Dondi White
Real Name: Donald Joseph White
D.O.B.: April 7, 1961
Graffiti writer Dondi White came up in the 1970s, plastering his name and many aliases on dozens of subway trains. His work and personality stood out in the culture, and he became a star among graffiti writers. Working with a seemingly endless list of pseudonyms, DONDI reappraised the notions of style. Some of the names he used on the trains of New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, (MTA). included: BUS 129, MR. WHITE, PRE, POSE, ROLL, 2 MANY, and ASIA. His work emphasized the dynamics of lettering and its forms over meaning, focusing on shape and juxtaposition. Dondi was lovingly referred to as “The Style Master General,” as it was commonly accepted that he was the artist who set the standards for graffiti art in his time. He crafted letters that were both acrobatic and aerodynamic in nature and committed them to metal with remarkable precision. Donald J White was born in Manhattan and raised in the East New York section of Brooklyn to Italian and African-American parents as the youngest of five siblings and attended catholic school.
This later was to become a strong influence in the brush strokes of his artwork. Religious imagery and religious terms, such as ‘Anno Domini’, were prevalent in his work. His parents instilled a strong moral upbringing of social consciousness and manners. He was not of a disgruntled and heart-wrenching domestic childhood, broken family and living ghetto-broke. He pursued a range of hobbies including pet pigeons, stickball and football with his brothers. They said their prayers religiously and settled sibling squabbles in the backyard with boxing gloves on. When Donald was nine years old the family moved six blocks away and this was when his older brother Michael recalled seeing ‘Dondi’ marked on streetlights and walls near the house. By the mid seventies after Donald’s two oldest brothers left the nest the area began a social change, the injection of street gangs and heroin spread over to East New York and Donald’s parents naturally became worried over their sons’ safety. Fearing a young Dondi could be recruited by local gangs. But these hobbies kept him busy, kept off the streets looking after his pigeons and building mini-bikes. By 1976 the Whites had retired and Dondi was the last remaining son under their roof, oblivious that he was building a strong reputation as a graffiti writer. Conveniently the new address was only a few blocks away from three major New York train yards. Dondi was recruited into the hands of local Brooklyn crew known as ‘The Odd Partners’ which included MICKEY 729 (A.K.A. TO) MOVIN’(A.K.A. TI 149), HURST (A.K.A. OI)JEE 2 (A.K.A. JAMES) IK (A.K.A. HULK) DIKE and UPS 2 and others. Dondi often claimed these artists as his major influences in his development as a graffiti artist. The Odd Partners dominated the M, J and LL lines. He tagged using the Monika of ‘NACO’ and ‘DONDI’ refining his signature, transgressing from tagging to more elaborate “Bombing” or stylistic pieces. By 1977 Dondi had established his own clique called CIA (Crazy Insides Artists) consisting of the above-mentioned members of TOP still active and new recruits. Recorded members were, SID, KIST, DURO, LOVIN 2 (aka AERON), PETE, ERIC (aka DEAL), Z-RO, GREG 167, RASTA CIA and KID 56, among others. CIA continued TOP’s traditions of Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Transit domination but stretched out, focusing their attention of the Number 2 IRT line. He displayed an unorthodox personality for a writer by distinguishing himself from behind the secrecy of their art by painting a huge piece ‘DONDI’ on the roof of his home quite visible by the number two train as it passed by. Dondi firmly held tight onto the beliefs of the apprenticeship system common to the culture, he openly provided guidance to beginners and became a leading mentor for countless graffitists whom made their own marks in the sub culture of Graf. In 1979 it had become quite evident that Dondi’s artistry had become more prevalent in NYC than advertising billboards, enough to get the attention of photographer Martha Cooper who inadvertently captured his work in the background shot for New York Post a year before their meeting. A friendship developed and Martha began snapping his work and documenting his now infamous top to bottom piece covering the canvas of a whole car in the New Lots train yard entitled “Children Of The Grave Part 3” on May 31, 1980 photos of which appeared in the book Subway Art, (Thames & Hudson 1984) presenting a new social and legal risk of exposing the writers’ secret world, shining spotlights into the shadow of this culture. This was the first publication of a graffitist, although controversial the striking shots successfully revealed the mystery of this underworld rat-like society in a most distinguished manner. After earning his GED in 1980, Dondi took a government job, still indulging in the talents of graffiti, turning his bedroom into a meeting place for the crew. Many of whom he’d associated with from raising pigeons. Dondi met Duro in 1974 and became best friends and together they honed their skills in the Whites’ basement. Although this ethnicity carried the stigmatic stench of gang-affiliation, Dondi’s approach carried the honest intentions of an artist without the sufficient canvas for his work. That summer art patron Sam Esses, who saw the unheralded appreciation of this artwork was dismayed to find out that the MTA systematically removed the graf pieces from their property and he therefore preserved this talent by forming a project called “Esses Studio” in which the street art was re-created in the studio transforming this urban scripture from the concrete jungle it was framed with to the confines of a social gallery. It was a two-month endeavour in which the top artists of the time were invited to paint on proper canvases. Consequently, following fellow aerosol ally KEL139, (Randy Rodriguez). Dondi came and painted at the studio. This alliance brought together a very disjointed society in which writers had become quite secluded in their work from other boroughs as territorial rivalries ran like blood through the veins of the New York culture. It became apparent this ‘Graffiti 1980 Studio’ was the catalyst for the 80’s renaissance of graffiti art.
