The History of American Graffiti presents itself as an unprecedented effort to track and expose the development and growth of graffiti as an urban art form. Roger Gatsman and Caleb Neelon offer the result of a long research into personal archives, and artist across the country, tying them to a narrative of cities and their importance as the movement reached its peak and settled to offer the current pervasive influence. But contrary to the promotion the book feels far from definitive.
Sure enough, early disclaimers warm about shortcomings and an incomplete attempt at presenting a far more complex picture around graffiti than what is typically offered. And to some extent they succeeded at doing so. But like some predecessors, the efforts dwells in unnecessary and simplifying hyperbole, which pivots around the notion that this is the most influential art form of the last 100 years. In a similar vein, the insider knowledge that the authors display often seems to force them into laudatory narratives. Like Gatsman mentioned, it is true that his writing has improved from earlier books. But the project still feels like it thinks of its audience as either captive graffiti writers that will criticize the volume from within, or eager fans diligent to take the ride.
Fortunately the trip that the volume offers is fairly worth it. Gatsman and Neelon do know the medium and it shows throughout. They offer good overviews of precedents to the explosion and graffiti in the late second half of the last century in the States. It is in these sections, for instance talking of Bozy Texino or Kilroy, where they seem to be more thorough and cogent. In fact, the overall understanding of how the medium established itself, its development in the 70's and 80's is well presented, and while not ground breaking for anyone already interested in this material it sure clears many misunderstandings and false mainstream mythologies. But while that is done with a cogent understanding of the medium, the ultimate concentration in the high years of graffiti, from the late 70s until the 2000s to some extent, seems to oversimplify influences, other forms of preceding and parallel urban graff and communication, like those that would range from natives preceding colonization, to the development of the West, to the expression of workers movements in the decades shifting the change from the XIX to the XX century to the influence of immigration or digital media.
Sure enough, contemplating those aspects would have given the book another scope. Limiting it in a fixed way, like the way graffiti is defined, might enable the authors to attempt such an ambitious project. However these are not the only shortcomings. It still seems to run in cliche and trite vindications where graffiti seems to need to be measured, recognized, next to other mainstream art forms, and the exaggeration in fact leads them to run unnecessarily close to a hagiography on several occasions, which is actually quite common in the mainstream art world. It is there, and despite its early attempts to offer a broader perspective, where the book misses an opportunity to do a work of a different caliber. Similarly, after some lip service to diversity and the influences of hybrid culture the book does some patriotic flag waving on several occasions arguing for the unique originality of a US art form...
After good overviews of graffiti in several US cities, giving them fair context and highlighting key artists, the final parts of the book conclude a bit perfunctorily, and with a complacent critical eye. It includes a short section to "street art", which feels a bit forced, given the tight framework that the book sets for itself. And it offers a good hint at processes that would require more work like of the actual dispute of public spaces, media manipulation, and mainstream condemnations of the medium. And the touch where they pay recognition to the curator and patron Jeffrey Deitch, with whom Gatsman worked in the Art in the Streets exhibit at "MOCA", is quite demoralizing as it returns to the argument of an art that needs to be validated through practices that people like him represent, and whatever Deitch recognizes as quality and talent. Why haven't we cared to understand anything differently by page 382 of the book about these processes of legitimation?
"In the end, all the artistic innovations, sorted out, have their place. It may take some time, but the art market over the long term is fairly efficient in finding the important things and preserving them and giving them their place in institutions."
But ultimately what I find most annoying, and a telling indication of the overall tone of the volume, is the lack of an index. Besides a short and perfunctory table of contents the book lacks a name and terms index. For a work of this pretended magnitude the lack of capacity to consult and revisit it, looking for a particular name or concept is not only troubling but quite amateurish. Whether it is due to a lack of budget, interest, or simply assuming that it might not be of interest to most audiences comes second to the impression of a volume that actually does not take itself seriously enough yet.
As promoted, this might well be the most ambitious and comprehensive look at US contemporary graffiti ever attempted. And it is worth the recognition of the effort, but it is also a sobering reminder of how much still remains to be done in order to have serious, dedicated and cogent analysis of street cultures. The book leans logically on its graphic side, but that should not be a flaw if supported by the right critical and open narratives. With less of a pose, and some extra effort a second edition could improve dramatically the volume. And please, at least give us that index...
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Sarah VB
Great gift for a "Graffitti" photographer
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 5, 2011
