IMAGE MASS MURDER NEW, USED AND IMPROVED, 1987.
“STREET ART ASIDE, HAMBLETON’S TALENT IS IN THE WAY HE ENGAGES WITH THE VIEWER. DESPITE THE ABSTRACT NATURE OF HSI ENERGETIC BRUSH STROKES, THE FORMS THEY CREATE ARE STARTLINGLY LIE-LIKE AND ARRESTING. ENGAGES WITH THE VIEWE . DESPI E THE ABSTRACT NATURE OF HIS EN RGETIC B USH STROKES, TH FORMS THEY CREATE ARE STARTLINGLY LIFELIKE AND ARRESTING. VENERABLY KNOWN AS THE ‘GODFATHER OF STREET ART’, HAMBLETON WAS LINING PUBLIC SPACES ACROSS AMERICA WITH HIS WORKS LONG BEFORE THE LIKES OF BANKSY AND SHEPHARD FAIREY.” I ARD “STREET ART ASID , HAMBLETON’S TALENT IS IN TH WAY E I I I
A gaunt, elusive painter named Richard Hambleton tattooed the Urban landscape with a pair of outdoor multiple works. Image Mass Murder and Shadows. If Hambleton’s work can be classified as site-specific art, the sites they show us reveal the atmosphere that was enveloping American cities in the ‘70’s. It was a time when people feared to leave their homes, anticipating mugging, rape, murder at every street corner. For Image Mass Murder, Hambleton drove, bused, and hitchhiked to cities across the country, tracing the fallen human form on urban sidewalks with white paint, the way the police do to mark the site of a murder. Hambleton began painting “shadows” in a painterly, even splattered manner on the walls of the buildings in major cities. If the sidewalk marking of Image Mass Murder elicited surprise and morbid curiosity, the eerie Shadows exploited people’s deeply felt anxieties about the city streets. Almost everyone who lived in New York at that time has a story to tell about the night they were scared witless when they turned a corner to see a Hambleton shadow in a parking lot or on a side street. A gaunt, elusive painter named Ric ard Hambleton tattooed th urban landscape with a pair of outdoor multiple works. If Hambleton’s work can be classified as site-specific art, the sights they show us reveal the atmosphere that was enveloping American cities in the ‘70s. It was a time when people feared to leave their homes, anticipating mugging, rape and murder at every stre t corner. F r Image Mas Murder , Hambleton drove, bused and hit hhiked to cities across the country, tracing th f llen human form on urban sidewalks with white paint, the way the police do to mark the site of a murder. Hambleton began painting ‘shadows’ in a painterly, even splattered, manner on the walls of the buildings in major cities. If the sidewalk marking of Image Mass Murder elicited surprise and morbid curiosity, the eerie shadows exploited people’s deeply-felt anxieties about the city str ets. Alm st everyone who lived in Ne York at that tim has a s ory to tell about the night they wer scare witless when they turned corner to see a Hambleton shadow in a parking lot or on a side street.
Hambleton emerged from the shadows with full-length photo-images of himself, affixed where the earlier shadows had or could have been painted, and with a touring show documenting Image Mass Murder. Now settled in New York, Hambleton has since moved his work indoors. “I’m dealing with feelings and human emotions,” he explained in reference to his outdoor work. There is no doubt that Hambleton succeeded by that criterion: the complaint of many was that the feelings it evoked were too strong. Hambleton’s street work literally startled its viewers into an awareness of his how affected they were by the reality – and the expectation – of physical violence on city streets. Hambleton merged fro the s dows with full-length photo-images of himself, affixed where the earlier shadows had or could have been painted, and with a touring show documenting Image Mass Murder . Now settled in New York, Hambleton has since moved his work indoors. “I’m dealing with feelings and human emotions,” he explained in reference to his outdoor work. There is no doubt that Hambleton succeeded by that criterion: the complaint of many was that the feelings it evoked were too strong. Hambl ton’s str et work lit rally startled its viewers into an awareness of how affected they were by the reality – and the expectation – of physical violence on city streets. – Peter Frank and Michael McKenzie, New, Used and Improved: Art for the Eighties , 1987 (p. 46-47) – Peter Frank and Michael McKenzie, New, Used and Improved, Art for the 80’s, 1987, p. 46-47.
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