In 1979, artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Michael Holman founded the industrial noise band Gray in Downtown New York. Basquiat named the band after the medical textbook Gray’s Anatomy—an important reference for his visual artwork and an apt descriptor for the band’s spectral, beat- and body-driven performances. Today, Holman and original member Nick Taylor make up the band and carry its legacy forward.

Supported by the Keith Haring Foundation, the MFA presents Gray’s first-ever virtual performance, featuring collaborators Deantoni Parks and Roger Guenveur Smith. Footage recorded in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta is broadcast live, creating a multidisciplinary experience of sound, film, poetry, beat, and body language. Anything can be an instrument, just as it was for Basquiat, Holman, and Taylor at the band’s inception, and all sounds emanating from their instruments become art.

Tune in here or on the MFA’s Facebook or YouTube channels to stream the free event. Presented in conjunction with “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation.”

More Gray

Purchase Gray’s Never Gonna Leave New York City, featuring two formerly unreleased, super-rare tracks. A slice of the Lower East Side on vinyl with stunning full-color artwork.
Purchase Gray’s Shades of... Anthology triple LP set in colored vinyl, a reissue of the band’s previously limited self-released album.​