The Spray Paint-Armed Drones of Graffiti Artist KATSU

KATSU, the graffiti artist who emerged in the 1990s, spattering his single-stroke skull icon throughout the streets of New York City, has caught the attention of the art world. In 2011, he demoed his fire extinguisher spray can against the side of L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art, welcoming visitors to the “Art in the Streets” exhibition—but he was just warming up. In April the artist, who shows with The Hole NYC, unveiled a series of abstract paintings produced using spray paint-armed drones, a technology he first pioneered for graffiti-writing but has now brought to canvas. “I’ve always looked at a building or looked at a canvas and stretched my arms out with my eyes. My eyes have always been able to reach it but my limbs have never been able to touch and reach these spaces,” he says.

At right, view the drones at work in a video that documents how KATSU’s paintings were made.