Opening next week at the Armani/ Teatro in Milan, timed in coordination with Milan Fashion Week, is an exhibition of 45 works – including 15 never before seen – by the elusive New York artist, Richard Hambleton. A follow-up to last September’s highly successful New York exhibit, “Richard Hambleton – New York” has been curated by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld and Andy Valmorbida, in collaboration with Giorgio Armani.

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.”

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 The MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, The Houston Museum of Fine Art, The Check Point Charlie Museum and The Zellermeyer in Berlin, the Andy Warhol Museum, the Austin Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Queens Museum, and Harvard University. He was chosen for the Venice Biennale in 1984.

According to curators Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld and Andy Valmorbida: “Richard Hambleton’s brush stroke as an artist is genius and is in a league of its own. Most significantly, he is the most important and influential living street artist in the world today, with a story and career that is unparalleled. It is also a privilege for us to collaborate again with Giorgio Armani and we are pleased to present it in such a prestigious space.”

And Armani says: “I have long been a fan of Richard Hambleton, so when the opportunity to host this exhibition presented itself, I felt I simply had to find a home for it in my hometown. Richard’s work is of the streets, and for me stands as a reminder that art in all its forms is first and foremost driven by individual passion and creativity.”

“Richard Hambleton – New York” is open to the public for two weeks, from March 1st to March 12th. The gallery at the Armani/ Teatro in Milan will be open Monday to Friday from 10am to 7pm. Of the 45 pieces, 30 works (including 15 never before seen works) will be for sale.

ARMANI / TEATRO
Via Bergognone 59
20144 Milano

*Images, from top: Richard Hambleton’s “Standing Shadow,” signed 2009, 80 x 36 in.; “Horse and Rider in Black & White,” 125.75 x 83 in.; and “6 Shadow Figures,” 72 x 240 in. All images courtesy of Nadine Johnson & Associates.