Mast
For the Culture: Hip-Hop 50th, 2023
New York, New York

Photo Credit: David “Chino” Villorente

Painted in New York City’s Times Square, For the Culture highlights street art’s roots in Hip Hop culture. It is part of a graffiti art showcase and the city’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1973 block party in the Bronx neighborhood, which many tie to the beginnings of Hip Hop. Youth from neighborhoods across New York City gathered on street blocks, in abandoned buildings, and in parks—creating spaces of recreation, artistic exploration, and self-expression in the face of racial, social, and economic injustice. Over the subsequent decades, Hip Hop has become a global cultural movement that remains rooted in the experiences and innovation of its early pioneers.

MAST is an award winning mural painter and commercial artist from Yonkers, New York who is currently based in San Francisco. He started making a name for himself in NYC’s graffiti scene in the early 90’s, earning a reputation for coupling aggressive letters and stylized characters. His attention to detail and focus on graffiti letter-forms give his work a foundation in traditional style writing as he continues to hone the illustrative vocabulary of his visual language. MAST was awarded 1st place in the 2014 ONO’U International Graffiti Festival in Papette, Tahiti and 1st place in the letters competition again in ONO’U 2015. He has participated in many international mural festivals including ONO’U (Papette, Tahiti), Rust Magic (Edmonton, Canada), Futura Arts (Morelia, Mexico), Mural Masters (Seattle, WA) and Rooftop Legends (NYC). MAST was recently accepted by NEXT LEVEL International hip hop diplomacy initiative where he served as a US graffiti ambassador who worked on a collaborative mural in Bahrain for the country's 50th National Day.

马斯特 (Mast)
《致敬嘻哈文化诞生 50 周年》(For the Culture: Hip-Hop 50th)，2023 年
纽约州，纽约市

照片来源：大卫·“奇诺”·维洛伦特 (David "Chino" Villorente)

《致敬嘻哈文化诞生 50 周年》在纽约时代广场绘制，旨在展现“街头文化的根源在于嘻哈文化”。这幅作品既是涂鸦艺术展上的一个作品，也是纽约市为庆祝 1973 年布朗克斯街区派对 50 周年举办的一项活动，许多人都认为这一事件与嘻哈的诞生有关。当年，面对种族、社会和经济上的各种不公，来自纽约市各个社区的年轻人聚集在街区、废弃建筑和公园等地，将这些地点变成了娱乐、艺术探索和自我表达的空间。随后几十年里，嘻哈音乐发展成为一场席卷全球的文化运动，但仍然根植于早期先驱者的经验和创新。