Biography
Born Leonard Hilton McGurr, he started to paint illegally on New York City's subway in the early 1970s, working with other artists such as ALI.
From 1974 to 1978, he served in the U.S. Navy and traveled all over the world. [6]
In the early 1980s he showed with Patti Astor at the Fun Gallery, along with Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Richard Hambleton and Kenny Scharf. [7]
One of the most distinctive features of Futura's work is his abstract approach to graffiti. While the primary focus, during the 1980s, of the majority of graffiti artists was lettering, Futura pioneered abstract street art, which has since become more popular. Conversely, his aerosol strokes are regarded as different from those of his peers, as they are as thin as the fine lines usually associated with the use of an airbrush.
While he is primarily known as a graffiti artist, much of his work is as an illustrator and graphic designer of album covers, first becoming involved with the British punk rock band The Clash; producing a sleeve for their "This Is Radio Clash" 7" single and handwriting the sleeve notes and lyrics sheet for their album Combat Rock (1982). He also toured extensively with The Clash during the Combat Rock tour, "performing" with them on stage by spray painting backdrops while the band performed. [8] His rap appeared on the Clash song "Overpowered by Funk."
In 1985, he was on the first meeting of the graffiti and urban art movement in Bondy (France), on the VLP's initiative, with Speedy Graphito, Miss Tic, SP 38, Epsylon Point, Blek le Rat, Jef Aérosol, Nuklé-Art, Kim Prisu, Banlieue-Banlieue.
In the mid-1980s, he began hustling as a bike messenger and worked at a Queens post office in order to support his son, as he found it difficult to maintain his job as a gallery artist. [9] [10]
Years later James Lavelle resurrected Futura's career by getting him, alongside Ben Drury, to produce the artwork for several releases on Mo' Wax records; this also led to Futura producing the imagery which has largely defined Lavelle's Unkle project.
During the 1990s he was involved with clothing companies such as GFS, Subware and Project Dragon. More recently much of Futura's artwork has evolved into the production of collectible toys, sneakers; and a diverse range of creative media, working with Recon, Nike, Medicom Toy, Undercover, Supreme, Levi's and A Bathing Ape.
Futura also designs his own clothing under the label Futura Laboratories with a store located in Fukuoka, Japan.
Futura was interviewed and featured in the 2005 sneaker documentary Just For Kicks.
Futura appeared as himself in the 2006 action-adventure video game Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure alongside other notable graffiti artists. [11]
His 2012 exhibition Future-Shock was curated by Nemo Librizzi and shown by Andy Valmorbida in New York City. [12] Past galleries who have organized one man exhibitions include Fun Gallery, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Philippe Briet Gallery, Galerie du Jour Agnès B., and Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont. Museum exhibitions include New York / New Wave at PS1 (1981), [13] Coming from the Subway at Groninger Museum (1992), [14] Beautiful Losers (2004) and Art in the Streets at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2011). [15]
In 2012, Futura designed the special edition Hennessy V.S. bottle.
In 2017, Futura designed a collection of T-shirts with Uniqlo.
In 2019, Futura designed a pointman bobblehead, a baseball jersey, and a baseball cap with the New York Mets.
In late 2019, Futura collaborated with Funko to design decals for a Star Wars line sold exclusively at Target. Two designs were falsely claimed to be his but were in fact designed in-house by Funko [Red and Black Boba Fetts, both the 4 and 10 inch variants].
In 2020, Futura designed in collaboration with BMW a bespoke series of vehicles that were shown at Frieze LA 2020 in Los Angeles, US. [16]
In September 2020 a pair of Nike sneakers that he designed, known as the "Leonard Hilton McGurr ‘Futura’ Nike Dunk High Pro SB ‘FLOM’" sold at auction for US$63,000. [17] [18]
