Customer Reviews

Stencil Pirates

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4 star:		(3)
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From my New York Press review of Stencil Pirates, 11/04 (vol. 17, issue 45):

A FEW YEARS AGO, while walking down a sparsely traveled block in my old Brooklyn neighborhood, I came across three-foot-tall, carefully rendered cursive on an otherwise blank red wall: "Cap'n Jazz" in silver spray-paint. I did a triple take. Who'd bother to apply the name of a little-known early-90s punk band from Chicago to a Brooklyn wall in 2001, and why? I didn't much care; those shimmering letters brought on a surge of memories from my years in DC punk; it was as if a long-lost friend or secret admirer had left me a note. Though "Cap'n Jazz" swiftly vanished under a fresh coat of paint, those same memories slip into mind every time I'm there, three years later-that block, to me, transformed.

The power of street art, namely stencils, to shape public space, and the ways in which it does so, is the subject of Chicago artist Josh MacPhee's Stencil Pirates, a handsome publication that both documents and casts a critical eye upon a thriving art form. Early on, MacPhee quotes artist Russell Howze: "Traditional art is usually a static experience... Most traditional art is found in galleries, chosen by someone else and viewed by a select group of people... Even when thousands of people see larger exhibits, traditional art's exposure is still limited by the price of admission at the door."

Stencils, however, to the joy of some and consternation of others, are the great equalizer: With the help of basic, affordable materials, the same work of art can reappear throughout a city, cities or countries, meeting with a broad audience and reception. Some stencils remain for months or years on a sidewalk or wall, insinuating themselves into a neighborhood's character and landscape. What prompts residents or city workers to paint over some and not others can be as intriguing as the work itself. (What causes some stencils to fade before others, on the other hand, is a simple matter of paint quality, which MacPhee discusses in the practical, informative "How-To File" section.)

MacPhee parses out Stencil Pirates according to several dozen themes. In "It's Official," he explores the influence of industrial stencils; in "Argentina," the revival of the stencil as a tool of communication and political expression after the country's 2001 economic collapse. Intentionally succinct in narrative and commentary, MacPhee devotes page after page of Pirates-quite a few of them full-color spreads-to more than 1000 images. Plenty of the work in Pirates, if noteworthy in message or placement, is rudimentary, skill-wise.

But just as much of it is gorgeous, sometimes awe-inspiring in its intricacy. "Are We Free Yet," a collaboration by JSO4 and Sevenist, is a painstakingly executed multicolor mural of telephone wires, tiny birds, two bright kites and a placid, curly head on a floral pillowcase. Upon the sleeper's torso, this text: "Only in my dreams is my memory restored, so I sleep all the time so I don't forget how 2 live." In an example of "stenciling as civic duty," artists Scout and Stain created moving color portraits of neighborhood children on abandoned buildings and boarded-over windows throughout decaying downtown Albany, as, according to Scout, "an offering to the people who live there."

One section presents snapshots of stenciled poetry-reproductions of well-known verse as well as stenciling as self-publishing. And all over, from Argentina to San Francisco, stencils have a vibrant history as public service announcement, whether it's "Dyke March 1996, Market & Castro, Saturday June 29, 7 p.m.," or markings from the 1989 Anti-Nuke Port Stencil Project, which organized a team of stencilers to create anti-nuke images that included their exact mileage from a proposed nuke-equipped Staten Island Navy base. Pirates shows that even a single word or phrase can adorn a wall, lovely, depending on factors such as placement or use of typography.

For MacPhee, all of this is "liberatory." Decrying the highly regulated state of public space in America as a forum where homogenous, calculated corporate messaging rules, MacPhee says that "encouraging people to think off the conveyor belt of work, shop, eat, sleep, work, shop, eat is downright revolutionary." Indeed, the book overflows with stencils that shout their message as loud as the paint allows. Other images are subtler, even cryptic. Anton van Dalen, who worked mostly in the 70s and 80s, shot for the subliminal, aiming for his stencils "to operate as traffic signs, you absorb the meaning before you even know it."

Of course, not every stencil artist is inhaling toxic fumes for the sake of art, political beliefs or to convey any particular message. Shepard Fairey has used his Andre the Giant stencil to launch an industry of "Obey"-branded clothing and posters; he also designed Radiohead's noxious "Hail to the Thief" stencil campaign. MacPhee explains corporate forays into stenciling as an attempt to garner street cred for their products-and of course, to move product. Even when corporate patrons have been revealed, the ensuing hubbub "is better exposure for their advertising than money could possibly buy."

