Fortunately for fans of the genre, urban art projects have reached the point that high-profile books are being released to chronicle the development of street art over the last twenty-five years. The widespread attention gained by breakout artists like Banksy, Faile, Stephen Fairey, and Jef Aerosol has finally begun to crack the façade of a previously-dismissed underground movement led by an environment of radicals and rogue artists.
Case in point: a growing collection of new books are being released to rave reviews, covering the ever-expanding dynamic of graffiti, street, and contemporary art works no longer relegated to downtown street corners and abandoned lots. Here’s this month’s palette of new releases worth mentioning.
This will be a major release (October 15), sponsored by graffiti gods Wooster Collective and prestigious retail source Taschen. Yesterday’s opening reception for the new book Tresspass: A History Of Uncommissioned Urban Art at Taschen’s Soho location in New York City drew 35 artists, over 600 visitors, and loads of press reps for an orgy of swank hob-nobbing, autograph sessions, and full-scale, unashamed endorsement.
The 320-page retrospective, co-authored by Paper Magazine editor Carlo McCormick and Wooster Collective’s Marc and Sarah Schiller, is a broad-scale project that involved contributions from over 150 artists, many involved with the less lucrative and more adventurous and controversial forms of street art and graffiti.
The book is sure to become an instant classic on the street scene. Here’s a brief YouTube video describing some of the details:
No less than 20 street artists were invited to create ready-made card stock stencils for inclusion in The Street Art Stencil Book from Laurence King Publishing. Consisting of 90 pages containing 50 illustrations from urban icons like Eine, Blek Le Rat, Ben Frost, D-Face, and Jef Aerosol, this one-of-a-kind collector’s item includes hand-picked photographs of each stencil in action, as it was used in an original composition from each artist.
Since the tear-out stencils are designed to be used by those who buy the book, a second copy will likely be required for true fans, as a bookshelf keepsake item.
Faile, the well-known two-man team serving as kingpins of street art culture in their native Brooklyn, New York, has just released a new collection of works spanning a prolific decade of urban art gems aptly titled Prints + Originals 1999-2009. McNeil and Miller are no strangers to success, having sold at swank galleries like Lazarides and Gagosian.
This release (September 1), however, is the first major documentation of the dynamic duo’s contributions to blank walls and empty spaces, displaying their trademark style that never compromises on a unique blend of collage, color, and social commentary.
Buenos Aires is Argentina’s largest city, a thriving metropolis that is home to over 11 million people. The city’s culture includes an urban art scene that regularly attracts talents from many other countries. Local photographer Matt Fox-Tucker recently toured the city’s 48 neighborhoods over a period of six months to document its generous collection of street art gems and interview some of its brightest stars.
This 160-page hardcover (October 19), titled Textura Dos: Buenos Aires Street Art, the second in this series of street art books from Mark Batty Publisher, is a major contribution for the local scene that marks the first slice of notoriety for many regional contributors.
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