Dondi's collegues too considered him a great stylist - a true Style Master General, as the title of the book about his life and work reads.
He used a softer colour platette than most other writers and many of his paintings are a kind of visual letter to the viewers, sometimes literally signed with 'yours truly'.
Yet the messages he wanted to convey usually are anything but soft. The grand warriors depicted here probably are Dondi himself and his good friend Duro.
The subway car and bloody skull remind of the heroic years during which they sprayed their work on New York trains - and literally risked their own lives while doing so.