MacPhee doesn't delve far into the history of stenciling; his focus is on modern-day work. He does, however, outline its past-from Egypt and China and Greece to the Soviet Union and Nicaragua, South Africa, Mexico. Over thousands of years, the basic technique of applying paint over a design cut out of a solid material has endured. The word "stencil" has its roots in the French estenceler, "to decorate with bright colors," which in turn comes from the Latin scintilla-"spark."

highly recommended! this book is beyond your pretty picture book. the author's essays give an excellent overview of stencil graffiti, and his list of bibliography and end notes provide the best starting point ive found for further research.

it's missing one star simply because i find tristan manco's "stencil graffiti" more interesting in terms of the art work selection.

these 2 books are essential for stencil graffiti lovers!

In the flood of recent books about graffiti - this is one of the only books to seriously take on the 'function' of illegal public markings in society. There must be 50+ well-distributed books about graffiti that manage to suck out most of the political implications of graffiti in exchange for ego boosting. Additionally, the descriptions and history of graffiti in the global south make it quite unique and equitable.

From page 36 " At their best and most cryptic, stencils are signs that are both hollow yet simultaneously pregnant with meaning. They are signs without signifiers, images or statements with no clear or fixed meaning..."

MacPhee infuses the graffiti research process with the semeotic and anthropoligical tools that are necessary for interpreting urban space. I highly recommend this book

Awesome book, Highly recommend it as a must buy for anyone into the street art scene, It has a detailed guide on how to make & use your own stencils & gives a history on the subject & also introduces the reader to a few of the best artists that use this medium. Great book, A wonderful addition to my collection,and anyone who gets it!!...

An amazing retrospective on street art. I've become very popular gifting this to all the teenagers I buy presents for (at least those trying to be cool and urban). Great art and intellectual commentary.

Stencil Pirates offers a broad and fairly cogent view of the role that stenciling has played in the past, where it sits today, and technical indications to engage with it. Josh MacPhee is one of the most reliable authors, artists, and activist writing about these issues, and Stencil Pirates fits right with this quality intellectual production. There are criticisms worth developing, and maybe a few shortcomings given the scope of the work, but all things considered these are small flaws that open up a debate more than hindering the value of this book.

Under several subsections the book proposes four broad ways of presenting graffiti: utilitarian, anonymous, political, and egotistic. These categories are highly questionable and MacPhee already admits that there is some obvious overlap among them, but that their use facilitates to expose a broad narrative, which he does. On occasion his tone, and vision compromises and emphasizes areas where he is obviously more interested, such as political graffiti. This in turn simplifies gratuitously other expressions that he deems less interesting, and where he sometimes resorts to a technical or superficial critique to introduce them as lesser works. It is interesting to see how a book is able of sharing good technical lessons, while at the same time offering an occasional tone of critique because the work might be easy to accomplish, whereas what he really hints to, is cultural conflicts that are not fully recognized, let alone explored.

Despite this, most texts are rather thoughtful and open up important areas of aesthetic and technical debates around stencil as they engage in important social efforts. Unfortunately at points the volume recognizes a social order that one needs to adhere too with some predictable, albeit disappointing and perfunctory simplistic disclaimers i.e. "stenciling on the street is against the law" despite that he himself hinted throughout at the importance uses of illegal graffiti, and most of the work is geared at showing how it is an art-form that is challenging convention. But even though activism is left aside in the way that this book is offered complying with traditional copyright mechanism, and some simplistic appreciations pepper it, overall the work is fairly cogent and recommendable. Few books treat the topic with the dedication, rigor, and understanding that MacPhee offers and the debate he helps to construct is most welcome.

I purchased this particular book for its breadth of information on the topic and variety of artists represented. I used it as a partial basis for a contemporary art education lesson. I found that the book provides a good solid foundation for this type of "Street" art. The how-to steps at the end are also very useful, whether you plan to edit them for students or use them for your own work. The text is well written, and I found that there is a wealth of supplementary information posted on an associated web site. This book is not the end-all-be-all authority on the subject, but is certainly worth having in your library, no matter who you are. As for the images, they make this book worthwhile even if you don't read a word of the text... an excellent VISUAL reference as well. Based on the images and artists represented, I have "discovered" several new favourites, and have been compelled to do further research into several artists.