CHRIS “DAZE” ELLIS: ORCHID RAIN ON THE UNDERGROUND
P·P·O·W is pleased to present Orchid Rain on the Underground, Chris “Daze” Ellis’s third solo exhibition with the gallery.
March 20 – April 25, 2026
Featuring a new series of paintings, multimedia installation, and a site-specific mural, the exhibition harnesses the passion and spontaneity of the graffiti movement of the 1970s and 80s while demonstrating a thoughtful and meticulous practice honed over the past five decades. While the version of New York City that fostered Daze’s beginnings as a fine artist may feel like a bygone era, the works in this exhibition are evidence of its enduring legacy. By revitalizing that foundational energy for the present moment, Daze affirms the continued relevance of those figures and places, and their profound influence on the creative spirit that persists throughout the city today.
Born in Brooklyn in 1962, Daze became inspired by early graffiti writers like Blade, Lee Quiñones, and PHASE 2 while attending High School of Art and Design in the mid 1970s. As he began to establish his own name as an artist, he was also a frequent visitor to what would become historic landmarks of the city’s nightlife, including the Lit Lounge in the East Village, Danceteria on West 21st Street, and the Mudd Club in Tribeca. These nightclubs, which often doubled as art galleries and performance venues, functioned as generative sites of social and artistic experimentation and part of the driving force behind Daze’s early works. By the early 1980s, he had begun transitioning from tagging subway cars to developing a studio practice that encapsulates the ethos of the city.
Inspired by early 20th-century urban realist artists, including John Sloan of the Ashcan School and Reginald Marsh of the WPA era, Daze’s works honor New York City’s streets and subways as important sites of his creative evolution. Simultaneously influenced by the lyrical abstraction of works by Joan Mitchell and Willem De Kooning, Daze combines gestural swaths of acrylic and spray paint with detailed renderings of train car interiors, tunnels, and stations.
The exhibition will also include a site-specific mural, bringing an aspect of Daze’s practice often relegated to the outdoors into the interior setting of the gallery. Covering the walls of a hallway, the mural gives way to the final room of the gallery, featuring a multimedia installation that transports viewers into a composite scene from the artist’s youth. Combining a light-up dance floor and disco ball, actual subway car seats, and a curated track fusing house, disco, hip-hop, and club music, the installation emphasizes the freedom and creative inspiration that arose from these settings, and their importance to Daze’s personal and artistic development. Combining elements from throughout his career, Orchid Rain on the Underground showcases Daze’s never-ending exploration of daily life in New York City while paying homage to the people and places that comprise its vibrant cultural heartbeat.