L.A. Graffiti Black Book

Description

Book Title: L.A. Graffiti Black Book
Author: David Brafman, Getty Research Institute
Hardcover
Country: USA
Language: English
Pages: 176
Published: 2021

This Collection of Unique Works by 151 Los Angeles Graffiti Artists Represents an Unprecedented Collaboration Across the City’s Diverse Artistic Landscape

Artists featured: Acme, Adict One, AiseBorn, Angst, Arbe, Asylm, Augor, Axis, Bash, Betoe, Big Sleeps, Blosm and Petal, Bob Roberts (Bad Bob the Worst), Cab, Cache, Cale One, Care, Charlie Roberts, Chaz, Chris, Chubbs, Crae & K4P Crew, Craola, Craze, Cre8, Crime (Rick One), Cryptik, Czer One, Defer, Demer One, Design9, Dr. Eye, Duem and Crae, Dye5, Earn One, Eder, Elika, Else, Enk One, ESK31, Estevan Oriol, EyeOne, Fearo, Fishe , Gabe88, Gasoline, Gkae, Graff One, Green, Gorgs, Haste, Heaven, Hex (LOD), Hex (TGO), Hyde, Jack, Jack Rudy (Mr. Huero), Jake One, Jero and Each (front, back), Joker One, Junior (“Kost One”), K4P (Pranxs, Method, Biser, Crae, Dsrup), K4P (Chelo, Noek, Notik), Kaos, Kasl, Keo One and Wram One, Kofie, Kopyeson, Kozem, Krenz (Yem), Krush, Kwite One, Kyle Kyote, Ler Keen, Look, Mach Five, Mandoe, Man One, Mark7, Mike Miller, Miner, Mister Cartoon, NicNak, OG Abel, Owen, Panic One, Patrick Martinez, P.Chuck, The Phantom, Phever, P. Jay One, Playboy Eddie, Plek One, Pletk P17, Precise, Prime, Punk, Push, Pyre One, Pyro, Rayo, Relic, Relm, Retna, Rev, Rich One, Rick Ordoñez, Risk, Rival, Roder 169, Saber, Sacred 194, Sel, Ser, Shandu One, Sherm, Siner, Skan One, Skez, Skill, Slick, SomeOne, Soon One, Spade, Spurn, Swank, Syte One, Teler, Tempt, Test, Thanks One, Thel, Trigz, Tyke Witnes, Useck, Versus 269, Vox One, Vyal, Werc, Wise, Wisk, Woier, Zes

151 artists contributed 143 original works on paper to a multivoice “master-piece” artists’ book, called LA Liber Amicorum, more popularly known as the Getty Black Book. Reproduced for the first time, all of the artworks in LA Liber Amicorum, and commemorates a moment when leading local artists came together to create a L.A. book of friends.

Many graffiti artists carry sketchbooks, called black books, and they ask crew members and others whose work they admire to inscribe their books with lettering or drawings. A few years ago, the Getty Research Institute invited artists, including Angst, Axis, Big Sleeps, Chaz, Cre8, Defer, EyeOne, Fishe, Heaven, Hyde, Look, ManOne, and Prime, to consider the idea of a citywide graffiti black book. During visits to the Getty Center, the artists viewed rare books related to calligraphy and letterforms, including works by Albrecht Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci. The artists instantly recognized the connections to their own practices and were particularly drawn to a liber amicorum (book of friends), a form of autograph book popular in the seventeenth century. Passed from hand to hand, it was filled with signatures, poetry, and coats of arms, like a black book from another era.

Inspired by this meeting of minds across centuries, these artists became both creators and curators, crafting their own pages and inviting others to contribute. Eventually 151 Los Angeles artists decorated 143 individual pages. These were bound together into an exquisite artists’ book that became known as the Getty Graffiti Black Book. This publication reproduces each page from the original artists’ book and recounts the story of an unprecedented collaboration across the diverse artistic landscape of Los Angeles.

David Brafman is associate curator of rare books at the Getty Research Institute. He is coauthor of Insects and Flowers: The Art of Maria Sibylla Merian (Getty, 2008) and a contributor to Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road (Getty, 2016).

“A fine document of an interesting culture and legacy.”
—Steve Grody, author of Graffiti L.A.: Street Styles and Art

“What makes this project so provocative is how it draws connections between 17^th-century vernacular art practices, the social/collaborative nature of contemporary street art, and the importance of documentation and archives.”
—An Xiao Mina, Hyperallergic

“This Getty Black Book not only serves to offer its audience a historic compilation of this unique Los Angeles art culture, but, also, the sentiment of each stand-alone artist.”
—Karen McDonough, UP Magazine

“Presumably convinced that a serious moment was at hand, the graffiti artists signed on and were each given several sheets of paper to distribute among their worthy colleagues. . . . There were two results, the first being a handsome volume containing all of the work. Placing graffiti art into a book is like pinning a butterfly in a display case: the ephemeral is now enshrined into the permanent.”
—Bondo Wyszpolski, Easy Reader News