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Richard Hambleton, frequently acknowledged as the "godfather of street art," was a pivotal figure in the emergence of New York's downtown art movement, alongside contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. He gained prominence for his ominous "Shadowmen" and "Horse and Rider" motifs—gruesome black silhouettes that seem to have been created in a moment of explosive action. Initially tagging across the United States and Canada, he established his base in New York in 1979. Throughout the 1980s, he left his mark on the alleyways of Lower Manhattan before transitioning from street art to studio work, producing pieces on canvas and paper. Although he exhibited at the Venice Biennale during the 1980s, he fell into relative obscurity in the 1990s and early 2000s due to personal struggles with health and addiction that distanced him from the art community. Today, Hambleton's artwork is included in prestigious collections such as the Brooklyn Museum, the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. His pieces consistently fetch six-figure sums at auction.
