Children of the Grave – A Tribute to Dondi White

22 March 2025 · 19:00 · VenRod

New York – 22 March 2025, 19:00. A small bar in Brooklyn, rain on the window, DeeNice copying a letter D again and again.

Style that still moves

Another interview that can only be a tribute. Dondi White (1961–1998), born Donald White in Brooklyn, painted New York subway cars from the 1970s and is remembered for some of the most elegant letters ever painted on a train. His famous whole cars from 1980 – the series "Children of the Grave Again" – are still studied by writers around the world. Later he took his style onto canvas and showed in galleries in New York and Europe.

We visited an exhibition with his canvases and photographs of his trains. The letters look calm and fast at the same time – like a train you only see for a second.

How it went

Moving. DeeNice says Dondi's letters are what Kinky's garden-chair K wanted to be when it grew up. Kinky will laugh, then she'll practise. What we take home: style is not decoration – it's how you move through the world.

We study the living to ask them questions. We study the legends to learn how to answer. – VenRod

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