Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution [Hardcover]

Cedar Lewisohn (Author), Henry Chalfant (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Over the last decade, street art—art made in public spaces including graffiti, stickers, stencil art, and wheat-pasting— has become one of the most popular and hotly discussed areas of art practice on the contemporary scene. Developing out of the graffiti-writing tradition of the 1980s through the work of artists such as Banksy and Futura 2000, it has long since reached the mainstream. Street Art is the first measured, critical account of the development of this global phenomenon.

 

Tracing street art’s origins in cave painting through the Paris walls photographed by Brassai in the ’20s through the witty, sophisticated imagery found on city streets today, the book also features new and exclusive interviews with key figures associated with street art of the last 35 years, including Lady Pink, Barry McGee, Shepard Fairy, Futura 2000, Malcolm McLaren, Miss Van, and Os Gemeos. Street Art reveals the extent to which the walls and streets of cities around the world have become the birthplace of some of the most dynamic and inspirational art being made today.

About the Author

Cedar Lewisohn is an artist and writer based in London. His recent curated projects include Old Money at Glasgow’s Intermedia Gallery. Henry Chalfant is a world-famous photographer and videographer of urban culture. His photos are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Abrams; 1 edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810983206
• ISBN-13: 978-0810983205
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #527,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Attempt, Missed Opportunity, September 21, 2008

By	Daniel Lobo (Washington, DC More often than not.) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution (Hardcover)

It's a bit of a pity, cause the book really tries to offer an attempt to analyze and expand on the complexities and challenges of urban interventions. But that is its main problem, it is just an attempt. Quickly after some lofty promises the book falls very short of actual research and analysis and is prey of a predictable and trite repetition of artists, and approaches, widespread cliches about art, and an overtly simplistic idolization of NY in the 70s and 80s as the cradle or urban art.

While NY would need to feature prominently in a treaty of street art there is much more that goes beyond it, before, during and after the peak of the Manhattan expressions that are glorified here. I would recommend this one for someone who would like to know more about that period since it seems that were is the author may have had more access. But for a selection of artists with a variety of approaches "Street Renegades" will be far more stimulating for those catching up with some tendencies.

And while it seems like one of the most dedicated attempts to offer a systemic critique of street interventions and urban language, for a volume that actually does that we will need to wait.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Street Art, November 30, 2008

By	C. Williams (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Street Art: The Graffiti Revolution (Hardcover)

Fun explanation and exploration of this modern and mostly misunderstood art form. Talented, funny, irreverent, a true art development of "the people" to be found everywhere.