Read—usually seen in block letters—is the signature of a graffiti artist wanted in several states.

His hardcover little black book, The Reader, is a cult hit and "a mix tape of the last 100 years of graphic design."

The description comes from artist Elias Hansen, a longtime friend of Read's who's now curating Read's first-ever gallery show (at Lawrimore Project, opening tonight during art walk). The show will be collages, screen prints, and pieces painted directly on the walls (maybe some will appear on Seattle streets?)—but don't expect the artist at the opening. For the last few days he's been working in secret inside the gallery, where the windows have been papered over.

"Perhaps jail lies ahead," Hansen wrote in his catalog essay introducing Read. "Maybe he'll get beat up. He could go crazy. I've definitely seen that happen. Some guys get nerve damage. They start pissing themselves in the night... It would be hard not to explain Read as a gamer, an operator, an agent in the truly intentional sense. But this isn't liberation and salvation. We're in the thick of it. If there were a way to explain it, I would have already."