AEROSOL: Boston’s Graffiti DNA, its Origin and Evolution

ShowUp is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, AEROSOL: Boston’s Graffiti DNA, its Origin and Evolution, featuring the work of artists Timmy “Zone” Allen, Thomas “Kwest” Burns, Barrington “Vex” Edwards, Ricardo “Deme5” Gomez, Shea Justice, Chepe “Sane” Leña, Rob Stull and David “DS7” Taylor. Archival photography by John Brewer. AEROSOL will run from December 6th through February 16th. An opening reception will be held on Friday, December 6th from 5 to 8 pm. 

Bartlett Yard, Ricardo “Deme5” Gomez

AEROSOL is a collaboration between journalist Jennifer Mancuso and graffiti writer Thomas “Kwest” Burns. Part historical archive, part visual study, AEROSOL follows the path of the kids who held spray cans, rode the elevated Orange Line, “the El,” racked paint, and bombed the city’s abandoned buildings. While billboards equated their artform to vandalism and gang violence, these young men honed their craft and formed a brotherhood of creatives. Fellow artists who came up under the same conditions as Kwest, practiced their skill on a canvas that wasn’t theirs to make a mark on a city that was. “We don’t exist without each other,” says Stull of his fellow exhibitors.