Product Description

Is there life after spray paint? Long condemned as vandalism, the public's perception of graffiti is slowly changing. Ubiquitous and with a natural affinity to architecture, this form of expression has not only established itself as a part of youth culture but has also become a fundamental aspect of the modern city.

An offspring of this scene, writing has become no less than contemporary urban calligraphy. While the classic New York style of writing was once limited to the world of street gangs, it has now left its mark on virtually all visual disciplines. Strictly speaking the arrangement of spaces by outlines, writing has become an invaluable influence and inspiration, especially in the realms of graphic design, motion graphics, fashion, packaging and architecture.

Compiled by Berlin activists and designers Markus Mai and Arthur Remke, the book Writing surveys this appropriation of public space and examines the detailed fusion of analogue writing and digital design as well as post-graffiti concepts. Broken down into the chapters tags, throw-ups, lettering, objects, graphic design and street art, the content documents the current, changing influences of writing, art and graphics. The featured work ranges from designs done in pencil, marker and spray paint to architectural models, which implement writing's calligraphy as three-dimensional objects or buildings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #627295 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Pricey and Average
I found the Urban Calligraphy and Beyond to be an alright source of information on some "tag" style of graffiti and the sort of geometrical base for that type of artwork but I was expecting more actual type faces for reference. Lacking in sources of reference and the layout of book seems as though it is trying to be some what of a fine art book rather than a resource for typographic inspiration.

One of the best!
To me this book was a very good introductory to the Art of Calligraphy. It talks about its' history, and classifies it into different categories. It also includes interviews with artists such as AMOK and POET. This is a really good book for researchers, artists, designers (especially Graphic Designers) it's really excellent for inspiration. The book is a little too pricy but I don't think you will find a book this good for a lesser price -if you do then make sure you let me know;p
From the book:
This book presents aspects of Writing's development in the following chapters: Foreword and History - Tag/Throw up - Letter/Word - 2D/3D - Analogy - Object - Graphics - Urban:: Art :: Activism
It also answers questions such as: what is Writing? How do Writers do it? Why does Writing look the way it does? Where are Writing's boundaries? Whereto will Writing develop in the future?

cool collection
The book has examples of various different styles of calligraphy from a bunch of artists. It also has photos of "applied examples". My only gripe is the price -- the book seems like it's printed on unnecessarily heavy stock. I would've never paid retail for it. Price is the only thing keeping this from getting 5 stars.