Customer Reviews

Writing: Urban Calligraphy and Beyond

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

To me this book was a very good introductory to the Art of Calligraphy. It talks about its' history, and classifies it into different categories. It also includes interviews with artists such as AMOK and POET. This is a really good book for researchers, artists, designers (especially Graphic Designers) it's really excellent for inspiration. The book is a little too pricy but I don't think you will find a book this good for a lesser price -if you do then make sure you let me know;p
From the book:
This book presents aspects of Writing's development in the following chapters: Foreword and History - Tag/Throw up - Letter/Word - 2D/3D - Analogy - Object - Graphics - Urban:: Art :: Activism
It also answers questions such as: what is Writing? How do Writers do it? Why does Writing look the way it does? Where are Writing's boundaries? Whereto will Writing develop in the future?

The book has examples of various different styles of calligraphy from a bunch of artists. It also has photos of "applied examples". My only gripe is the price -- the book seems like it's printed on unnecessarily heavy stock. I would've never paid retail for it. Price is the only thing keeping this from getting 5 stars.

A truly well designed and thought out appreciation for "Writing Styles" and it's effect on street art...installation and design! A must have for anyone considering a discourse in the art of Tagging! My only crit is that the publishers failed to consider the art or writing styles of those "other" (street) artists such as NeckFace for a real comparison of the movement. Overall though, BUY BUY BUY!

Reading about this book, which may be my fault for not reading it as closely, I was excited for a book filled with cool handstyles and tags that I would think of when I read the title of the book "writing: urban calligraphy", there was a little of this in the book but a large section of the book focused on urban installments and 3-d graphics, which don't really remind me of calligraphy or graffiti. The book is set up very well and has cool things in it, but if you're looking for a book filled with cool tags and true graffiti, this book isn't what you want. It's 99.9% european styles as well, which you should know about before wanting it, if that's your thing. This isn't the book for you if you are excited to see vandalism. It's more of an art book, that misses a lot of street culture and also seems only about 15% calligraphic. Just my opinion. If you're wanting a book filled with "Twist", "Optimist", "Faust", "Nise", "Retna", "Pose", and "Pusher" tags, this isn't what you're looking for. If that's what you're looking for get a copy of "the infamous" or something. This is european styles, computer graphics, and urban installments. Although, if that's what your'e into it's done really well.

This book is a must for any graffiti enthusiast or anyone interested in the culture of writing and graffiti. Writing (the term used for quick marker tags or names) is addressed as an artform, and this book beautifully illustrates the complexity of the styles and aesthetics of these quick and furtive gestures. The book is full of samples of different letterforms and common shape styles found in writing, and the majority of work is from writers based in Germany and elsewhere in the world (a refreshing perspective away from the NYC graffiti culture). The book also addresses artwork which derives its roots from the graffiti and writing culture: digital pieces, collage, photography, and 3d work are all displayed, explained, and analyzed. The layout of the book is crisp, clean, and a pleasure to read. I highly recommend it!

I found the Urban Calligraphy and Beyond to be an alright source of information on some "tag" style of graffiti and the sort of geometrical base for that type of artwork but I was expecting more actual type faces for reference. Lacking in sources of reference and the layout of book seems as though it is trying to be some what of a fine art book rather than a resource for typographic inspiration.