Fashion has been obsessed with graffiti (clock Fendi’s latest project) in recent years and most excitingly, Futura, one of the genre’s most famous names, is debuting his first solo South-East Asian exhibition here this week.

Futura
Futura

Here are some fun facts about the artist: Futura counts other art titans such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat as his peers – his career spans more than 40 years since he got his start in the ’70s,  painting subway trains (illegally, naturally) in New York.

Along the way, he’s also toured with iconic English rock band The Clash (he painted live during their sets), started his own clothing label (Futura Laboratories) and collaborated with brands such as Louis Vuitton (Virgil Abloh’s F/W’19 show for the French maison) and Supreme. It may be surprising that Futura has never had a solo exhibition in Singapore, or for that matter, South-East Asia. But that’s about to change with Constellation – the 64-year-old’s first solo exhibition in the region.

Presented by local boutique art gallery The Culture Story, the graffiti artist will be showcasing a total of 30 new works created during his residency in Singapore last year. If you’re unfamiliar with the Futura aesthetic, he’s best-known for pioneering abstact street art as well as inventing novel spraying techniques. Having seen the pieces up close for ourselves, we were also quite confounded by his aerosol strokes – in person, the lines are so fine and skillfully applied, they come across more as silky brush strokes rather than sprayed on.

Fans of the artist can also look forward to the debut of a new documentary on his career: “Futura: 60 minutes with the street art legend” that plays this Saturday, June 1, at The Projector, followed by a dialogue session and after-party at the Intermission Bar.

Constellation will run from 30 May to 9 June 2019 at Gillman Barracks, Lock Road, Block 9, #02-21. All images courtesy of The Culture Story.