"Goldie" & the New York Spray Can Artists 1989

This was a film I directed in 1989 about Graffitti (Spray Can) Artists from New York alongside the UK's Goldie (Clifford Joseph Price) pre gold teeth and the James Bond role.

Despite appearances, the crew and I did not go to New York ... we ventured no further afield than Goldie's original home turf, the notorious Heath Town in Wolverhampton ... as the U.S. guys (T Kid, Nicer, Vulcan & Bio) were in Birmingham UK to exhibit and demonstrate their form of graffiti art.

I used library footage of New york and intercut it with my own footage to create the finished short film.

There is no question that both Goldie and the NY guys had real talent however at the time, I felt that they had a naive view about the impact their work was having on the communities they lived in.

However, they all came from massively underprivileged backgrounds and were making real attempts to explore and develop their art form with a view to gaining wider public acceptance.

Around 4.50 into the film ... Goldie says that he doesn't write his name as an art form (the NY Guys style was often based on them writing their own names and embellishing them) because his name doesn't mean anything to anybody over here in the UK ... ironic, considering the relative fame he went on to have!!!

Enjoy

John O'Brien