Fab 5 Freddy Opens Solo Art Exhibit at New York’s Gallery 151

Longtime hip hop icon Fab 5 Freddy may be best known to many for his pioneering VJ work with MTV’s famed Yo! MTV Raps program, but his early resume includes groundbreaking graffiti artistry and significant contributions to the mainstream art world. A contemporary of legendary artists such as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fab 5 Freddy was instrumental in connecting the flourishing uptown hip hop styles in music, fashion and art to a “downtown” crowd, helping hip hop culture break free from the confines of its original birthplace.

The man who voiced the classic and often sampled and scratched vocal snippit, “Ahh, this stuff is really fresh,” ventures back to his artistic roots with a solo exhibit underway at New York City’s Gallery 151, on the Lower East Side. The exhibit, titled New York: New Work, features a remixed mash-up of graffiti art, painting, photography and additional materials.

New York’s WPIX (Channel 11) spoke with Fab 5 Freddy for a morning show video segment, speaking on graffiti’s history, his influence on the world of fine art and his new exhibit.

Gallery 151 is located at 350 Bowery between 4th Street and Great Jones. New York: New Work runs through July 1.