1,000 Ideas for Graffiti and Street Art by
Graffiti and street art used to be a sure sign of a neighborhood’s neglect. Even though it is still a countercultural art form, its role has grown: it enlivens public space, provides social commentary, and adds humor and color to the urban and suburban landscape.
1,000 Ideas for Graffiti and Street Art is a showcase of urban art suitable for artists of any medium, designers, and other creative artists looking for urban-style inspiration for their visual work. A visual catalog, it is both a practical, inspirational handbook and a coffee-table conversation piece. Graffiti and street artists—rebellious and non-rebellious alike—will relish the opportunity to have so many ideas for color play, illustration, and wild expressions at their fingertips.
Inside you’ll find:
-1,000 photographs of graffiti and other types of urban art, with captions that feature location (city, state, country) artist name (if known).
-Artwork sorted into categories such as letterforms, stencils, portraits, murals, nature, tags, throw-ups, pieces, and productions
-Urban art glossary, basic aerosol painting and street art techniques, and more
All City by
This is no art-gallery graffiti. Going all-city is about leaving your mark, taking space, and then taking more. Featuring stunning photographs and interviews with legendary graffiti writers from around the world, All-City takes an inside look at the lives, motives, tools, and techniques of some of the most obsessive vandals of all time.
Can't Stop Won't Stop by
Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, hip-hop became the Esperanto of youth rebellion and a generation-defining movement. In a post-civil rights era defined by deindustrialization and globalization, hip-hop crystallized a multiracial, polycultural generation's worldview, and transformed American politics and culture. But that epic story has never been told with this kind of breadth, insight, and style. Based on original interviews with DJs, b-boys, rappers, graffiti writers, activists, and gang members, with unforgettable portraits of many of hip-hop's forebears, founders, and mavericks, including DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Chuck D, and Ice Cube, Can't Stop Won't Stop chronicles the events, the ideas, the music, and the art that marked the hip-hop generation's rise from the ashes of the 60's into the new millennium. Here is a powerful cultural and social history of the end of the American century, and a provocative look into the new world that the hip-hop generation created.
The History of American Graffiti by
With 40 years of history as an organized artistic lifestyle sport, graffiti has sprung from the neglected neighbourhoods of New York and Philadelphia to cover cities throughout the world. This book provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the roots of a subculture that has managed to movemainstream without losing its edge.
The Lost Boyz by
A rare first-hand account of disaffected youth. Contains countless lessons for young people who might be attracted to crime (and anyone involved with them socially or professionally). Aged just fourteen and using the name ‘Sevens’, the author went from being a bullied child to leader of the Warriorz, a group of London street kids involved in graffiti-tagging and other crimes including a series of violent encounters. Eventually given a substantial custodial sentence for an attack with a meat cleaver on the London Underground, Justin Rollins became determined to steer other young people away from such a life. The Lost Boyz tells the story of his descent into a form of madness in which self-destruction, anger, wanton behaviour and fear lie at the core. Not before has a book taken the reader so far inside the minds of troubled youths as the author and his companions—some of whom did not survive or also ended up in prison—gradually realise that there is no easy escape from their chaotic lifestyle. Their need to gain respect from and stay credible with each other stems from offending, alienation, living on the margins of society and crazy behaviour—all of which serve as barriers to rejoining the normal world and going straight. The book contains countless lessons for young people who might be attracted to crime just as it does for anyone interested in youth offending, gang culture, criminology, mental health issues or that period of modern English social History when the unofficial decoration of walls, fences, trains and buses became a telling symbol of disaffected youth.
Painting Without Permission: Hip-Hop Graffiti Subculture by
More than ever education students are required to study the social context of youth culture in order to understand and design meaningful, motivational curiculum. There is a need to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to address the critical issues which confront the education of youth today. In studying hip-hop graffiti, the author explores a crucial but neglected area in the contemporary training of youth workers and educators.
The author interviewed ten hip-hop graffiti writers of various race, class, and gender by audiotape and reviewed them until patterns emerged as themes, mainly issues concerning public space and community. She continued her relationship with the participants over a five-year period to observe the diversity and transformation of individuals within graffiti culture.
