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The Art of Getting Over: Graffiti at the Millennium by Stephen Powers.
This is the newest book in my collection. Like most graff books, it's fairly expensive, running $29.95 for the hardcover version. I've also heard that the
author is known for some pretty lowdown tricks in NYC, painting over some of the younger kids graff, sometimes in broad daylight. Other than that,
the book itself is awesome. It starts out, very first page, with some awesome streaks, and after that features some Philly writers that don't get
a lot of play in magazines and other books with New York bias. The book is all color with some cool sketchbook pieces thrown in. Also, lots of interviews,
including a big focus on Blade, one of the founders of graff. Definitely worth a read, and worth buying if you can get it at a low enough price-
it's not a genre-starter like Subway Art or anything, but it's one that I pull off the shelves a lot, if just to admire the beautiful art. |
| They Call Us Vandals by Malcom Jacobson. This book about Swedish graff is, in my opinion, the new version of the Cooper/Chalfant legend.
The book is fabulous, longer than any of those books, full of color shots and interviews and totally cutting edge style, etc. The only problem as far as I an
see is its price, and I got it on ebay, much reduced (about $20). The book is about half walls, half trains, a great mix, about 160 pages long.
It's in Swedish and English, the photography is awesome- some is like magazine organized, some is very artistic. Malcom Jacobsen can be credited for
that, I think, as I've seen his work in various magazines, and it's awesome. Swedish style is very cool and he's also got some shots of nearby countries-
none of the US-centrism we tend to feel around here. Definitely my favorite book at the moment, worth every penny. Look for this one. |
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Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant. The infamous 1984 book that broke the whole thing open- the graff scene, the book scene,
everything. This book is everything you're hoping it will be, so if you can get your hands on a copy of it, do. It's all color, it's all beautiful, it's all
subways, it's all old skool styles, it's educational, it's all that I can say and more. It's a bedtime story. Plus, if you ever get in a sardonic
mood, you can whip it out and chuckle at some of the eighties people. This is the graff that has spawned the graffiti of today and these are the subways
that many of us never got to see. Get the book. |
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Spraycan Art by Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff.
Like the one that came before, Subway Art, this book does what everyone says it does and is worth it's weight in whatever you value (gold?).
This book moves away from the subways and onto the walls, and, in all color, shoes graff in the 80s in all its glory. Very glorious. One thing the book
does which I think is very cool is focus a lot on characters- something we just don't see enough of. Some good educational material, some good words with
writers, some good laughs at 80s gear. Another great Chalfant product, a must read. Things are famous for a reason, I guess. |
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R.I.P.: Memorial Wall Art by Martha Cooper and Joseph Sciorra. With more wonderful work from Martha Cooper, you can't really go wrong.
Again, though, this book stretches the traditional limits of graff books, as its main focus are memorial murals, and more often than not these are really
murals, not graff. The commissioned pieces are really beautiful, though, and their style is great, even if it's different. The photography is also
beautiful. Some of the commentary the authors provide is a little preachy about urban violence and drugs, but I guess seeing all these murals and all these
lives torn apart would make me kind of bleeding heart too. All color picutres, not up to par with Spray Can Art, but still worth a look, if not a purchase. |
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Getting Up by Craig Castleman.
This is a different sort of graffiti book- if you're looking for pictures, this isn't it. This is a long, sociological book about the history of \
graff and how authorities in various places have dealt with it. The book gives a great description of this stuff, if you're interested in the
technicalities of how the police handle arrests and track down writers, what the MTA does to keep graff off trains, how the media likes to pretend
that graff is a gang problem, etc. This book is totally informative and not a bad read, though it gets a little textbook-like at times. Plus,
there are a few pictures mixed in and lots of interesting interviews that are more than just writers bragging about how they get up more than
any ole toy out there... |