A-One

Anthony Clark, better known as A-One, was born in Manhattan in 1964 and grew up in the South Bronx. From the mid-1970s he began painting New York subway cars. He became a member of the Tag Master Killers crew, founded by Rammellzee, whose members also included Delta2, Kool Koor, and Toxic.

In Totem of Eight, a vertical-format work, a column of male heads with Afro-American features rises along the central axis, evoking the form of a totem pole. The surrounding areas are filled with brightly colored, spray-painted abstract patterns.