Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

I met Bill Blast at Gary Lichtenstein Editions at Mana Contemporary last year. He is famous, or rather I should say his work is, because there is something I've discovered about Bill, that although his iconic images are known world over and there are collectors who have sought out his pieces, he is the type of person who is so quiet about who he is and the work that he does that unless you are introduced to him by someone like Gary Lichtenstein or Melissa Marr who is the Director of Operations at Gary Lichtenstein Editions, you might not find out just exactly how famous his work is unless you take the time to talk with him over time and even then you might not fully understand unless you started doing your research.

I happen to be someone who loves street art and graffiti, but I'm in no way an expert at it. I don't know who everyone is, I just know what I like, and I love Bill Blast's work and loved it at first sight. After I was introduced to him, I did take the time to talk with him, and then I started to find out a bit more, but it was only after meeting him a few times that I started to really understand the scope of his years of work, and even then I was only getting glimpses. He has a history of having his images be a part of some of the most memorable scenes and places, but like the history of street art, some of his earliest work, though memorialized on film and video, has been long gone, painted over, covered over or in some cases torn down when buildings came down or parks were renovated. Street art and the whole culture around it has always had a quality that was ephemeral, though in its scope and impact it is extremely powerful. Visually colorful, vibrant, and many times larger than life, the paintings created on the walls of buildings, subway cars and tunnels tell stories that span lifetimes and continents and worlds beyond the stars. Graffiti Artists often refer to their work as Writing, and though there are many ways that they write, including tagging their names, they also are writing stories in the images, telling their own history, the history of cultures, a neighborhood, lives lived and lives lost.

William "Bill Blast" Cordero has been exhibiting his artwork internationally since the age of nineteen. A New York City native, he attended the High School of Art and Design and Parsons School of Design. From his earliest days as a professional Artist, his work was commissioned for outdoor projects in New York, Boston, and Detroit, and his work has been exhibited at the Galerie Yaki Kornbilt in Amsterdam, at Museum Boymans in Rotterdam, at Gallozzi La Placa and Fun Gallery in New York City, and at Boston University. He has also been commissioned to produce large scale murals for WCVB-TV, the ABC network Affiliate in Boston; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and "Art Train" a traveling museum currently located in Detroit. He was a designer and consultant for Harry Belafonte's film, "Beat Street", and his work is also part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Recognized as one of the greatest New York Graffiti writers of the 1980's, in 1982 he painted two walls on either side of a handball court on West 99th Street and Amsterdam Avenue that was known as "Rock Steady Park" because at the time it was a popular practice location for Rock Steady Crew. The two murals, lost when the area was remodeled, are considered to be masterpieces. "Sky's The Limit" referenced the lyrics of Keep On by D-Train and depicted New York City landmarks in an urban setting, while his vibrant piece Eye Of The Tiger was on the facing wall. After years of risk taking, tagging metro trains or walls, he began to work on canvas. Since 1986 he has been an Artist-in-Residence at the Joan of Arc Scool in New York. He was awarded a Grant from the New York City Arts Council to work with students at the school to produce large-scale murals dealing with pressing social issues which affect today's urban youth.

To have the opportunity to see the work of an Artist with the history and talent of Bill Blast is an opportunity of a lifetime. To meet him is a rare pleasure. He's one of those epically gifted visionaries whose work transcends the times and spaces where he creates, and he is humble as so many of the greatest Artists are. There are times when I am speaking with him that I feel like there's a very low burning flame just under the surface, behind his calm exterior, flickering behind his eyes. It's the kind of fire that flickers while it burns at the hottest point of the coals. When I look at his work, it's that constant flame I'm seeing, and it's the reason that his work is so beautiful and so powerful. There's something burning in Bill Blast that won't stop, and it's lighting the way for us all.

William "Bill Blast" Cordero

https://williamblastcordero.com/

At Gary Lichtenstein Editions

At Mana Contemporary

888 Newark Avenue

Jersey City, New Jersey