Shaun Crawford is from East Harlem, New York City. He is an artist who practices a handful of mediums. Specializing in painting, ink making, dyeing, designing and graffiti he has positioned himself as an impressively unique and well regarded figure. Over the years he has garnered commercial success, recently designing for Supreme, dyeing jackets for Arcteryx, collaborating with Salomon & Bodega. All of the projects are better than the next. His most recent solo show The Beginning of This The End of That included paintings, embroidery, embossing, dyeing and all sorts of materials depicting devilish characters Shaun calls self portraits. The body of work comments on social and racial injustice, politics, pop culture, and the human condition. Shaun is preparing for another solo show and continues to make commercial work both personally and with brands. Growing up in New York during the 1980’s, he shared his memories of becoming the artist he is today.
Both of Shaun’s parents were very crafty people, his mom could sew and embroider and his father was a great craftsman. He recounts his father making go-carts together and even building a couch for his childhood home. Shaun’s godmother would make and sell hats at the Mart 125 on 125th street. When his older sister would work there and he would go visit. There he gained inspiration from the handmade objects being sold at the market and he would try to make things. Shaun’s family has always been very supportive of his artwork, even when he was getting arrested for graffiti.
The first medium he recounted approaching as a child was illustrating. When he was in the 3rd grade he remembers he had a classmate who could draw the Ninja Turtles perfectly. This pushed him to learn how to draw Bart Simpson using the TV to trace the Simpsons. He would show up to school with a wild Simpsons illustration. The process he used then is similar to the one he uses now to approach his paintings.
Shaun was in one the first graduating classes of the Art Institute junior high school on 91st and 1st Avenue. There he met Bedrock FEB who gave him his first tag. He began to start writing graffiti, going on missions, stealing pens and painting religiously. Eventually Shaun knew every spot to go get markers, naming Sam Flax on 59th, Pearl paint, Lee's Art Shop. Over the years he began to boldly write his name, Shaun and make his own ink. He shared many stories painting in the late 90’s and currently.
When Shaun began to see his peers making big moves with their graffiti and artwork he started Do ‘Em Dirty an ink brand with mops and paint. This was his first brand endeavor and it began to gain traction quickly. He ran that business from the office of his job at the time, a product sourcing company. That job helped him learn how to source rare objects and gain an understanding of quality products across industries. Down the line Shaun landed a job painting custom bags for Goyard. This job helped him create a more methodical and refined approach to his painting. Shaun expresses how lucky he was to have the job experience that he did and have supportive people around him from a young age. His varying experiences, upbringing, and perspective have led to be the prolific artist that we see today.