Art Books: Explore the World of Graffiti & Street Art

Bigger, more colorful and even more detailed - This is seemingly a actual trend in the graffiti scene. In my opinion it’s to much. For me, a piece is a good one when it’s unique and has a attractive typographic character - Too many colors overlay the rather style… Quite similarly think the people from “Style needs no color”. They released their book “Black on White” with a big live painting (only in black and white) some days ago! Over 20 graffiti artists, including 3Steps, Faker,Mr.Cybe, Panik, Pesk, Ritak and Tabu, painted at the hall of fame in Koblenz. ...

“Smash Proof” is the new book by European graffiti artist Smash 137. It’s art of the “On The Run” book series and will be proudly presented by From Here To Fame and friends. “Smash 137 has a worldwide reputation as being an innovator. His impact on the international writer’s scene is significant and widespread. He is what you might call a writer’s writer, with an advanced conceptual take on letter styles and modes of application. Equally at home in the street and in the gallery his work takes the art of writing to the next level.” (press release) ...

“Sombras” is the name of the new mural art book by Spanish street artist Sam3! After he printed his own small book, called “Tirá me de la lengua”, at the beginning of this year, he decided to make a real hardcover book about his outdoor artworks. Sam3 is, like many other urban artists too, a globetrotter - his well-known mural artworks can be found all over the world. For this reason, “Sombras” shows not only his impressing works, but also the different locations and cities where he painted. ...

“The journey to the mural art continues! More than 120 muralists and organizations from all over the world, from Europe to Africa, from America to Asia and Oceania, present 1000 murals and guide us to their colourful and symbolic world.” This is the introduction to the “Mural Art Vol.2 - Murals on huge public surfaces around the World from Graffiti to Trome l’oeil” book, by author and publisher of the Greek graffiti-magazine “Carpe Diem” Kiriakos Iosifides. ...

For some days “The Modart Times”, a brand new urban art newspaper, lies at my home and I did not really had some time to read it - until today. The old-viewing special edition for Berlin includes articles about the “Wallbreakers Urban Art Tour”, the “Dreamyourtopia” exhibition, a wide gallery guide, an interview with Berlin-based old school writers Bas2, Poet and Wesp as well as some articles about art, marketing and “Write the Wall”. ...

Christian Hundertmark aka C100 did it again! The next part of his street art series “Part of Rebellion” is a special about Dutch urban artist, illustrator, typographer and writer Erosie. After Flying Förtress (“Part of Rebellion #1”) and Dave the Chimp (“Part of Rebellion #2”), this 120 pages book showcases the creative history of the Eindhoven-based artists and his artworks. Erosie’s artworks are available for a mix of pop and street art. His urban works are very versatile and have humor. ...

Today, I read about a new graffiti book, which will be released on November 7th - its name “All City Writers”. The “All City Writers” book is a collaboration between Andrea Caputo and the fashion label Carhartt. They combine 1230 pictures, 620 articles, 410 full-colour pages, and more than 250 involved writers to an amazing documentation of New York’s influence on European graffiti in the ’80s. “The book, a massive volume of more than 400 pages, has been conceived as an imaginary newspaper. The chronicles it contains have not been penned by real journalists or narrators, but by people who define themselves as ‘writers’. ...

Some days ago, a new, fully illustrated journey about some of the biggest names in street art, such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee, Os Gemeos, Blek le Rat, Swoon, Dan Witz, Faile, Eine, Pure Evil and many more was published. Its name: “Street Artists - The Complete Guide”! After “Street Art and the World on Terror” from 2007, it’s the second book about urban art by Eleanor Mathiseon and Xavier A. Tapies. With more than 250 photos from the top creative talents of the international street art scene and details, include a biography and a summary of each-ones style, the book is an informative urban art guide. ...

Yesterday I visited my friend Marc. He is the curator of the ATM Gallery in Berlin, which is dedicated to street art, urban art and graffiti. While we talked to each other, an old man came into the gallery, which is currently presenting the Emess stencil art show “What’s the colour of money?”. To cut a long story short, this relatively old man was no less a person than graffiti legend Part One himself! Already in 1974, Part One was part of the most influential style writers of New York. His innovative letters and color-concepts characterized the graffiti development worldwide. ...

South America appears to be in vogue for graffiti and street artists at the moment. Hardly a week goes by without reports about new projects, photos or videos from the fourth-largest continent. But mostly that are reports about established and/ or famous international artist, who made a trip there. What is not so much coming to light are the local artists - but there’s an end to it! “Graffiti Argentina” is called a book by Maximiliano Ruiz, which focuses on the more unknown artists. ...