The Flesh Statue

This book is a coming of age story about a young man in Long Beach Califonia. The cover was designed by Jaber.

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For more information and to purchase the book visit U.L. Harper's website.

Four Gs Graffiti Magazine Review

I have been a graffiti magazine collector since before the internet days. I am a proud owner of Can Control #1 which came out in the early 90s. Besides exchanging flicks, magazines were the only way to see the works of many graffiti artists from cities that you could not travel to.

Over the years I have looked at many graffiti magazines. Four Gs Magazine is one magazine that is fairly new to the scene that is worth mentioning. It is a beautifully laid out magazine with slick pages that feels good in your hands.

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Each issue is 50+ pages and is true to its name, Four Gs, it focuses on graffiti, guns, girls and ganja. What I like most about the magazines is how it groups pictures together by crews. There is a section on Art Work Rebels (AWR), City Bomb Squad (CBS), Must Take All (MTA), you get the picture.

In the latest issue, they took this to a new level. Each crew's page has insightful quotes alongside the pictures.

"We restarted KOG in 1996ish and we have been the LSD trippers, hart partiers, and the ones keeping it together as the dysfunctional family we are. We are all from different ethnic, age, social, and religious groups but we're all drawn to the same energy we call KOG" - Fish

"Getting into graffiti, AWR was my foundation, that's what graffiti was to me, the way those guys did it. I grew up with Saber and Bles, and from there it just unwound" - Push


There are also interviews pictures of girls, guns and ganja. Can you ask for more? The magazine can be purchased at many fine graffiti stores, including Oink Art.


Four Gs Graffiti Magazine


Four Gs Graffiti Magazine


Four Gs Graffiti Magazine


Four Gs Graffiti Magazine

Disclaimer: GraffHead.com was not compensated for this review. However, the publishers of Four Gs magazine were nice enough to send 2 issues free of charge. As always, we cannot be bought and the review is our true opinion!

Bay Area Graffiti

I am what you would call a graffiti enthusiast. I try to get my hands on every graffiti book, graffiti magazine and graffiti DVD. A few months ago, I got Mark Batty Publisher's recent book, Bay Area Graffiti.

I anticipated to get through the book swiftly and write a quick review on it. Was I ever wrong.

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This is a book rich with content in which I have immersed myself over the last 3 weeks. Unlike Steve Grody's Graffiti L.A. book, which deeply examines graffiti in Los Angeles from its early days, Bay Area Graffiti is a period piece. The author took pictures on a daily basis from 2004 to 2008. The pictures you see in the book are from writers that were up at that specific time.



The book is a large format hardcover with a great piece by Reyes MSK on the cover. It is 208 pages featuring 61 graffiti writers and has hundreds and hundreds of full color Bay area graffiti pictures. I am always interested in what motivates each graffiti artist to go out and risk their well-being to do what they love. We get a glimpse into many of the featured artists' psyches as they discuss their thoughts and motivations for doing graffiti.



"I hate that the only thing that I know how to do and the only thing that I really love is against the law." -Chue

"I get terrified sometimes when I climb. I sweat compulsevily. I do this thing where I swing under bridges. I climb up the inside and get to the mddle pillar and lie down adn put my amr under and grab a pole and let my legs hang and I pull myself up on the outside beam..." - Keep

"I completely shut off when I paint. It's just me and the wall and if I'm painting with a friend we don't talk. I get in that zone." -Gena

"Dude, the first couple of sprays on that wall, I'm always shook. I'm always looking over my shoulder, seeing if it's cool. And then I get loose after I get manybe the 'G' outlined." - Gator


Bay Area Graffiti joins the few great graffiti books that are on the market.

Disclaimer: GraffHead.com was not compensated for this review. However, Mark Batty Publisher was nice enough to provide us with a copy of the book. Mark Batty is an independent publisher with many great titles focusing on street art including Graffiti Japan, Going PostalPeel: The Art Of The Sticker and Textura - Valencia Street Art.


Bay Area Graffiti


Bay Area Graffiti


Bay Area Graffiti


Bay Area Graffiti


Bay Area Graffiti


Bay Area Graffiti

Review + Video: Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti in Los Angeles

Gangs and graffiti writers are not the same. The media likes to confuse them to build outrage in the public. Nevertheless, gang graffiti has a large influence in the writing styles of graffiti writers. This is especially true in Los Angeles where many inner city kids were first exposed to writings on the walls by local gangs.

The influence of gang writing is very apparent in both graffiti tags, as well as, pieces. For example, the letter "E" that is written like a backwards "3" in gang writing is used by many graffiti writers, of course, stylized to their own liking.

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In November of 2009, Dokument Press put out a significant book titled: Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti in Los Angeles. The book begins with a forword by renowned artist, Chaz Bojorquez. He writes about the roots of Los Angeles gang graffiti and describes the origins of gangs in Los Angeles. Cholo graffiti is the style of graffiti used by Los Angeles gangs. However, as Mr. Bojorquez states it: "Cholo is much more than just graffiti. It's a lifestyle."

The book is full of pictures of gang graffiti taken in the streets of Los Angeles, as early as, 1962. Co-author/photographer, Howard Gribble describes his motivation and method for taking the pictures. He, as well, describes many of the pictures featured in the book. Co-author, Francois Chastanet describes the origins and growth of Cholo graffiti. We also get a detailed description of the meaning of each part of the graffiti blocks.