The study begins with a literature review from Web resources, books, and subculture magazines on graffiti in order to define The Structure of Traditional Hip-Hop Graffiti Culture. This chapter lays the basic foundation familiar to all writers and points to the main issues in order to analyze how individual writers conform to or deviate from the standard subculture. The author addresses the complex issues which are layered behind a residue of illegally painted signatures, characters, and text. There is a need for the voices of young people to be heard, especially those who have found artistic integrity, and awareness of civic and political issues on their own terms. Youth are in an ongoing struggle to construct personal identities and communities that they want to live in. Hip-hop graffiti is only one example where they have created a space, within a peer-run environment, to respect and encourage their political powers, ideas, and skills. The book asks whether an understanding of how adolescents learn outside of school can generate alternative sites for curriculum theorizing.
Trespass: a history of uncommissioned urban art by
A history of graffiti and unsanctioned street art explores its local origins and its transformation into a global phenomenon, discussing its outlaw status, key artists, and the spread of self-expression in social spaces.
The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti by
Painted murals first appeared in Latin America in the early 20th century; in the 1950s, spray-can graffiti associated with Latino gangs followed, notably the "cholo" graffiti of Los Angeles. Today, street art has traveled to nearly every corner of the globe, evolving into a highly complex and ornate art form. The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti is the definitive survey of international street art, focusing on the world's most influential urban artists and artworks. Since the lives and works of urban artists are inextricably linked to specific streets and places, this beautifully illustrated volume features specially commissioned "city artworks" that provide an intimate understanding of these metropolitan landscapes.
Organized geographically by country and city, more than 100 of today's most important street artists--including Espo in New York, Shepard Fairey in Los Angeles, Os G#65533;meos in Brazil, and Anthony Lister in Australia--are profiled alongside key examples of their work. The evolution of street art and graffiti within each region is also chronicled, providing essential historical context. With contributions by the foremost authorities on street art and graffiti, this landmark publication provides a nuanced understanding of a widespread contemporary art practice. The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti emphasizes urban art's powerful commitment to a spontaneous creativity that is inherently connected to the architecture of the metropolis.
King for a Decade by 
To Repel Ghosts by
Revamped from its original "double album" version of 350 pages into this unique "remix," To Repel Ghosts captures the dynamic work and brief life of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
In spare, jazzlike verse Kevin Young tells the story of Basquiat's rise from the mock prophet and graffiti artist SAMO to one of the hottest painters of the 1980s ("blue-chip Basquiat / playing the bull / market"), exploring the artist's bouts with fame and heroin, mourning his untimely death, and celebrating his legacy. Along the way Young riffs on Basquiat's paintings and sayings, on the music he loved, on the artists he ran with (Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, among them), and on the black heroes (Charlie Parker, Muhammad Ali, Billie Holiday) who inspired him.
Young's poetic channeling of Basquiat--a jostling, poignant brand of downtownspeak--makes for an urban epic in the tradition of Langston Hughes's "A Dream Deferred." To Repel Ghosts , along with Young's Jelly Roll: A Blues and Black Maria , his recent book of film noir verse, forms an American trilogy-- Devil's Music --that explores other art forms through poetry. In its creation, Yound has become a poet whose work speaks both for and beyond his genre, with a music all its own.
Keith Haring by
This one-of-a-kind book explores the life and art of Keith Haring from his childhood through his meteoric rise to fame. It sheds light on this important artist's great humanity, his concern for children, and his disregard for the establishment art world. Reproductions of Keith's signature artwork appear in scenes boldly rendered by Robert Neubecker. This is a story to inspire, and a book for Keith Haring fans of all ages to treasure.
Bomb it 2 by
In Bomb It 2, the follow-up to the explosive 2007 global graffiti documentary Bomb It, Reiss takes audiences to previously unexplored areas of the Middle East, Europe, Asia, the United States, and Australia on a hunt for innovative street art and artists. Graffiti and street artists featured include Ash Keating, Bon, Great Bates, Klone, Know Hope, Stormie Mills, Vexta, Victor Ash, Xeme and more.
Exit Through the Gift Shop by
This is the inside story of Street Art - a brutal and revealing account of what happens when fame, money and vandalism collide. It follows an eccentric Los Angeles based French shop-keeper turned amateur film-maker as he attempts to capture many of the world's most infamous vandals on camera, only to have British stencil artist Banksy turn the camcorder back on its owner with wildly unexpected results. This fascinating study of low-level criminality, comradeship, and incompetence is modern-day fairytale ... with bolt cutters.
Basquiat by
In 1981, a nineteen-year-old unknown graffiti writer takes the New York art world by storm.