Street Art

At my desk I can look out across the alley to the backside of another building. The largest surface is a brick wall painted bright white. On sunny days it can be almost blinding. Occasionally there are messages scrawled across the wall or on the HVAC units. Often it is a one word tag that has no meaning to me. It cound be a gang, a sports ball team or maybe a character from My Little Pony. Not long ago new text was added. It says "I feel lonely." It isn't in a fancy graffiti font, just plain cursive. Without knowing any specifics I think most people can understand this one.

Bad Graffiti by Scott Hocking As the title implies it is full of crudely drawn pieces of anatomy, references to bodily functions and just plain bad graffiti.

The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti by Rafael Schacter On the flip side, this book is filled with beautiful pieces of street art. It includes some artists you may have heard of like Banksy and Shepard Fairy and plenty that you have not. It goes beyond just graffiti to include commissioned murals, paper graffiti and installation pieces.

Flip the Script by Christian Acker If you are interested in graffiti AND you are a font geek then this is the book for you. It is page after page of graffiti writing styles used across the country. They are grouped geographically, showing which group or individual used it and in what time period.

The History of American Graffiti by Roger Gastman and Caleb Neelon I liked this one because of the photos, especially the large graffiti done on trains and subway cars. It makes me want to watch Beat Street again.