Graffiti Underworld- USED

Description

Title: Graffiti Underworld
Subtitle: Villains, Vandals and Visionaries
Author: J.R. Mathews
Hardcover
Country: USA
Language: English
Pages: 204
Published: 2012
Dimensions: 20.3 x 1.9 x 28 cm / 8 x 0.75 x 11 inch
Condition: Cover: 9.5/10 Inside: 10/10

Jumping from elevated subways cars, police beat downs, exploding cars, gangsters, and wild dogs, are just a few of the obstacles graffiti artists face while creating their work. From the Beaches of LA to the crowded streets of Taipei City, graffiti writers have been adorning public space for over thirty years. Their stories of youthful camaraderie, adventure, betrayal, tragedy and glory have remained unheard beyond the elusive subculture of graffiti writers until now.

Graffiti Underworld is an illustrated collection of action packed tales straight from the mouths of some of the most notorious graffiti artists of the past 40 years. Compiled from interviews with over 100 hardcore graffiti writers, this collection of images and stories creates a never before seen vision of the subculture behind the graffiti art movement.

We’ve seen the folk art form of graffiti derided by police and civic leaders as pure vandalism. In the ’90s some of it was upgraded to art museums, and today the political “street art” of Banksy and Shepard Fairey recontextualize graffiti art yet again. In Graffiti Underworld, J.R. Mathews bypasses the art galleries and travels across the United States to rediscover the original outlaw vandals for no-bullshit interviews about their risky and exciting outlaw creations.

Graffiti Underworld interviews nearly two hundred artists, all of them pseudonymous, and includes over three hundred images of their work through the barbed-wire fences, multi-story walls, railroad tracks, and other rough-and-tumble surroundings.

Graffiti artists and lawbreakers interviewed include: Ader, Anoy, Apes, Arek, Aser, Asic, Aware, Beer, Begr, Bone, Byas, Cern, Chek 1, Clown, Colt 45, Cope, Cornbread, Coupe, Crow, Dark, Dekay, Demer, Den, Denz, Desism, Dyer, Else, Ender, Ether, Evict, Fishe, Flash ABC, Flyos, Ghouls, Gime, Glue, Goner, Graves, GSouth, Hael, Harsh, Heat, Helz, Hert, Hour, Huge, Indecline, Isto, Jaber, Jase, Jee, Jel, Jive, Joey TPA, Kerse, King 157, KR, Kuhr, Lead, Lost, Lyes, Met, Mise, Nark, Neks, Nekst, Neo, Nerose, Omens, Ouija, People, Pepe, Phone, Phrite, Poet, Popmaster Fabel, Prae, Ree2, Resek, Ridl 1, RJay, RVee, Saber, Sachem, Saer, Sake, Sexer, Sicks, Sight, Sinek, Size 21, SMK, Snatch, Space, Spade, Syms, Taco, Takt, Teel, Temp, Then, Timber, Toomer, Tork, Trixter, Typoe, Untold, Urine, Vogue, Voice, Vos, Waste, Yukon, Zek 156, and Zem.

J.R. Mathews has spent the past decade ducking in and out of dangerous situations in railroad yards, tops of buildings, and ghetto walls, pursuing the most notable proponents of the folk art form of graffiti. This is his first book.