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UNITED STATES / New York / The Bronx Museum: Futura 2000. Breaking Out
by Modem
© Modem

until Sunday March 30 2025

The Bronx Museum
1040 Grand Concourse The Bronx
NY 10456 New York
United States

Contact
T : 718 681 60 00
info@bronxmuseum.org

Futura 2000: Breaking Out is a retrospective of this singular artist’s evolution from early graffiti art styles to his current practice of contemporary abstraction. The exhibition is the most comprehensive examination of Futura 2000’s five-decade career ever presented in his hometown of New York City. Breaking Out showcases his sculptures, drawings, prints, studies, collaborations, and archival paraphernalia dating from the 1970s to the present, as well as new site-specific temporary installations.

FUTURA 2000’s practice today continues to bear his fascination with the aesthetics of science fiction and the space age. These interests led to his early adoption of sophisticated computer technology and video gaming. Utilizing spray paint with virtuosic precision, he creates abstract cosmic compositions on canvas. Refined lines are contrasted by mists of vibrant colors and gestural brush marks while large areas are left empty, allowing forms to float freely across the surface, suggesting the expansiveness of outer space. His recurring motifs include the atom shape, symbolizing perpetual motion; a crane or linear mark, indicating a moment of rupture; and the enigmatic Pointman, reminiscent of an alien presence.

The exhibition’s title, Breaking Out, refers to Futura 2000’s boundary-breaking creative practice and his famous 1980 piece, Break, where the artist painted the full exterior of an N.Y.C. subway car with vibrant color and no lettering, a first for the graffiti art movement. At the time, Futura would “bench” in The South Bronx to watch his Break train pass by on elevated tracks, a short distance from The Bronx Museum.

Futura 2000’s meteoric rise as a culture-defining artist was fully cemented in the early 1980’s. His paintings were featured in historic exhibitions at Patti Astor’s Fun Gallery and Tony Shafrazi Gallery. He additionally collaborated with pivotal punk band The Clash: designing their album art and painting large-scale backdrops on stage while the band played to fervent audiences on their 1981 “Combat Rock” European tour.

Photo: FUTURA 2000, Invasion From Blue City, 1989, Collection of agnès b.

© Modem