CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 12/20/2020

Futura, Writing the Future

"Untitled" (1982) and "Boombox" (1983), both by Futura, are reproduced from Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation, the superb catalog to the blockbuster exhibition on view at MFA Boston now. One of our Staff Pick Holiday Gift Books for Art Lovers, 2020, this is also a must-have historical document for anyone following the artist's career, suddenly aflame again after a 30 year hiatus, with two shows up in New York and a recent collection out with the inimitable Japanese fashion label, Comme des Garçons—all included in a recent profile by Max Lakin in the New York Times. "Graffiti had found the speed at which it needed to be seen," Futura is quoted in Writing the Future. "To keep in step with the fast pace of communication and information sharing." How right he was, and how fresh his work looks now.