Currently Speaking: Philadelphia Graffiti

The Current is pleased to present exhibiting artist Timothy Curtis in conversation with notable original Philadelphia graffiti artists Darryl McCray (aka CornBread) and Edward Leatherbury (aka Kool Klepto Kidd) on Thursday, March 13, 2025 from 5:00–6:00 pm. The conversation, which is part of our Currently Speaking series, will be moderated by Executive Director and Curator of the exhibition Rachel Moore. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Visitors can enjoy the event amongst the current exhibition: Timothy Curtis: The Painters’ Hands. “The exhibit speaks to the documentation of the origination of Philadelphia-style graffiti writing, exemplifying the power art has to inspire, create change, and instill hope.” - Rachel Moore

The conversation, titled Philadelphia Graffiti, will be guided by questions from exhibiting artist, Timothy Curtis. He will inquire about the influence and origins of graffiti in the 1960s and 1970s in Philadelphia from two of the original writers, McCray and Leatherbury, who experienced it firsthand. The graffiti style born in Philadelphia is specific to the city and recognized worldwide. How did they develop this style? What was happening in Philadelphia then, and why did they start writing on the city’s walls? Philadelphia was rich in creativity and culture yet it was also famously associated with gangs and violence. Hear stories from these two historical figures of how, as children, they used graffiti writing to escape gangs, channel their creativity, and gain visibility. This is an incredible opportunity to learn about an important part of history and meet some of the pioneers of this movement.

Leading up to the conversation, The Current will host a documentary film screening on Tuesday, March 11, starting at 5:00 pm (film run time is 1 hour 17 minutes), highlighting the history of Philadelphia graffiti writing. Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence, directed by Roger Gastman and narrated by John Waters, features photographs, interviews, and archival footage from the late 1960s and early 1970s. This historic account sets the table for the conversation with CornBread and Kool Klepto Kidd. 

Additionally, we are pleased to announce that Curtis, McCray, and Leatherbury will host a workshop on creating one’s own logo or monogram for self-identification or signature purposes in the Philadelphia style of writing, for self-selected Stowe Middle School students at The Current on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, from 12:30–2:30 pm.

About the Artists:

Timothy Curtis is a self-taught artist from Philadelphia where he was first introduced to the arts as a young child via graffiti writing. Following his release from a seven-and-a-half year prison sentence, Curtis moved to New York City, where he established a focused studio practice in late 2015. Curtis’ thriving studio practice resulted in solo presentations of his work in Tokyo, New York City, Berlin, and Paris, to name a few. His work was included in the 2019 group exhibition The Pencil is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists at The Drawing Center, New York City. He was also included in The Echo of Picasso at Museo  Picasso, Malaga, Spain, 2024, as well as The Echo of Picasso at Almine Rech, New York City, 2023. Curtis opened his first solo museum exhibition Inkblots and Feelings Charts, at Atlanta Contemporary in Atlanta, Georgia in 2024. He is set to present new works in a solo exhibition at Almine Rech, New York City in 2025.

Darryl McCray, known by his tagging name, “CornBread,” is a writer from Philadelphia, credited with being (one) of the first modern graffiti artists. McCray was raised in the Brewerytown, a neighborhood of North Philadelphia just blocks from the Philadelphia Zoo, John Coltrane house, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Fairmount Park which houses the first and oldest public art program in the country. During the late 1960s, he and a group of friends started "tagging" Philadelphia by writing their nicknames on walls across the city. The movement spread to New York and blossomed into the modern graffiti movement, which reached its peak in the U.S. in the 1980s before spreading to Europe.

Edward Leatherbury, known by his tagging name “Kool Klepto Kidd,” began writing  around the Mill Creek of West Philadelphia in 1967 not far from The University of Pennsylvania, the West Philly side of the Philadelphia Zoo as well as Fairmount Park. “We went out and pretty much put our names out, and it was like ‘we’re here.’ We were like celebrities - and if I hit a clean wall, thirty names would follow,” Leatherbury explained in the John Waters Wall Writers documentary. Eventually, his West Philadelphia club met up with CornBread’s North Philadelphia club to tag together and write messages to one another. Once united, the graffiti scene in Philadelphia spread like wildfire, as did public attention on the movement.