vision influenced fundamental
concepts of art. His work has adorned art
gallery walls - bringing the street inside - in
solo exhibitions such as: Rammellzee: The
Equation, the Letter Racers, at the Suzanne Geiss
Company, the Bi-Conicals of Rammellzee Tour,
with the Venice Biennale and Retrospective at
the Gemeentemuseum. He also participated in
numerous group exhibitions worldwide.

Equally gifted as a hip hop word master, his
work influenced the Beastie Boys and Cypress
Hill. His 1983 collaboration with K-Rob, Beat
Bop, is considered to be a hip hop classic.

Rammellzee was a recluse who rarely left the
Battle Station, the name he gave his Tribeca
studio/loft. When he did appear in public
it was in self-fashioned samurai-influenced
performance costumes which he gave titles to
such as Chaser the Eraser (c. 1994) and Barshaw
Gangstarr (c. 1994).

The world mourns its loss while celebrating
his legacy and most would agree with widow
Carmela Zagari Rammellzee’s statement as
told to the New York Times on his passing, “He
just ventured out on this planet in his own
dimensions.”

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