(born New York 1959) No brakes!, 1979-1980 signed, dated Brathwaite(Fab. 5) 80, on the back entitled, inscribed, signed: "No brakes"(p. s. the train is carrying all Art World Mafia) Frederick Brathwaite(Fabulous Five 1980)(Not to be sold to the rich or the stupid! It wasn't created for either. Brathwaite. 80(Fab. 5)), spray, varnish on canvas, 127 x 177 cm, on stretcher bars, (PP)

Provenance: Galleria La Medusa, Rome (label on the back);
acquired there in 1979 by the present owner;
private collection, Italy

Exhibition: Rome, Galleria La Medusa, The Fabulous Five, December 1979

"We call ourselves the Fabulous Five an we're the best of what we do - graffiti". This was the phrase used by Frederick Brathwaite leader of the "Fabulous Five" at the beginning of an interview published in the "Village Voice" in New York on the 12th of February 1979. In the Classical sense "graffiti" can be considered the purest expression of those social classes who have no other way of leaving their mark on society of being recorded in the annals of history. The arrival, however of "spray graffiti" is a strictly North American phenomenon which exploded in New York many years ago involving and overwhelming the New York subways in particular. Frederick Brathwaite, a young black 22 years old and George Lee Quinones a 19 years old portorican met each other in an open subway train depot and became the protagonists of the Megamurals, giving birth to the "Fabulous Five". From the first 80's the Fabulous Five haven't painted the trains. They are aware of their capabilities and having emerged from the underground and anonymity they show their paintings to a different public. (from: The Fabulous Five, Galleria La Medusa, Rome, 1979)