Cey Adams Mural @ 65 Munroe St

This public mural in downtown Lynn is the work of Cey Adams, a New York City native who came up through the Downtown graffiti movement and showed his art alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. The piece was organized by Beyond Walls. Adams builds his work by dissecting imagery and paper elements into layers of color, texture, shadow and light, exploring the relationship between transformation and discovery.

Adams has deep roots in hip hop design. As creative director of Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Recordings, he co-founded the Drawing Board, the label’s in-house visual design firm, creating logos, album covers and campaigns for Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z. His visual influences include 1960s pop art, sign painting and comic books, and he has exhibited and taught at MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum and the Walker Art Center, among many other institutions.

What to Know

• Adams appeared in Style Wars, the 1982 PBS documentary about New York subway graffiti.
• He co-authored DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop, published by HarperCollins.
• He designed the Rizzoli book Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label.
• The mural is listed by the Downtown Lynn Cultural District as part of the area’s public art.