DAZE

(American, born 1962)

Chris “DAZE” Ellis is an American graffiti artist known as one of the pioneers of the street-art movement. DAZE got his start writing graffiti on New York City subway cars in the mid-1970s, while he was a student at the High School of Art & Design. The artist once explained about his early years, “You’re painting and you hear these sounds — the compressors going on and off. A train would go by in the express lane and blow garbage around. You’re painting in this solitary environment and it felt real cinematic.” In 1981, his work was featured in the Mudd Club group exhibition Beyond Words, alongside works from Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. The following year, he continued his transition from the streets to the gallery space with his first solo show at Fashion Moda, in the Bronx, NY. He has gone on to exhibit at venues such as the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York (1983), the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen (1984), and the Aldrich Museum in Ridgefield, CT (1995). His work has been acquired by the Brooklyn Museum, the Groninger Museum, the Ludwig Museum in Aachen, Germany, the Museum of the City of New York, and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Daze and his business partner and long time friend, John “Crash” Matos, served as the inspiration for the Netflix series “The Get Down” and served as graffiti consultants for the show. He continues to live and work in New York.