Rase T-Kid 1980

Henry Chalfant made this photograph, Rase T-Kid, documenting a painted subway car, but I don’t know when. Think about the act of painting this train. It probably started with a sketch, but then it took on a life of its own. This subway car is like a huge canvas. I can almost feel the excitement and maybe a little bit of fear the artists must have felt as they worked, using spray paint to transform cold, hard steel into something exploding with color and life. You know, painting in public like this, it's like a performance. The colors—pink, orange, yellow, blue—they’re all layered on top of each other, a chaotic harmony of different voices. I see echoes of Abstract Expressionists like Joan Mitchell, in the energy and freedom of the marks. Graffiti is like a giant conversation, all over the city. It’s alive.