Autograf: New York City's Graffiti Writers (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Revs (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Almost every artist's face in this 71/2"×101/4" collection of 96 hot-looking four-color portraits (with a few more in b&w) is obscured in some way, reminding us that while some may see these writers as artists, many others, including the police, perceive them as criminals. It's an apt irony for an art form (one still hotly debated as such) that is all about identity and its "tags," placed in inaccessible locations and under trying circumstances. So when an artist among these leathered and t-shirted urban verbal guerillas here decides to bare his or her face (an act of bravery, or bravado?), it's a shock; each artist is more fully represented by his or her unique "autograf" (or tag) perfectly scrawled in thick glossy marker over each shot. REVS, whose huge white block letters are familiar to most New Yorkers, provides a (nicely reproduced) handwritten text on yellow legal paper, complete with misspellings, underlinings and exclamation points: "We need to be paintin 5, 10, 20 story buildings top to bottom with somethin to say... where none of these people in power... can discount your existence!" This terrific books shows its subjects in full effect (if in full stealth mode) with their canvas—New York's five boroughs—sprawled out beautifully and variously behind them, and their names.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

A controversial art form and provocative cultural phenomenon, graffiti has inestimably influenced our entire environment - from music and fashion to advertising, architecture, and graphic arts. Yet it is an illegal activity, which makes its practitioners wanted criminals. Motivated by a desire for self-expression and recognition, the act of marking one¹s territory is done at the risk of severe consequences including fines and jail time. Graffiti writers are outlaws, unknown artists whose faces are known only to their peers. Treated as criminals by the law and dismissed as artists by the establishment, writers are perceived as either alluring anti-heroes or loathsome vandals, and usually remain anonymous to their audience. But not to photographer Peter Sutherland. With an eye for style, Sutherland captures all of the gritty glory and glamour of the graffiti world and its warriors. Collected for the first time in Autograf: New York City¹s Graffiti Writers, Sutherland presents a never-before-seen chronicle of the people and places that populate New York¹s famed graff scene. Featuring old-school legends FUTURA, STAY HIGH 149, LADY PINK and DOZE, as well as COPE 2, KAWS, CYCLE, CLAW, VFR, KR, EARSNOT, SERF, RATE, SACER, UFO, and DSENSE, among many others, each one of the fifty-three portraits is authentically tagged by the individual writers using the same paint markers that brought them fame. Complemented by over fifty landscape photographs and featuring handwritten text by legendary recluse REVS, Autograf is the only book to showcase New York City¹s graffiti scene as it was created and defined by some of the most prolific artists of our time.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: powerHouse Books (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576872033
• ISBN-13: 978-1576872031
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #337,295 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars instant classic, June 7, 2004

By	andrew p sutherland (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This is an instant classic... up there with the darkest and grittiest of NYC documentation. When first flipping through this book, other classics such as Back in the Days came to mind, as well as the feature length documentaries Pedal and Dark Days, which all sucessively set out to document some of NY's most influential subcultures. By themselves Peter's photographs are amazing, but add to that the ingenious concept of having the artists actually sign the photo and you have more than a photograph, you have a valid piece of contemporary art. I'd say you could easily add this to the list of sucessful documentaries, plus, having this book on your coffee table won't hurt your street cred! Highest recommendation.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars tagging and bombing, July 14, 2004

By	j.nut (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

graffiti gets a bad rap for polluting our visual landscape throughout the world. who are these so-called criminals? city officials spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year trying to remove this art when they could better spend that money on educating our youth. what motivates these individuals to bomb public surfaces, yet there is no face to the tag?

peter sutherland reveals the mysteries behind today's NYC tag-and-bomb scene by photographing the sources. the portraits are well crafted in composition, lighting, and context. on top of that, each artist has tagged his/her own portraits. sutherland has taken an original idea and elevated photography to a higher art form by revealing the diverse personalities, demeanor and emotions of these artists. definitely a book that everyone should add to their collections!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars alright, October 8, 2007

By	Scott Debb "hockeynut4298" (Brooklyn, NY, USA / Chicago, IL, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Basically an ok book for the ny scene. Not much in the way of content though. Not much pieces, mostly local bombing and pics of some of the writers with their eyes blurred.