ghost - From Here To Fame

ON THE RUN BOOKS together form an encyclopedia that catalogs graffiti
and urban art from around the world. Since 1990, the OTR team has built an
ever-growing archive, eventually to be donated to the Museum of Urban Art, a
project presently under development as part of the Campus of Urban Culture,
which focuses on Hip Hop and graffiti culture. With every title, we digitize and
preserve original material from various key artists, and bring their story to the
public. All this, and in keeping with our motto: KNOW YOUR HISTORY.
“
Ghost, like his namesake, is the
phantom who you seldom see but
whose presence has been felt in the
graffiti world for years. ” DAZE
GHOST was one of the last kings of the New York
City train writing era. He experimented with traditional
letter styles until developing his own loose,
funky and psychedelic letters that sprouted from
his twisted, drug-seeped brain and his passion for
bombing. While most writers see a train yard as
an opportunity to paint a nice colorful piece, Ghost
sees the yard as a place to bomb, to do hundreds
of throw-ups. He approaches his paintings with the
same zest and casual grace as he does his throwups,
with bold, dripping explosions of vibrant colors
and freaky cartoons. Today, he exhibits his artwork
in galleries worldwide and does collaborations with
urban culture brands. Despite this Ghost remains an
enigma; he isn’t social, and he does not want to be
your friend. But both his artwork and his bombing
are full of humor and hard not to like.
10
GHOST RIS CREW
GHOST RIS CREW
supported by
www.fromheretofame.com
A
ARTIST

Ghost and Sash RIP / Bronx, New York, USA / 1983
Boo (Ghost) and PEAK / Queens, New York, USA / late 1981
GHOST / Bronx, New York, USA / circa 1984 / photo by WANE
GHOST: I saw a few people painting spraycans so I had to try and paint my own Jiffoam cap.
GHOST and Joey (STRIDER) / Manhattan, New York, USA / 1983
GHOST: Joey was hanging out and asked Strider to do an outline for him. Strider wound up doing the whole piece.
LOST and GHOST / Brooklyn, New York, USA / 1983
GHOST / Brooklyn, New York, USA / 1987
GHOST: This was from an old 1984 sketch. I wanted to finally do it on a
train but didn’t get to finish it.
14 15

Ghost, Lost and Saint / Queens, New York, USA / 1987
Rockin’ it Suckers
Lost came up with the RIS crew in 1983. He came up with the name from a
breakdance crew called Rock With Style. After some discussion we changed
it to Rocking in Style. At the time I was a recruiter. We wanted to keep the
crew small and consisting of writers that got up instead of having a crew
filled with people that didn’t bomb. It was Lost, Neo, Dutch, Dasher, and I that
started it off. Later on we added Ingy, Visa, and EA One, who were all also
from Queens. After some time we realized we didn’t have much style so we
changed the name of the crew to Rocking it Suckers. Since we had a lot of
beef at the time, the word “suckers” represented anyone who was against us,
whether cops, the MTA, or other writers. I never really looked at us as a gang
or anything like that, it was just something that I wrote because it represented
my attitude—that we are the RIS crew and you suck.
Between 1985 and 1986 I slowed down considerably but in 1987 I met
up with Saint and Cro who got me back into it since they were very active at
the time. One night’s mission turned into another and so on. It just flowed; the
timing was right. Eventually Neo introduced me to Ven, who asked me to paint
with him at the Shuttle*. The first pieces I painted at the Shuttle sucked: it was
too dark and they were ugly. So I came back again to do a better piece and
that turned into more.
Lost used to say that we would
never be satisfied because we always
wanted to do one more. One
more led to another and that momentum
lasted for over two years. Then
it wasn’t just about doing it to catch
pictures. ‘Cause all of a sudden we
were at war with the MTA painting
clean trains, at war with people on
the streets—it was just non-stop.
*Franklin Avenue Shuttle lay-up
LOST / Manhattan, New York, USA / 1983
GHOST: Lost was the president of RIS.
This block letter was done along with the
‘Ghost-Joey’ car.
20 21
“
I’ve never claimed to be king, I’m just
a vandal doing my thing. ” ghost

GHOST and DERO / Manhattan, New York, USA/ photo by William “NIC One” Green Ghost / Brooklyn, New York, USA / 1987
666 Packs (Ghost), RD One (lace 357) end-to-end / Brooklyn, New York, USA / 1988
Packs (GHOST) and VEN / Manhattan, New York, USA / 1987
GHOST: This was done with all old school Red Devil paint. One of my favorite pieces.
24 25

44 45

74 75

MONE: Ghost’s graffiti really is a reflection of who he
is. From the way that he does his pieces, right down
to his throw-ups. Sometimes his ‘GH’ throw-up is
hysterically laughing, and other times it looks like it
wants to kill the world. At times his pieces seem to
be partying and having fun, but then you see this one
letter that is just looking dead serious. His style is not
only based on skill, but it also has soul.
Above: Ghost / Queens, New York, USA / 1988 below: GHOST and ESPO / Queens, New York, USA / 1998
88 89

Untitled / Mixed media on paper / 2009
“
I really hope that writers like him continue to
put up pieces and throw-ups in wild places that
shock people and make them mad, especially in
this time when the movement has become so
commercial and boring. I understand that a lot of
writers think they deserve to earn a little money
off of what they spent so many years doing but
the question is if we want the movement to be
something that just pleases society or if we want
a part of it to stay rebellious. Cave AIS
”
Untitled / Mixed media on canvas / 2009
Untitled / Mixed media on canvas / 2009
122 123