Is it fine art, social commentary, or simply vandalism? This highly illustrated book probes the issues surrounding the proliferation of graffiti in American cities. 108 photos, 48 in color.
From Paris to L.A., London to Bergen, Sao Paulo to Vienna, and many more, no one has quite captured the strangeness, heroism, frustration or surreal quality of the coronavirus pandemic quite like the world's street artists. This brilliant small volume features the best examples: heroic nurses, lovers refusing to let COVID cool their passion, strange edicts from government, presidential recommendations featuring disinfectant, feelings of entrapment and longing for freedom... These artworks aren't just a fantastic take on the pandemic, but really capture the whole range of emotions that the world has lived through. Fine art isn't up to the task of defining this era. Street artists have taken on that mantle and have done it brilliantly.
Originally an electronic dance music form from the garage, drum and bass, and dub reggae clubs of South London, dubstep has merged with street art, pop art, and design to become a global design and music phenomenon, now entering the mainstream and influencing the likes of Snoop Dogg and Rihanna. Their subversion of regular corporate brands and language have also become a witty trope in recent advertising campaigns. The best of these artists worldwide are featured here, with amazing imagery and detailed analysis showing their influences and connections.
Over 50 of the world's top women street artists, with amazing images and detailed biographies. Includes Bambi, Btoy, Elle, Jilly Ballistic, Faith47, Lily Mixe, Miss Van, Nadege Dauvergne, Vexta and many more.
An in-depth archaeological report featuring graffiti found during a recent excavation at the Ancient Greek city of Smyrna. The graffiti published in this richly-illustrated volume were discovered during an excavation of the Roman basilica in the Ancient Greek city of Smyrna, known today as Izmir, which is situated on the Aegean coast of modern Turkey. The project, which began in 2003, has unearthed a multitude of graffiti and drawings encompassing a wide range of subjects and interests, including local politics, nautical vessels, sex, and wordplay. Each graffito artifact holds the potential for vast historical and cultural data, rescued in this volume from the passage of time and razing ambitions of urban development. Given the city’s history, the potential wealth of knowledge to be gleamed from these discoveries is substantial: Smyrna has an uninterrupted history of settlement since the Neolithic–Copper ages, and remains today a major city and Mediterranean seaport at the crossroads of key trade routes. The present volume provides comprehensive editions of the texts, descriptions of the drawings, and an extensive introduction to the subjects of the graffiti, how they were produced, and who was responsible for them. A complete set of color photographs is included.
Jean-Michel Basquiat is one of the few artists who have achieved mythic status. His work is instantly recognizable; like Picasso, Warhol or Frida Kahlo, his look is imprinted on our psyche. But how much do we really know Basquiat? Who was he, where did he come from, where did he hang out? Desperately Seeking Basquiat lets readers explore the most significant locations of his life. We learn that he wasn't from the ghetto, but from the respectable, professional middle class Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn. He spent time in his mother's native Puerto Rico as a child. He went to a private school for a few years. And then, yes, he ran away from home and lived with the junkies sleeping rough in Washington Square Park. On the way there are the amazing cast of characters and lovers that came in and out of Basquiat's life - not just Warhol, but Debby Harry, Madonna, William Burroughs, Versace, Francesco Clemente and Keith Haring. And in the midst of all this the art dealers, impressarios and galleries that knew how to take Basquiat's talent and turn it fast into millions of dollars. We discover some unexpected places: Basquiat spent time in Modena, Italy, and a lot of time in Zurich and loved detox trips to the Far East and Hawaii; this is far from just a New York story. Later on he travelled to Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire, in search of a new direction. Full of fascinating locations and scene photos from the heady late '70s and '80s NYC, and as with the other titles in the series, Desperately Seeking Basquiat also features great maps, short punchy texts and insightful quotes from Basquiat's contemporaries. For anyone into Basquiat, this delicious volume, with its cute format, really packs a punch. For anyone wanting to know more, much more, about the man behind some of the coolest, most iconic art of the 20th Century, it's indispensable.
"Explore the geography of genius in Desperately Seeking Bowie, a pocket-sized hardcover that situates major milestones from David Bowie's career in the locations where they took place. Detailed maps show his movements around the world, while profiles of notable locales illuminate the interaction between artist and place. Bowie fans will be thrilled by this career-spanning tour of his global trajectory, from his home in New York City to the studio in Berlin where he recorded three of his albums, to the narrow London street where he posed for the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Like the other titles in the series, Desperately Seeking Bowie looks at a major cultural icon from a brand-new perspective, providing context for his life, work, and legacy"--Publisher's description.
H. R. Giger created the world of the 1980 Alien movie without the benefit of a Mac and is still a major inspiration for today's obsessive digital artists. Now a collection of artists working in surrealist biomechanical graphis in art, computer games, and movies with far more powerful tools at their disposal to create their own alien art are pushing the boundaries of the visual--the new Gigers. This book features more than 50 top artists from around the world working in the genre where the boundaries between computer games and movies increasingly blur.
A collection of work from preeminent pop surrealism artist Caia Koopman Among lowbrow and tattoo connoisseurs Santa Cruz-based Caia is recognized as one of the most talented artists working in California. Now with her recent first solo shows in L.A. and San Francisco, she is about to get much more recognition. It's not hard to see why. Her images are sexy but empowered, reference the best iconography from the world of tattoo (Day of the Dead and old school roses), and can be ironically very candypop-pink or have an alluring old-fashioned Art Nouveau quality. What they are is instantly very hip and very now. Raining Pink is a stunning collection of Caia's best work. With this, and recent features in Juxtapoz among others, her reputation is set to grow and grow.