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New York City graffiti artist SAME — who made a name for himself as the Whitney Vandal — died earlier this month. He was 39 years old. Back in 2014, SAME, whose real name was Christopher Johnson, walked into the 24-hour Jeff Koons exhibit at the former Whitney Museum of American Art — now the MET …
New York City graffiti artist SAME — who made a name for himself as the Whitney Vandal — died earlier this month. He was 39 years old.
Back in 2014, SAME, whose real name was Christopher Johnson, walked into the 24-hour Jeff Koons exhibit at the former Whitney Museum of American Art — now the MET Breuer — and tagged “PPPRiceless” on the walls.
Johnson’s best friend and fellow Peter Pan Posse member, Mikhail Sokovikov, recalled the incident to Page Six and said it was the result of a coin toss between the two of them. The Peter Pan Posse were “deeply rooted in nonconformity” and felt the need to prove a point to Koons.
“We decided that we need to leave Mr. Koons a message and so we flipped a coin. I won, so he had to spray paint ‘PPPRiceless’ on the wall behind the most expensive artwork in the show, “The Sacred Heart,’” Sokovikov told us.
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“After he finished the performance, he calmly put away the spray paint and confidently walked away while security scrambled to figure out what just happened,” he recalled. “By the time he got to the first floor a team of security guards tackled him to the ground and he got arrested for ‘vandalism-graffiti.’”
The Post reported that Johnson faced charges of making graffiti, criminal mischief and possession of graffiti instruments.
Johnson also rapped under the name Machine and was involved in the rap group Team Facelift — which The Post once described as a cross between the Wu-Tang Clan and Barbra Streisand — alongside Instagram influencer the Fat Jew and Alden Fonda. The trio met at Skidmore College.
Fat Jew, whose real name is Josh Ostrovsky, described Johnson as “a perfect mix between Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Teresa Giudice from ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey.’”
“SAME was an incredible human and an outstanding American,” he added. “His day was your year. Maybe your life. He was the coolest guy in New York. He will be missed.”
“Uncut Gems” star Julia Fox, who was close friends with Johnson, told Page Six via email that he was an “enigma.”
“SAME was an enigma. He was magnetic and the center of attention in any room he was in,” Fox, 30, shared with us. “The world really did revolve around SAME.”
Fox described Johnson as the life of any party.
“If SAME was there, it was the place to be,” she explained. “He was genuine and he was always himself, and I think that’s what drew people to him.
“My favorite memories with him are watching the sun come up after a night of partying and not even feeling bad about myself because he was there,” Fox continued. “He made it less dark.”
Johnson’s cause of death has not been released.
