Doze Green was born and raised in the upper west side of Manhattan, New York City and was one of the pioneers of the Hip-Hop culture. He first started writing graffiti in his neighborhood in 1974, and started painting subway trains in 1976.
The following year he joined the Rock Steady Crew. The Rock Steady Crew were pioneers of a new style of dance known as breakdancing or B-Boying. The crew first started dancing at art exhibitions and galleries of Soho and the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
During this time Doze was also attending the High School of Art and Design, where some of the most talented and well respected graffiti artists came from. Artists such as Lady Pink, Daze, Ernie Valdez, Seen TC5, Mr. Wiggles, Mare 139, and numerous others. In 1982 Doze showed his artwork in a well known group show at the Fun Gallery. At this same time after appearances in major movies such as Flashdance, Style Wars, and Wildstyle, the Rock Steady Crew was launched into action and the limelight.
From B-boy to graf legend Doze has gone to tagging the hallways of South Bronx projects to designing for clothing lines like Kikwear and Ecko. In the process, he's become a proponent of the avant-garde "fusionistic" art movement.
In the past year, he's been featured on dozens of exhibitions in art galleries from both coasts.
Best known for his characters, Doze has begun to concentrate on canvases that blend wildstyle techniques with metaphysical concepts. "I think I'm at the point where I'm movin' even further, to more distant frontiers like sculpture and 3-D painting".
With pieces ranging from the low thousands to upwards of $12,000, it's obvious that Doze is aiming for the serious modern art collector.
"Probably the biggest challenge and the most fun is painting live," reveals Doze. "There's a communion between the audience, the DJ and myself. The DJ is feeding off the music, and if the crowd is hype, he goes that extra mile. The same applies to me."
If you dig Doze Green's work check out some of the covers he has done for the Future Primative series including the cover work for the Presage cd. He has also done some work for the Deep Concentration series.
