Fifty Years of New York Graffiti Art and Beyond is the first monograph of Puerto Rican born artist Lee Qui-ones presenting his monumental work and following his evolution over five decades. When 14-year-old Lee embarked on his first spray paint mural in 1974, he carried marker drawings into the New York City subway train yards that served as studies to his 52-ft long rolling murals. Drawings, artifacts, and subway photography illustrate how Lee-s emergence served as a catalyst for what is now acknowledged as the street art movement. Before Lee, graffiti art was accessed by a small audience of young people who coveted style and scale. Images of Lee-s trains illustrate how he changed the face of the movement, infusing kinetic elements of futurism in over 120 subway car murals across the transit system. Lee invented the concept of the freestanding urban mural in his iconic 1978 Howard the Duck handball wall. He introduced spray-paint based work internationally when he opened his first for
