Ryan Patrick Hooper, Ann Zaniewski and Robert Allen

Detroit Free Press

A Detroit graffiti artist respected for his work on the streets as well as in galleries has died following a fall through a roof Sunday at a Detroit art space.

Read the previous story: Detroit graffiti artist Tead gravely injured in fall through roof

Jordan (Tead) Vaughn, 34, made a reputation for himself in Detroit’s street art scene over the past 20 years. The Trenton-reared artist was known for being able to seamlessly blend various styles to create an approach that was pulled from the early days of graffiti yet uniquely his own.

Henry Ford Hospital reported this morning that Vaughn was listed in critical condition. Later this afternoon, hospital spokeswoman Tammy Battaglia said the family wants people to know that Vaughn, who had made the decision to be an organ donor, died Monday. Funeral arrangements are pending.

The Detroit Fire Department confirmed that an ambulance call for a fall through a roof was made at 5:53 p.m.Sunday at 1331 Holden Street, where Make Art Work is based. Jason Blake, 34, had known Tead for over 20 years and was with him when the accident happened at the complex near Detroit’s New Center neighborhood.

Make Art Work is an alternative arts space home to 45 individual artists, makers and entrepreneurs across four active artist-in-residency programs. It’s a sprawling complex that stretches 250,000 square feet, making it one of the larger spaces for artists in the city of Detroit. It includes Recycle Here!, an education and recycling center.



Blake described it as common for the duo to be together, with Tead painting and Blake photographing. They had been painting with permission at Recycle Here! and the surrounding area for the past decade. “We knew the lay of the land,” says Blake. “We had been on that building before.”





As Tead climbed the ladder to the roof, Blake was taking photographs. When Blake turned around, his friend had disappeared from sight and fallen through the roof, Blake said.



Blake said Tead was found breathing but unconscious. Blake rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital. Blake described Tead as having been cautious, reminding Blake several times on Sunday to be “super careful” and “walk the beams” of the roof.

'His stuff was so good'

Dan Armand, chief creative officer and partner for Inner State Gallery and 1xRun, first saw Tead’s work in 2002. Before the Dequindre Cut was redeveloped, said Armand, local graffiti artists referred to the overgrown train track as “the yard” and used the walls as their canvas.

“It was always an adventure to get in there,” said Armand. “His work was the first thing I saw down there, and my mind was just blown.”

Over the years, Armand went from an admirer of Tead’s work to a close friend. Armand said Tead had the sort of talent that made for an easy transition from street artist to showing and selling work on gallery walls.

“You don’t see a lot of graffiti artists who transition out of it and make it into an art career,” said Armand. “He was one of those guys where his stuff was so good, he was always pushing the boundaries and was able to move into the legitimate art world, show his face and make his name as a real artist.”

Inner State Gallery featured Tead’s work in 2013 in a group show with fellow metro Detroit artists Malt and Ellen Rutt. Armand also employed Tead for a while as a production assistant at the gallery.

"He was a mentor to many, and he touched a lot of people," said Jesse Cory, a partner at 1xRun and Inner State Gallery. "He’s very much a part of the Detroit art community."

Noted Detroit graffiti artist Freddy Diaz was among those who counted Tead as a friend and mentor.

Following the news of Tead’s injury, Danny Babcock started a GoFundMe to release a retrospective via a book of the artist’s work with a goal of raising $10,000.

As of early Wednesday, the GoFundMe had surpassed Babcock’s $10,000 goal. Any proceeds over the expected cost of producing the retrospective will be given to Tead’s family, he said.

“I wasn’t very surprised in the rapid interest,” said Babcock, who had known Tead for the past 15 years. “I could probably count 100 friends that would want a collection of his work like this.”

Babcock said Tead’s approach, passion and style to his craft hearkened back to a bygone era of early graffiti artists.

“Graffiti has been pretty relevant in the past few years,” said Babcock, “but there’s people like Jordan who come from a time when the lifestyle of doing graffiti was very authentic. It would be a shame for people to not understand that truth in the lifestyle.”

Matt Naimi is the founder of Recycle Here! and operator of Make Art Work. Naimi and Tead had met six years ago to work on a mural for a music festival.

Naimi described the incident as serendipitous, describing the piece Tead had been working on over three days as a hybrid between graffiti and sculpture — a juxtaposition that demonstrated Tead’s forward-thinking approach to art, said Naimi.

“He was always on his game and always looking forward,” said Naimi.

Tead’s work is prominently featured throughout the recycling center, the Lincoln Street Art park and the neighborhood surrounding the intersection of Lincoln and Holden Streets.

“He had more work up on that building, in that building and around that it was known as Tead’s yard,” said Naimi. “It’s where he found peace, and where he was most at ease was standing in front of a wall on Lincoln Street. The last few days have been extra difficult walking around and seeing it.”

