Thom deVita: deVita Unauthorized

As a youth, Thom deVita (born 1932) mingled with famous New York School painters at the Cedar Tavern, and exhibited his paintings at open-air art fairs in Washington Square Park. In the 1960s he began tattooing, not long after it was declared illegal in New York (the ban was overturned in 1997). DeVita’s eccentric style and sophistication significantly influenced the emergence of tattooing as an art from the 1970s on, and today he is something of a legend in this community. But alongside his 40-year underground career in tattooing, deVita has produced drawings and montages using acetate stencils, as well as constructions. These works, gathered in this volume, combine the energy and visual diffusion of a Larry Rivers painting with the street mayhem of tattoo iconography. DeVita Unauthorized reproduces a loose-leaf portfolio issued in a unique limited edition in 2002.