Eric Haze (born 1961) is an American artist, graphic designer and art director.

Career

Eric Haze was born in 1961 in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to progressive parents of the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

. Haze was drawn to art through his father's friend's pop art collection and meeting Elaine de Kooning who gave Haze oil paints while she painted a portrait of Haze and his sister in 1971. In 1972, Haze began writing graffiti throughout New York City. In 1974, he started showing his art publicly, later exhibiting paintings and drawings alongside friends

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the Graffiti in New York City, New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual l ...

and

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 ...

in the 1980s. As part of the seminal New York City collective “The Soul Artists”, Haze was one of the original pioneers to bring graffiti above ground into the mainstream and the first graffiti artist to brand his tag as a logo, creating one of the first street wear clothing companies to rise out of the hip hop era. Haze also appeared in the seminal 1983 documentary '' Style Wars''. In 1985, Haze graduated with honors from

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

in NYC with a degree in graphic design. In 1986, he set up a design studio and due to his unique positioning of coming out of the hip-hop era, began establishing clientele and relationships within that market and community. He has created logos, album covers and identity design for clients including the

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

Tommy Boy Records Tommy Boy Records is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Amber, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digita ...

LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip ho ...

and EPMD. In 1991, Haze relocated his design studio to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he also founded his eponymous clothing and accessory brand, HAZE. By 2005, the brand had three stores in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. In 2000, Haze contributed to the creation of the video game '' Jet Set Radio'', published by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

, providing some graffiti of his own to be used in the game. The follow up, '' Jet Set Radio Future'', would also feature art from him as well. In 2005, Haze returned to New York City, setting up a new studio in Williamsburg,

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Haze has since presented solo exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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 ...

and Tokyo. Haze was also featured in the 2011 landmark exhibition “ Art in the Streets” at Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles.

Personal life

Haze runs his studio out of Brooklyn, New York, where he lives with his wife, actress Rosie Perez.

References

External links

*
Archive Website
at interhaze.com

at @149st * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haze, Eric American graffiti artists American art directors Living people 1961 births American graphic designers