Niels Shoe Meulman

Place: Amsterdam

Born: 1967

Biography:

Niels Shoe Meulman is a visual artist, graffiti writer, graphic designer and art director, born, raised and based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He began tagging as Shoe in 1979 and was a graffiti legend by the time he was 18. In the eighties Shoe met New York artists like Dondi, Rammellzee, and Haring, and became part of the new international graffiti scene. In 1984 Shoe co-founded the Dutch crew FX and painted with them until 1991. In 1992 Shoe started Calligraffiti, a movement that combined graffiti with calligraphy. He developed the new style by studying the calligraphic tradition. In 2007 Shoe published the book Calligraffiti, the graphic design magazine Graffiti Art Magazine published an article about Shoe's work, and he had his first solo exhibition at the Amsterdam gallery New Amsterdam. In 2010 Shoe had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Graffiti in Amsterdam, and in 2011 he had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Graffiti in Paris. In 2012 Shoe had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Graffiti in New York. Shoe's work has been collected by the Museum of Graffiti in Amsterdam, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and many private collectors. Shoe's work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and he has been featured in numerous publications. Shoe continues to push the limits of the global urban contemporary art movement.