Anthony Clark (1964 – November 11, 2001), known as A-One, was an American

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

artist. He developed a style he called "aerosol expressionism".

Life and career

A-One was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in 1964 and grew up in the Mitchel Houses in the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

. He was the son of Janette Gordon Clark and the grandson of Mannie Clark Sr., head caddy at the Mayfair Golf Course in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city and the county seat of Seminole County, Florida, United States. It is located in Central Florida and its population was 61,051 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical ...

in the late 1950s. He began painting at the age of six, and writing graffiti on subway cars in the mid-1970s. A-One joined

Rammellzee Rammellzee (stylized RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ, pronounced "Ram: Ell: Zee"; December 15, 1960 – June 28, 2010) was a visual artist, gothic futurist graffiti writer, painter, performance artist, art theoretician, sculptor and a hip-hop musician from New Yo ...

's graffiti crew Tag Master Killers, which also consisted of Delta2, Kool Koor, and

Toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

. Each member designed their own style for arming letters based on Rammellzee's theory of Gothic Futurism, which describes graffiti as the weaponization of letters in a battle to reclaim language from a "diseased culture" of social control. In the early 1980s, they were among the graffiti artists bringing original art and music from

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

and

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

to the downtown art scene. In 1982, A-One, Toxic, and Kool Koor participated in the group show ''Camouflaged Panzerism'' at Fashion Moda in

. A-One was a friend and collaborator of artist

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

. Basquiat became his mentor and taught him how get involved with art galleries. A-One is the subject of Basquiat's paintings ''Portrait of A-One A.K.A. King'' (1982), which sold for $11.5 million in 2020, and ''Anthony Clark'' (1985). In 1983, A-One participated in the exhibit ''Jenny Holzer: Survival Series with A-One, Mike Glier, and Lady Pink'' at Lisson Gallery in London and the ''Post-Graffiti'' exhibit at

Sidney Janis Gallery Sidney may refer to: People * Sidney (surname), English surname * Sidney (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Sídney (footballer, born 1963) (Sídney José Tobias), Brazilian football forward * Sidney (footballer, bor ...

in New York. In 1984, he participated in the group shows ''Arte di Frontiera: New York Graffiti'' in Italy, ''Classical American Graffiti Writers and High Graffiti Artists'' at Galerie Thomas in Munich, and ''Rapid Enamel: The Art of Graffiti'' at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. A-One became the youngest artist to participate in the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in 1984. His work was featured in the exhibition ''Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation'' at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

from October 2020 to July 2021. A-One also had numerous solo exhibitions: Galeria Salvatore Ala, Milan, Italy in 1983; Piccolo Museum in

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

, Italy in 1985; and Galerie Quintessens, in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, the Netherlands in 1990; Galleria Salvatore + Caroline Ala in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy in 2010. For some time, he lived in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, Italy. He later moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he continued to work until his death from a

brain hemorrhage The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

at the age of 37 on November 11, 2001. He is survived by his older brother Octavius "Ocky" Clark, a

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games, officially known as the XI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Havana 1991 (), were held in Havana, Cuba from 2 to 18 August 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the Pan American Sports Organi ...

gold medalist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:A-One 1964 births 2001 deaths American graffiti artists Artists from Manhattan Artists from the Bronx 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American painters African-American contemporary artists American contemporary painters American emigrants to Italy American emigrants to France 20th-century African-American painters