John Matos Crash

Born in 1961 in the Bronx, Crash, real name John Matos, is an urban artist. Passionate about and inspired by pop art and comic books, Crash works with bright colors in an advertising-like manner. In collaboration with Keith Haring, he lent his style to the Peter Stuyvesant campaign. Starting out as a graffiti artist on New York trains at a very early age, he gradually drifted towards canvas and then joined a number of galleries. His work was presented at the Sidney Janis gallery in 1983, when he was just 22. In France, he made a name for himself a year later when he took part in the 5/5 Figuration Libre, France-USA exhibition at the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris. Quickly becoming a major protagonist of urban art, his work is exhibited in major museums such as New York's MOMA and Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum.