Richard Hambleton used to paint the streets of New York City alongside Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Those privy to the scene know him as “The Godfather of Street Art.” And yet, his name remains largely in the dark to the general public.
For the first time in Hong Kong, Hambleton’s works will be taken out of the shadows in HKWalls‘ The Last Shadows, including never-before-seen works and his last few paintings before his death. Join us as we speak to the exhibition’s curators, Edward Straka and Alisdair Pitt, who walk us through the legendary artist’s life and legacy.
Edward Straka first came across Hambleton while growing up in New York City. “I used to see the Shadowmen,” he recalled. “I remember walking around Lower Manhattan and seeing the Shadows. No one knew what it was.” It didn’t take long before they became a worldwide phenomenon, sought after by collectors and galleries as Hambleton began moving them onto canvas. Straka directs our attention to a set of paintings, explaining: “He painted some on the Berlin Wall, he painted these in London, and he painted these in Venice…”
Seeing the Shadowmen that hang in the exhibition, it’s easy to understand how it left such an impact. They had a certain energy; something violent and maniacal, yet methodical and beautiful. You can feel it from the moment you open the gallery doors and come face-to-face with the Hula Hoop Cowboy, a towering, dark figure with a gun pointed at you as if you’ve just lost the duel.
Alisdair Pitt only learned of Hambleton when he met Straka in Japan, who told him about the artist who had been so memorable to him in his youth. Pitt became interested and began collecting his works when he realised the artist was still alive. By then, however, the artist was nowhere to be found. “He’d been disturbed by commercialisation. He didn’t want to be a part of that. He completely rejected that,” said Pitt. By a stroke of luck, Pitt got the artist’s contact and started corresponding with him through e-mail. This went on until Hambleton later invited him and Straka to New York in 2017.
They met the artist in the hotel room he stayed in, marking the start of a deep friendship. Taking a liking to the duo, Hambleton offered to paint for them. Take This and I’ll Kill You were the first paintings he created for Straka and Pitt. As with all his paintings, they were carefully thought out. The figures are symmetrical, yet contrast each other.
To me, the left figure looks like a cop, standing in the light, while the right figure looks like a punk, shrouded in darkness. Are they facing off against one another? Or are they cornering us, the viewer, as a pair? It’s up for interpretation.
Straka and Pitt remained good friends with Hambleton until he eventually succumbed to cancer the same year they met him. After his death, the curators acquired many of the exhibited pieces, including his diaries, sketches, and, what is perhaps the most important piece in the gallery, the very last painting Richard Hambleton ever created.
The untitled painting hangs on the wall behind the Hula Hoop Cowboy, but despite being the same colour, it feels completely different. “The black line isn’t black. The yellow’s not so strong. The splashes are dripping. They had to lift him up off his wheelchair to paint this,” Straka said. “Do you think he did that because he knew he was dying? And intentionally made the painting like it was fading out a bit?” We can only speculate as we study his final creation.
“We feel there’s so much of this that Richard was pulling the strings from up above,” Straka said, looking at the gallery of his friend’s works. The exhibition is a true labour of love by Straka and Pitt, which HKWalls helped turn into reality. “I do believe in destiny and that he’s orchestrating this from wherever he is.”
“The works were sitting in a storeroom, and Richard was a public artist. So his work is made to be hung in public so that people can enjoy it,” Pitt said. “We would like people to come and learn about it, and enjoy it. It’s as simple as that.”
The Last Shadows exhibit in Soho House will run until January 28, 2024. Visit the gallery to see Richard Hambleton’s iconic Shadowmen and rare paintings from Straka and Pitt’s private collections, including one that was deeply special to the artist. If you bump into the curators, be sure to ask them to guide you through the exhibition to get to truly know “The Godfather of Street Art.”
The Last Shadows by HKWalls
Soho House, 33 Des Voeux Road West, Sheung Wan
January 11 – 28, 2024
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (closed on Mondays)