Ted Audio Collective.

This archival episode of Design Matters originally dropped in May of 2021.

After everything I saw, what could I do, you know, what could I now do?

I knew I was arriving to the scale in which the gold standard was of that moment,

which is a whole subway car.

From the Ted Audio Collective, this is Design Matters with Debbie Millman.

For 17 years, Debbie Millman has been talking with designers and other creative people about what they do, how they got to be who they are,

and what they're thinking about and working on.

On this episode, graffiti artist Futura talks about the art scene in New York in the 1970s and about technique.

The simplest thing I could say is all you have to do is turn the can upside down.

Seems pretty simple.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s,

Leonard Hilton McGur was a young artist writing graffiti on subway cars in New York City.

Then he joined the Navy and was overseas for four years.

When he came back, the graffiti scene was beginning to merge with the East Village scene and generating art stars like Keith Herring and Jean-Michel Basque.

McGur started working on canvas, became integral to the movement, and over the years his lush and lyrical paintings have turned him into the art star we know as Futura. He's also designed album covers and performed on stage with

the clash and if that wasn't cool enough he's also designed sneakers and

automobiles.

Futura, welcome to Design Matters.

Thank you.

Glad to be with you, Debbie.

Thanks for having me.

...