The Artrain Graffiti Train, Detroit 1986

Artrain commissioned graffiti artists to paint the exterior of the Artrain's cars for its 1986 tour of the Signs of the Times: Pop Art and Photo-Realism in America exhibition. These train painters, or writers, whose beginning tracked back to painting murals on unattended train cars, were invited to paint 12 murals on the cars over the course of four days. Many of their murals used familiar images from Pop Art. The commission caused quite a bit of controversy for Artrain.