Product Description

Ever since anonymous spray-can art began appearing on city walls in New York and Philadelphia in the late 1960s, graffiti has been a ubiquitous presence in the urban landscape, its artists largely unsung heroes. As hip-hop culture spread from America, graffiti became a worldwide phenomenon, emerging in the 1980s as the symbolic artistic language of young people everywhere and one of the most potent influences on youth-oriented marketing and design. With more than 2,000 illustrations by over 150 artists from all over the world and interviews with many of them, this visually arresting book is the most comprehensive survey of graffiti art ever published.

Today's young graffiti artists incorporate a variety of mediums-including stickers, stencils, oils, acrylics, and oil-based chalk-as well as an ever-expanding range of social commentary. This evolution in style and subject matter has earned graffiti the respect of the art world and guaranteed its long-lasting influence on art, graphic design, and style around the world. Great fun for graffiti and pop-culture buffs, the book is also an essential reference work for anyone involved in the visual arts today. AUTHOR BIO: Nicholas Ganz (also known as Keinom, his pen name) is a graffiti artist who has traveled around the world to gather material for this book. He lives in Essen, Germany. Tristan Manco is a graphic artist and director of Bristol-based Tijuana Design. He is the author of Stencil Graffiti and Street Logos.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10862 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-26
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 376 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Following the unrelated project Autograf: New York City's Graffiti Writers (powerHouse), which also took an auteur-based approach this past season, Granz (whose pen name is Keinom) widens the scope to present those he sees as the world's top graffiti writers, offering alphabetical sections of artists from the Americas, Europe and "The Rest of the World." Short prefatory histories put New York at the center of the modern graffiti world, with South American countries like Brazil later having "reached a high standard." The work is beautifully photographed throughout; multiple pieces by each artist are laid out appealingly over verso-recto spreads, along with a paragraph by Granz detailing the artist's origins and the main thrust of the work (and occasionally a photo of the artist him or herself). From gigantic murals to tiny stickers, Granz has seen and photographed it all and talks knowledgeably about everything from "wildstyle" fontage to the non-orthographically based "character culture," where artists create (and replicate) cartoonish figures in various figurative exploits. Striking a colloquial balance between insider's knowledge and thoughtful presentation, Granz's book should be durable for its cohesion of vision, if not for the scale of presentation of each artist.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–This book is packed with full-color photographs representative of graffiti styles and artists from around the world. Though there is still a level of lawlessness involved in some who practice in the traditional way, many of the murals shown are commissioned works of "urban art." The frequent use of nicknames and disguised photos shows that often these artists are still "underground" even as their art form becomes more recognized. The encyclopedic arrangement, first by continent and then by artist's nom de plume, serves the book well. Each continent also gets a foldout that demonstrates the best local artwork. Most of the textual information about the artists and their work is contained in a back "information" section, keeping the focus of the book on the art. This beautifully designed volume is respectful and knowledgeable about its oft-misunderstood subject matter. Budding artists everywhere will be thrilled to see the level of expertise that can be achieved in the graffiti format.–Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
German graffiti artist Ganz set out to create the most comprehensive survey of graffiti art yet compiled, and he has succeeded gloriously. With upward of 2,000 full-color photographs (artistic achievements in themselves) from around the world, his exhibition-in-a-book reveals the phenomenal vitality and diversity of present-day graffiti art, sophisticated works that are, frankly, far more arresting and resonant than most of the contemporary art found in galleries. An ephemeral, often despised, yet irrefutably powerful mode of expression, graffiti has always been political, and although many of the street artists Ganz succinctly profiles have moved away from illegal spray painting, they have not compromised the inherent subversiveness of their work. Complex and inventive graphic designs of the sort that evolved on New York City trains are still immensely popular, as are character paintings ranging in style from fantasy to hip-hop, airbrush images of eye-fooling realism, and striking expressionist compositions. Ganz's global array captures the power and synergy of this vibrant alternative art world in which artists form crews and collectives to ensure that their art is seen. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Worldly
I bought this for my 14 year old daughter and would recommend this for any urban artist. It captures so many excellent murals and other types of graffiti from around the world. Just when you think you've found your favorite artist, you turn the page to find another. Regardless of how you feel about scripture on walls, trains and buses, the art and freedom that exudes from each picture is awesome and beyond the descriptive word. They just are!

Ripped Cover
The book is rad, there is better street art out there than what is in thisb book but it was still worth the purchase. It was delivered in a heshen bag with a ripped cover.

Graffiti World
I bought this book for my boyfriend (who loves graffiti art) for Christmas and he loved it! :)