Mo’ Wax and the Arts

3 min readJan 1, 2020

Mo’ Wax Records ran from 1992–2002, and during that time they released a wide range of records, many of which featured striking artwork. The label collaborated with artists such as Swifty, Futura, Stash, Sk8thing, and B+, so it’s no surprise that Mo’ Wax and founder James Lavelle also sponsored several art exhibitions over the years. Here are a few a notable examples:

Iconograffiti

In 1995 Mo’ Wax and Michael Kopelman’s Gimme Five presented Icongraffiti, an exhibition of work by Eric Haze.

The exhibition collected work Haze had created for Def Jam artists such as Beastie Boys and Public Enemy, with logos and graphics Haze had produced for streetwear brands.

The exhibition later toured around the world to Japan.

Further details: UNKLE Wiki

Dysfunctional

Also in 1995, Mo’ Wax presented Dysfunctional, an exhibition of Skateboard Art & Design.

The exhibition included artists Terry Richardson, Mike Mills, and Phil Frost, the later of which created the artwork for DJ Shadow’s Preemptive Strike.

Further details: UNKLE Wiki

Dolce Visualis

In 1996 Mike Mills exhibited his Dolce Visualis exhibition around the world, bringing it to London in August thanks to Mo’ Wax.

The exhibition featured artworks from Mills which were included in his Visual Sampler project for Mo’ Wax, also released in 1996. The Visual Sampler was a series of posters sold in a 12" packaging and intended to sit with your record collection.

Further details: UNKLE Wiki

Glen E Friedman’s FUCK YOU ALL

In January 1997 The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) London hosted Glen E. Friedman’s photography thanks to help from Mo’ Wax.

The opening was DJed by James Lavelle, and Lavelle and Friedman had also intended to put out a special poster of Friedman’s work which was unfortunately never released.

Further details: UNKLE Wiki

URBAN ARCHEOLOGY

In August 1997 Mo’ Wax went to Germany to present a two part event titled Urban Archeology.

Part 1 was a concert, but Part 2 was an art exhibition titled A Visual Review of MoWax Recordings 92–97 which featured Mo’ Wax artwork from artists such Ben Drury, Will Bankhead, Giovanni Estevez, Futura, and Massive Attack’s 3D.

Further details: UNKLE Wiki

Command Z

In November 2000, the NOWHERE store in Aoyama, Japan held the Command Z exhibition featuring the work of Futura2000 and Stash, both regular Mo’ Wax and BAPE collaborators.

The exhibition saw the launch of the Command Z toys, which were three figures in spraycan’s stylised to represent Futura, Nigo and James Lavelle.

Further details: UNKLE Wiki