If you think of graffiti tags as brand names, then READ is right up there with McDonald’s and the local personal injury attorney Morris Bart. Variations of his signature phrases such as “Read More Books” and “Open Your Eyes” have popped up on Crescent City walls since 2008, as well as his drawings of squat human skulls and flying books.
“READ is — without question — the most visible graffiti writer in New Orleans,” wrote street art authority Kady Perry in her 2019 book “New Orleans: Street Art, Murals and Graffiti.”
“His tags can be found towering over highways and streets” across the city, Perry wrote.
A former hotel in New Orleans East featured some of the city’s largest graffiti. It reads: CAVEMAN READER!! OYE (Open Your Eyes)
First-name basis
And now READ’s creations can be found on the walls of an Arabi art gallery.
There’s a danger in putting graffiti in a gallery or museum. It often looks like taxidermy, a wild thing that’s now lifeless. Even the great British graffiti artist Banksy falls into the trap of producing stencils on canvas that are incapable of capturing the prankish nature of his guerrilla street art.
But the mysterious Mr. READ — who preserves his anonymity for obvious reasons — has avoided that pitfall.
The paintings and sculptures in his knockout exhibit, “First-Name Basis,” at Art Conscious gallery, are not graffiti on canvas. They are stand-alone artworks entirely different in form from his tags and murals.
A three-dimensional sculpture of the symbol ‘XXX’ – which could stand for anything from hard liquor to pornography to poison – is the centerpiece of ‘First-Name Basis,’ an exhibit of works by the renowned street artist READ at the at the Art Conscious Gallery in Arabi
A master designer
The centerpiece of the show is a marvelous three-dimensional sculpture of the symbol “XXX” — which could stand for anything from hard liquor to pornography to poison. The 10-foot-tall piece is made of splintery, recycled wooden business signs.
In the gallery’s big corner window, the artist created a huge lighted sign that spells out READ in glowing scarlet letters.
He also displayed several pop art paintings, including a map of the United States, ablaze with hot-rod flames that surround the admonition “Read more books.”
The show is spare, smart and beautifully composed in the gallery. It is the work of a master designer who is inspired by the lettering found on antique posters, books and newspapers. And who also just happens to have a reputation as a high-profile vandal.
One of several excellent pop art paintings included in ‘First-Name Basis,’ an exhibit of works by the renowned street artist READ at the at the Art Conscious Gallery in Arabi
Coast to coast
The mysterious Mr. READ’s reputation reaches far beyond New Orleans. In the 2013 Yale University publication “The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti,” Rafael Schacter calls READ “The most active coast-to-coast writer in the United States.” His “industrious and indefatigable ethico-aesthetic has become a ubiquitous part of the U.S. landscape,” Schacter wrote.
Translation: READ has been a busy dude for more than a decade, painting murals across the country that seem to plead for social consciousness.
Though READ couldn’t be contacted for comment, in 2016 he was interviewed in The Gambit weekly newspaper, where he explained how his background as an illicit street painter relates to his studio art. “In terms of shows, I still try to maintain the same value system I hold in graffiti practice,” he said. “Even as a fine artist, I still consider myself a (graffiti) writer first.”
“First-Name Basis,” an exhibit of works by the renowned street artist READ, continues through March 14 at the Art Conscious Gallery, 6601 St. Claude Ave., Arabi. Hours: Mon-Fri, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Prices range from $1,300 to $13,000.
Small sheet metal reproductions of graffiti tags are part of ‘First-Name Basis,’ an exhibit of works by the renowned street artist READ at the at the Art Conscious Gallery in Arabi
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