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John "Crash" Matos

Native New Yorker John Matos began to graffiti train yards around his neighborhood in the Bronx at age 13. After accidently crashing a computer at his school, Matos adopted the name "CRASH," which circulated around New York City on the sides of train cars he tagged. During the 1980s, when street art began to gain the respect of critics and institutions alike, Matos started exhibiting his work in galleries. He curated the avant-garde show Graffiti Art Success for America at the noted alternative space Fashion Moda, which solidified the place of graffiti in the art world. Crash has gained worldwide fame and has been the focus of many museum and gallery exhibitions and has collaborated with brands such as Absolut Vodka, Fender Guitars, and Levi's.

Born 1961
Hometown New York, NY
Lives and Works New York, NY
Permanent Collection

Boca Raton Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art, Boca Raton, FL
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
Flint Institute, Flint, MI
Groniger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands
Museum Boymans-van Beuninger, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Aachen, Nue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig, Germany
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ft. Wayne Museum, Ft. Wayne, IN
Cedar Rapids Museum, Cedar Rapids, IA
Vero Beach Museum, Vero Beach, FL
Naples Museum of Art, Naples, FL
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL