This interactive and informal discussion focuses on how graffiti has influenced my development as a collage artist, letterist and illustrator. The talk will explore my techniques and unorthodox practices using hand lettering in relationship to my fine art and commercial art.

Inspired by the dynamism of his native New York City and its role as an incubator of the outlaw art of graffiti, Greg Lamarche’s collages combine the city’s relentless rhythm and graffiti’s aggressive presence to express the power, elegance and rebelliousness of urban creativity. Using found materials and commercially printed papers from his vast collection of vintage printed matter, Lamarche abstracts graffiti’s visual language, playing with a profusion of font styles, word fragments, multiple layers, bold colors, rhythmic repetition, multiple perspective and movement. Each unique work of precisely hand-cut paper thus becomes an interplay of the directness of graphic design and the aesthetics of fine art.

Greg Lamarche
Born and raised in New York, Greg Lamarche created his first collages in the sixth grade when he used fireworks wrappers found in his schoolyard. In 1981 he began writing graffiti on the streets and subways, and published SKILLS, a seminal graffiti magazine, in the early 1990s.

Lamarche has worked as both fine artist and graphic designer since 2000, and has been featured in numerous publications including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Phoenix, Print, Juxtapoz, Modern Painters and Arkitip among others. His work is also featured in several new books, including GRAFFITI NEW YORK (Eric Felisbret, author; Luke Felisbret, contributor; forward by James Prigoff; October 2009, Abrams. publishers), CUTTING EDGES: CONTEMPORARY COLLAGE, (R. Klantin, H. Hellige and J. Gallagher, editors; February 2011, Die Gestalten Verlag, publishers) and THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN GRAFFITI, (R. Gastman, C. Neelon, authors; April 2011, Harper Collins, publishers) and CRACK & SHINE INTERNATIONAL, (Freddie Forsyth, editor; August 2011, Topsafe London, publishers). Lamarche created the cover graphics for WORLD PIECEBOOK (Sacha Jenkins, David Villorente, authors; June 201Prestel USA, publishers.)