- Cool "Disco" Dan
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Example of the Cool "Disco" Dan tag
Cool "Disco" Dan (the quotation marks are part of the phrase) is the pseudonym of graffiti artist Dan Hogg (born December 31, 1969 in Washington, D.C.).[1][2] His standard mark, a particularly styled rendering of his name, has proliferated in the Washington metropolitan area, notably on surfaces along the route of the Washington Metro Red Line.[1]
Life and work
Cool "Disco" Dan has been spraying his tag since 1984. Part of the Go-Go scene of the 80's in Washington; he managed to avoid being jailed or killed unlike a lot of his contemporaries by devoting himself to graffiti rather than becoming involved with drugs or gangs. The pervasiveness of his mark was reported frequently in the local press. He is featured in the book "Free Agents, a history of Washington, DC graffiti" and has a page on "Art Crimes" as a featured artist.
As he has been writing his tag for so long his work is now part of the landscape of Washington, as attested by mentions of him in George P. Pelecanos' novel Shame the Devil as a "D.C. legend"[3] and in Dinaw Mengestu's novel The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and in lyrics by hip-hop artist Giant Robot and experimental pop act Golden Birds. Works of his have been acquired and exhibited by the Corcoran Gallery of Art.[2] His tag appears briefly in the 1996 motion picture Mars Attacks. His graffiti can also be seen for a moment in "The Frighteners".
Used as part of a "Jeopardy!" style answer - Cool "Disco" Dan and God - by the Washington Post Style Invitational, a weekly contest originally in the Sunday edition but now printed on Saturday, the winning "question" was "What two people's help will Mayor Marion Barry need to clean up Washington, D.C.?"
References
- ^ a b Paul Hendrickson (October 9, 1991). "Mark of the Urban Phantom". washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/discodan17.htm. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
- ^ a b "The Daily Docent—Contemporary (Re)defined: Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection". Corcoran Gallery of Art. http://www.corcoran.org/education/docents/Research_results_2.asp?Exhib_ID=139&Special_text_ID=194. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
- ^ George P. Pelecanos. "Shame the Devil". Google Book Search. http://books.google.com/books?id=cVznmTS8RAIC&pg=PA39&dq=%23cool+disco+dan%23. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
External links
- "Cool 'Disco' Dan Washington D.C. Legend, Interview" on YouTube.com. Interview by Joseph Pattisall "in 1996 or 1997 down on F Street where Dan sat and sold Go Go tapes." retrieved September 5, 2007.
Categories:- Culture of Washington, D.C.
- American graffiti artists
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