This was to take Dondi off the rails for a new direction is his future, as the Esses studio work was his first spray can to canvas production. Although during 1980-81 he was piecing together some of his finest work on urban trains he had become associated with the Soul Artists, a group of graffitists who were working legitimately in the art culture. The culmination of graffiti and art were planting their first seeds. The creative competition between these artists provided them with immense inspiration. Dondi became an integral part of the East Village art explosion of the early ‘80s showcasing at a variety of small galleries, most significantly ‘The Fun Gallery,’ which also exhibited the likes of FUTURA, CRASH, Eric Haze, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Fab-Five Freddie. A Monday night work session at SA’s workshop became a social hotspot for diverse groups of artists, activists, musicians and New York filmmakers. Journalists circled overhead capitalising on the collective movement of the NY counterculture gathering in one opportune location. The SA’s became familiar fixtures at Manhattan nightclubs including the Roxy, Negril, Danceteria and the Peppermint Lounge. Dondi and another legendary cultural artist Zephyr had their art work featured on new urban-culture documentary movie ‘Wild Style’ about the 4 elements of hip hop. Dondi was hired as a creative consultant and artist for the TV movie about graffiti life, ‘Dreams Don’t Die’ The MTA provided Dondi with a freshly painted train for his use. But it wasn’t long till the MTA reconsidered its contradictory guidelines and ceased providing such assistance. As opposed to carrying the stigma of criminals by the MTA in New York, Dondi, Futura and Zephyr were labelled as celebrities in California as they rolled out the red carpet treatment for them as they flew out there in 1982 for a show at the University of California at Santa Cruz featuring 25 canvases from the Esses studio. Unlike the MTA Santa Cruz’s bus authority gave donated a bus to paint. Within three months they were in Hong Kong working on a 10,000 square foot wall space of a new nightclub. Dondi’s first European tour came around in ’82 with the ‘Roxy Tour’ that showcased all four elements of hip hop featuring DJ Afrika Bambaataa, Malcolm McLaren’s punk act Rammellzee, the Rock Steady Crew, Grandmixer D.S.T, the Double Dutch Girls, Phase 2, Fab 5 Freddy and Futura.
Due to a growing interest in popular American culture, graffiti-based art drew the attention of European gallery owners and collectors, Dutch dealer Yaki Kornblit gave Dondi a solo showcase in the Netherlands in 1983, making him the first graffiti artist to have a one-man event internationally. This was a sell-out success leading him to have his own show in Germany and other European shows throughout ’83.
Reaching the pinnacle, American graf-art was featured in a group show called “Graffiti” in Rotterdam’s Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum. This show travelled to three other museums making Dondi one of the most recognisable artists in this new wave art form. At 22, he had exhibited seven solo shows and his work was held by European museums. “Writing on subways was a good way to communicate the ideas I had.” He is quoted as saying in Style Master General, “Moving into the gallery, I had a whole other audience I had to communicate with which was good, because it made my work evolve.” One of his many enamel spray paint-on-canvas paintings during this time featured a funky figure and the passage, “Dear-Dark continent of kings continue the battle aboveground…Yours Truly.” Continued success with a strong following throughout Europe and America, hosting an array of events with his remarkable work, Dondi had by now extensively toured and 1984 brought about a break. He went into semi-retirement, walking away at the height of his success. His creation was pressured for a factory-output of work and it seemed he wanted a more normal life. This deep breath allowed Dondi to produce some of his finest work. He worked in collage form, working with blueprints, exacting pencil and ink drawings. These pieces took several months to complete with no clock ticking. It was during this time in 1986, Dondi was given the opportunity to re-create his famous piece ‘Children Of The Grave’ legally when he was commissioned by the Art Train project, invited along with twelve other artists into an Amtrak train yard in Michigan to paint trains. By ’92 Dondi had become well adjusted in his home life living with girlfriend complete with part-time at an upscale men’s clothing shop. The following spring his work was displayed in retrospective exhibits ‘The Legacy’ at the Rempire gallery in Soho and the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands. In 1995 he was featured in ‘Fifteen Years Aboveground’ exhibit organised by graffitist CRASH. After a long illness, White died October 2, 1998 from complications from AIDS.
“The information our government gives us concerning AIDS. I like to think of in terms of a bikini. What it reveals is suggestive. What it conceals is vital.” – DONDI, Interview Magazine March 1992
Dondi was simply the best, the embodiment of a graffitist artist, breeding the sub-culture of urban communicative scriptures, showcasing the finest works into mainstream society. He touched so many of us through his work and was loved by so many. He has left us with such an heritage of his fantastic art. The Voice of The Ghetto had passed the mic onto Dondi and what a beautiful show he has given us. The king of aerosol art, Donald White has left us with his legacy to appreciate for generations to come. He died at home in the company of family and friends after a long battling illness. At the forefront of the hip hop movement, we thank Donald for his contributions to the culture and mourn the passing of a founding father and icon of urban art.
A Final Quote:
“Asia Africa Tokyo went to the places, the places they told us not to go. Peace 2 Da Godz. Peace 2 the Earths. Peace B wit U…4 what ever its worth. Still BRAN NUBIAN. Home of the Godz …Brooklyn NY DONDI” - Donald Joseph ”DONDI” White (April 7, 1961 to October 8, 1998)