Art CRASH(ing) Boundaries: How John “CRASH” Matos Merges Street Art With the Canvas

Growing up in the Bronx, John “CRASH” Matos first came into contact with his signature artistic medium at the young age of 13, when he would venture out to the train yards with older friends in his neighborhood to spray paint. Earning himself the name “CRASH” after crashing the computer at his school, his artwork began to “crash” its way throughout New York City, with his signature appearing on the sides of trains. Now, his work is crashing boundaries; of graffiti, of street art, and of the canvas as an artistic medium. Not only is CRASH breaking these boundaries within his work, but he is merging them as well.

Through the work CRASH has done, he creates a way of bringing the art of graffiti into the museum and gallery setting; merging street art with the canvas. His recent works, done on large-scale canvases, allow for what could otherwise be an outdoor mural piece to appear within an indoor setting; allowing the viewer to have a piece of the city within their own home and space.

CRASH’s recent large canvas mural pieces include In the Gap, which is spread across 48x120 inches, as well as The Afterlife 5 and The After Life 7,each spanning across 60x60 inches of canvas.

His piece, In the Gap, can be viewed both horizontally and vertically, creating a different experience depending on how you choose to look at it. “CRASH” is displayed along the center of the piece, composed of large, bold graffiti-style letters and lively, vivid colors. This is partially hidden/covered up by the surrounding elements of the artwork, including what appears to be an extra “A” in “CRASH,” a bold exclamation mark behind the letter “H,” as well as an ombré blue streak that crosses through all the letters after “C.” The piece, as large as it is, looks as though it could be something seen on the side of a building while you’re walking around New York City, which is why seeing this type of work on a canvas is so incredibly fascinating.

CRASH’s piece The Afterlife 5 contains bold shades of blue, seafoam green, red, orange, purple, and yellow splattered & streaked across the canvas with the main focus being an eye, spray painted in black and standing out amongst the other colors of the canvas. There is also what appears to be either the letter “R” or “B,” made up of red lines and cut off in the lower right-hand corner.

In The Afterlife 7, the piece is composed of shades of blue, purple, and green, with small details of red & orange, along with another image of an eye, this time seemingly less noticeable, as it is spray painted in a shade of blue. With both of these pieces having “The Afterlife” in the title, I like to think about what it would feel like to immerse oneself into these pieces so deeply, as if they are, indeed, the afterlife; how interesting it is that letters, words, and art would still be of such heavy importance beyond this current life in which we’re in—and just like that, we’re transported even further beyond the realms of the canvas.