detail of ‘standing shadow look’ image © designboom

new york street artist richard hambleton is the subject of an exhibition at the armani teatro in milan. the show features 45 of his pieces, 15 of which have never been released before. curated by vladimir restoin roitfeld and andy valmorbida in collaboration with giorgio armani, this show is his first european solo exhibition since 1985.

richard hambleton new york - 2 ‘standing shadow look’, 2009 image © designboom

richard hambleton rose to fame in the early 1980’s when like his contemporaries, jean-michel basquiat and keith haring, he used the streets of new york as his canvas for visually arresting public art, most notably his ‘shadowman’ and ‘crime scene’ series. hambleton has been labeled ‘the godfather of street art’.

richard hambleton new york - 3 detail of ‘standing shadow look’ image © designboom

the last surviving member of the east village art movement, hambleton saw what fame and drug use did to his close friends, and for the last 20 years has led a relatively reclusive life on the lower east side of manhattan. despite a low public profile, hambleton has continued to create and his works can be found in the permanent collections of various museums. amongst many, this list includes the MoMA, the brooklyn museum, the houston museum of fine art and the andy warhol museum. he was chosen for the venice biennale in 1984.

richard hambleton new york - 4 ‘triple elvis shadow’, 2010 image © designboom

the richard hambleton exhibition will be open to the public for two weeks, from march 1st to march 12th, at the armani teatro in milan.

richard hambleton new york - 5 close-up of ‘triple elvis shadow’ image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 6 graffiti art on street

richard hambleton new york - 7 ‘stop 2’ 1982 image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 8 ‘6 jumpers’, 1999 image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 9 detail of ‘6 jumpers’ image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 10 ‘jumper’, 1999 image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 11 exhibition view image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 12 ‘graffiti kick’, 1999 image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 13 ‘wind shadow’, 2001 image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 14 ‘shadow tunnel’, 1994 (front) image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 15 ‘the 1984 rider’, 1984 image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 16 detail of ‘the 1984 rider’ image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 17 exhibition view image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 18 ‘silver buck’, 2010 image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 19 detail of ‘silver buck’ image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 20 ‘marlboro man’, 1985 image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 21 detail of ‘marlboro man’ image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 22 ‘alexandra’, 2009, ‘jane’, 1997, ‘giovanna’, 2008, ‘grace 1’, 2008 and ‘mette’, 2009 (from top to bottom) image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 23 close-up image © designboom

richard hambleton new york - 24 richard hambleton, 2010 photo © hank o’neal