The Size Of A Tiny Crater On The Moon

Reflections on the deep impact of New York graffiti artist & party flyer designer Phase 2

Phase 2 was a hard man to find. It’s why Jerome Harris, a graphic designer and design director at Housing Works in New York, reached out to me––a culture writer, designer, and unabashed fan of Phase 2––and others, like film director Charlie Ahern (Wild Style) and artist/photographer David Schmidlapp, a longtime friend of the illusive hip-hop subculture icon.

In the fall of 2018, Jerome curated a show for MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) that explored the work of African-American graphic designers. The 1980s hip-hop party flyers of Phase 2 were featured in the show and he was asked to submit a piece on the artist for an upcoming issue of IGA Eye On Design, a gorgeous design-centric print mag.

Of course, an interview with Phase 2 would have been the most practical thing for Jerome to submit. But, as stated, Phase 2 was a hard man to find.

Credit: MikaV

Prompted by a blog post that I’d written back in 2012 on Phase 2’s iconic hip-hop handbills, Jerome sent me an email to ask if I’d like to be…