Seen (1961) - Bubbles series

Seen (Richard Mirando)
Bubbles Series, 2025

Dimensions: 61 x 56 cm
Technique: Spray painting
Signature: signed and dated
Condition: very good
Sold without frame

Seen, whose real name is Richard Mirando, was born in 1961 in the Bronx where he grew up and still lives today. From a very young age, he was already a prodigy in visual art. He was given his first airbrush at the age of 11. Two years later, he creates decorative paintings for his uncle, who owned an auto repair shop. He then customizes his first vehicles.

The graffiti movement was at that time in full emergence. Richard is captivated by the painted subway cars that run and stop in the Lexington Avenue yard on the 6 line, just behind his uncle's garage. He enters the yard on a Saturday afternoon in 1973 and completes his first 'piece'. He chooses the alias 'Seen'. The sequence of the two 'E's pleases him and the meaning suits him. Graffiti becomes for him the means to fulfill his desire to be seen by as many people as possible.

His first painting is a revelation. From a mere spectator, he becomes an active participant in the young movement. The subway becomes his preferred canvas. He then continues with actions and even paints entire trains (Whole cars) that will forever mark the minds of New Yorkers. His name and his art are carried across the city by the trains used daily by hundreds of thousands of people. His unique style, his creativity and his tenacity establish him as the leader of the New York underground graffiti movement of the 1980s.