Samuel Vázquez was 13 years old when he started to “style write”, his preferred term for painting graffiti—in New York City.
He practiced graffiti art and breakdancing, two pillars of hip-hop culture, in 1983. It was a big year for the culture’s music, with Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys issuing their debut singles and Whodini releasing its debut album.
“It was what the young people were doing at the time,” said Vázquez, who lived in Puerto Rico before his family moved to East Harlem. “People ask me, ‘Did you ever think the music and graffiti and all this stuff would become a multibillion-dollar industry?’ I say, ‘No, because when you’re in the moment you’re not thinking in a future sense.’ That’s why it was so dynamic, because it was still very pure.”
Vázquez turned his street art beginnings into a fine art career, studying at Indiana University’s Herron School of Art and Design.
On Jan. 26, his retrospective exhibition Poetic Reflection will open a five-month run at DePauw University’s Peeler Art Center in Greencastle. The show will include paintings made from 2011 to 2025, photographs made from 1979 to 2019 and a new installation.
Although his earlier paintings on canvas featured spray paint and markers, Vázquez now specializes in multilayered compositions that combine abstract and representational elements.
The retrospective traces the evolution of his practice while reflecting the cultural influences and personal experiences that have shaped his work over decades.
