Richard Hambleton, referred to as the âgodfather of street art,â was a pioneering Canadian street artist. He is recognized as a pivotal intermediary between Abstract Expressionism and the popular âart for the massesâ graffiti that boomed in the 1980s. Hambleton is best known for his grisly âShadowmenâ and âHorse and Riderâ figures, which he tagged in alleyways and drug-dealing hotspots in Lower Manhattan throughout the 1970s and â80s. Despite finding early success in New York and showing at the Venice Biennale in 1984 and â88, Hambleton was largely forgotten in the â90s and early 2000s, when his personal battles with addiction alienated him from the art world. Hambletonâs work saw a resurgence in the 2010s, with solo shows, major museum retrospectives, and documentaries taking a new look at the seminal role he played in the history of street art.
