Richard Mirando aka Seen (b. 1961)

Richard Mirando, mostly known as Seen, was born in The Bronx, New york in 1961.

With his crew, United Artists (simply UA) Seen began, in 1973, painting on New York's subway. The groups gained the reputation for producing full-color "throw-ups" on entire cars.

Seen's pieces were running in the city and all subway lines, predominately on the 2, 5 and 6. He was also responsible for, now iconic, top to bottom car graffiti. Seen is often referred to as "the Godfather of Graffiti."

In the early 1980's, Seen began producing pieces on canvas which were shown and bought by galleries and museums across the world. He had solo exhibitions and many group shows with such artists as: Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dondi, Quik, Blade[, and Lee Quinones. Until 1989, Seen continued to hit the New York subways despite his high demand and the pressure from the MTA for graffiti arts to stop.

Quickly becoming one of the most successful studios, Seen opened in the late 1980's Tattoo Seens. Seen Gallery in Paris opened in 2009. Signing on in 2011 with the Opera Gallery, the Paris location featured his work.

Sources Include:
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.rfi.fr
www.britishhiphop.co.uk