I leave you with a quote from Mr. Chastanet: "As the typeface Garamond is the image of French Renaissance, as the typeface Gill Sans is the spirit of England, Cholo writing in the same manner represents the very essence of Los Angeles, Southern California."

Textura - Valencia Street Art

The latest book by MBP ( Mark Batty Publisher) entitled Textura focuses on street art in Valencia, Spain. Valencia is the 3rd largest city in Spain and is about 200 miles from the Montana spray paint headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

"I would say that today Valencia is the Spanish city where the most wall illustration can be found." Writes the author, Luz A. Martin.
Martin gives a great history of the graffiti movement in her hometown of Valencia. She attributes the start of graffiti to be part of the 80s Hip Hop movement that occurred in Spain. Initially, New York was the biggest influence on Spanish graffiti but as graffiti matured, artists developed their own styles.

In addition to her great documentation of Valencia's street art, she interviewed 7 well known street artists of Valencia. We get an understanding of their motivation and get a small glimpse into the world of a graffiti artist in Valencia, Spain.

Stay tuned, we have secured an interview with Ms. Luz A. Martin. Look for it shortly.

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Textura


Textura


Textura


Textura


Textura

Disclaimer: GraffHead.com was not compensated for this review. However, Mark Batty Publisher was nice enough to provide us with a copy of the book. Mark Batty is an independent publisher with many great titles focusing on street art including Graffiti Japan, Going Postal and Peel: The Art Of The Sticker.

Peel: The Art Of The Sticker

Street art comes in many flavors. Graffiti using spray paint happens to be my favorite type of street art, but I do have a fondness for stickers. Many graffiti artists partake in a combination of different mediums including wheatpasting, stickers and spray paint. The idea is to get up and get noticed as much as you can.

The right sticker can get you noticed while minimizing the consequences. This may be the reason why sticker bombing is so popular. In most places you can put up stickers even during the day. However, some take sticker bombing to a new level like putting them up in really difficult to reach places. I still cannot forget seeing a row of stickers on a freeway sign in the middle of the Pasadena freeway done by Atlas CBS about 8 years ago.

Peel is a magazine dedicated to sticker art and the artists behind them. The magazine has teamed up with MBP Mark Batty Publisher) to release a book taking highlights of each of the last 8 issues. We get the cream of the crop from each issue. My favorite part was the interviews. Many times you see street art and don't know who is behind it. It is nice to learn about their motivation and their thoughts. The various interviews achieve that. Also, for the true sticker fans, the book has 69 real stickers in the back from all the artists featured in the book.


Obey - Peel: The Art Of The Sticker

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Evoker - Peel: The Art Of The Sticker


Peel: The Art Of The Sticker


Buff Monster - Peel: The Art Of The Sticker


Manda - Peel: The Art Of The Sticker


Shepard Fairey - Peel: The Art Of The Sticker


Dolla - Peel: The Art Of The Sticker

Disclaimer: GraffHead.com was not compensated for this review. However, Mark Batty Publisher was nice enough to provide us with a copy of the book. Mark Batty is an independent publisher with many great titles focusing on street art including Graffiti Japan and Going Postal.

Going Postal

Street art takes many forms, including simple tags, throw ups, full color pieces, wheat pasting, stickers and even yarn bombing. Some street artists are purist where they only partake in one form of street art, where many of them do a combination of different mediums. Most of the time, the main objective is getting up and getting noticed.

Continue for the rest of the review + More pictures

Going Postal is a little larger than a pocket sized book written and contains photographs by Martha Cooper. You don't know who Martha Cooper is? Along with Henry Chalfont, she was responsible for one of the first and most famous graffiti books, Subway Art, which was published 25 years ago.

Going Postal focuses on a little known street art that is solely done on postal stickers. The beauty of these stickers are that each one is hand made. Some artists use stencils, some cut out shapes and some just simply tag on them. The book has pictures from New York City, Philadelphia, Tokyo, San Francisco, Berlin, Amsterdam and Cologne.

Going Postal by Martha Cooper


Going Postal by Martha Cooper


Going Postal by Martha Cooper


Going Postal by Martha Cooper


Going Postal by Martha Cooper

Disclaimer: GraffHead.com was not compensated for this review. However, Mark Batty Publisher was nice enough to provide us with a copy of the book. Mark Batty is an independent publisher with many great titles focusing on street art including Graffiti Japan.

Graffiti Japan Book Signing in San Francisco

Remo Camerota, the author of the Graffiti Japan book is making his way across the US. He will be in San Francisco signing the recently released book about graffiti in Japan. (Read the GraffHead review of Graffiti Japan.)

111 Minna Gallery
111 Minna Street
San Francisco CA 94105 (Directions)
Saturday, November 15: 6PM - 9PM





Related:
Graffiti in Japan
More Graffiti in Japan
Graffiti Japan San Francisco Launch Event
Graffiti Japan New York Launch Event

Graffiti Japan San Francisco Launch Event

Remo Camerota continues his book tour for the book Graffiti Japan. This time he will be in San Francisco at Club 6. Juxtapoz magazine is behind the promotion so it should be a great event. If you are in San Francisco, this is one event not to be missed.


Saturday, November 8, 2008
Club 6 (Directions)
6 60th Street Address Correction: 60 6th Street
San Fancisco, CA 94103



Related:
Graffiti in Japan
More Graffiti in Japan
Graffiti Japan New York Launch Event