September 21, 2017
This past summer we framed a group of works from legendary graffiti artist QUIK and this past week we got to work with another piece of art from one of NYC’s original taggers, Lady Pink. We framed the signed print, “Five Toes” depicting a foot as urban apartment building set within a nighttime cityscape. The artwork was framed using a floating process with the art attached to its archival backing with mulberry paper hinges and rice paste. We then constructed a black shadowbox frame with spacers and museum glass.
Stascia in the studio with Lady Pink's "Five Toes" in its new frame
Lady Pink is Sandra Fabara, originally from Ecuador, but raised in Astoria, Queens. She began her graffiti career in 1979 following the loss of a boyfriend who had been sent to live in Puerto Rico after he had been arrested. She began tagging his name across New York City as a way of coping with the loss. Fabara was introduced to graffiti while a student at the High School of Art & Design in Manhattan. Lady Pink began running with TC5 (The Cool 5) and TPA (The Public Animals) graffiti crews and became one of the only break-out female graffiti artists of the period. She painted subway trains from 1979 to 1985. In 1980, she was included in the landmark New York show “GAS: Graffiti Art Success” at Fashion Moda, which was produced modified version at The New Museum and in 1983 she starred in the film "Wild Style". Examples of her work are in included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.
Detail showing the shadowbox structure and close-up of the artist's signature
Lady Pink remains active in her local NYC community. She is married to another graffiti artist, SMITH (Roger Smith formally of the graffiti duo Sane Smith), with whom she often collaborates on murals and commercial work. She also actively mentors students, visiting schools and teaching about the power of art and how it can serve as a medium for self-expression and community engagement. It’s an honor to work with her art here at Frames and Stretchers!
A young Lady Pink in a still from the film "Wild Style"
