Bay Area Graffiti Published by Mark Batty Publisher

I never painted graffiti. I have this thing where I’m karmically indebted to the law. The first time I got arrested was in third grade, and after the point was continuously reiterated to me through my teens and early twenties I learned. I don’t press my luck, but if you want to write graffiti that thought can’t really cross your mind. You have to be wealthy in a kind of brazenness that is not something ordinary. So, when I look at graffiti I always feel like I’m getting a taste of the existential exploits of someone that lives a life very different from mine. If you begin to doubt this, get a hold of the book and read Steel’s account of a night that rivals any kind of Monte Cristo come-backery. It’s serious out there people, as serious as you make it, and this book pins down some self made stone cold villains that do not fuck around.

A lot of graffiti fades into an unexciting grey mushy mess that doesn’t seem to be about existential exploits, just masturbatory whitewash. Bay Area Graffiti skips over all of that, and serves up 208 pages of deep deep burn time. Whatever your fancy, the style is showcased. From the ultra poppy pieces of Panda Sex (that could be advertising some as yet unspecified product); the statuesque and super crisp building sides of Silencer; there’s handstyles; there’s characters; there’s that crazy German wildstyle that I still can’t understand; the inviting intricacies of Keep; and on and on.

Next time someone asks me, “What’s a good graffiti book to look at,” I know what to tell them. The graffiti is only one part though, the layout and the feel of the book itself are two other animals. Fortunately the authors went to task creating something that doesn’t scream for your attention, and they packed a shit ton of fun into every page. The layout is spontaneous too. As the book alternates between montage spreads, and profiles on specific artists it incorporates different layout formats so that each page is organized differently than the one before it. The layout colors are dark too, which draws you in to the complexity of the images.

On every account this is a smartly curated and well-designed book. Big ups to Chris Brennan for doing it right.

- Zachg