Jon Naar- " Stayhigh 149" Photo

Jon Naar, Titled "Stayhigh 149"". Signed and titled bottom, a unique photo measures 11" x 8.5" .

Gordon Wayne Roberts created the tag Stay High 149, combined it with a smoking, halo-adorned stick man he borrowed from The Saint television show and changed the face of graffiti. It's hard to imagine a trip through the subway system in early 70's without seeing his name a dozen times. Changing to his secondary alias, voice of the ghetto, around 1974 , ,he introduced the world to two and three toned markers that spewed rainbows of psychedelic cool. After a 25 year disappearance , a time during which many assumed him dead, he reappeared at a graff show in 2000 and soon launched a comeback that gave a new generation a chance to know and love his work. His tags had the rarest combination of style and meaning I've ever witnessed . High Maintenance is about paying back one of the most inspirational , yet humble cats to ever wield a marker. His spirit and legacy has touched every era of a culture that's blown up world wide. The artists who so generously donated their work for this benefit are giving their collective thanks to a man who transcended graffiti culture and in time be remembered as an American Folk Hero. All net proceeds from this sale will go to Stayhigh's Family.

Internationally acclaimed photographer Jon Naar has been published in the New York Times Magazine, Vogue, House and Garden, Harpers Bazaar, Fortune, New York Magazine,Connoisseur, the London Sunday Times and the Weekend Telegraph, domus, Elle, Schoener Wohnen, Die Zeit, among other magazines, and exhibited in many museums, art galleries and collections, including the Metropolitan Museum, MOMA, and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.

In 1974, Jon Naar photographed The Faith of Graffiti (akaWatching My Name Go By) with introduction by Norman Mailer, now an iconic landmark in the history of street art. He is author or co-author of the best-selling Design for a Limited Planet, Living in One Room, Your Space, The New Wind Power, Design for a Livable Planet, This Land Is Your Land, and Getting the Picture, a book of his photography from 1955 to 2005

In November 2005-February 2006, there was a major retrospective of Jon Naar's color and black and white photography from 1955 to 2005 titled Getting the Picture at the Jan Cunen Museum, Oss The Netherlands, together with publication of the book of the same title by Terra Lannoo.

Published by Prestel in May 2007, Jon Naar's The Birth of Graffiti contains 155 (mostly unpublished) photographs that record the exciting origins in New York of a movement that has transformed fine, art, fashion, and popular culture. This beautifully designed and produced book is widely available at bookstores, museums, Amazon.com, and other locations.

Jon Naar- " Stayhigh 149" Photo

About the Artist

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