#dokumentpress

Forms of Rockin’

Tracing back the origins of letterforms in graffiti, you’ll find major figures who influenced hundreds of young people in the 1980s. Names like BANDO, SHOE, DELTA, etc. are often mentioned when it comes to the main influential leaders to the European graffiti scene. Digging deeper, New York as the city in which stylewriting was born shows up on the map with iconic names like SKEME, SEEN, ZEPHYR and others. Some ten years earlier BLADE, PHASE2, TRACY168 have been the first ones to do pieces instead of tags with outlines.

But is the evolution of letter pieces really that simple? Anssi Arte offers a bit more complex, but also a way more plausible history of letterforms. The Helsinki-based graphic designer and graffiti enthusiast presents a evolution from 1970s plattform letters to 1980s futuristic paris-amsterdam styles to 1990s ugly-style. The main key in his theory, is the inclusion of cultural influences of the different eras in stylewriting.

Whether it’s advertising, record covers, movie posters or cartoons: the connections between writing and the pop-cultural environment the author points out are very convincing and entertaining at the same time. The great visualizations of Anssi Artes ideas makes it easy following him through his style-safari.

Forms of Rockin’ is not only worth a read if you’re into the origins of stylewriting in a pre-internet world, it’s also a true milestone concerning illustrative layout and last but not least the first scientific approach of setting stylewriting in the cultural context of it’s respective time.

Getting Caught

In this 2011 publication Akay from Stockholm collected 24 narrations from the past 30 years about writers who tell their story about „getting caught“. The stories are written down in chronological order starting from 1987. Most of the stories play in Stockholm but Akay also invited writers from Berlin and Copenhagen to join this unique concept book.

The participants are: Sledge, Akay, Lake, Ångest, Khan, Neck, Feys (Copenhagen), Akim (Berlin), Astma, Pomac, Unik, Terror, Monkey & Kripoe (Berlin), Big Brother, Kropp, Matthias & Mischa (Berlin), Tele & Jens (Copenhagen), Kouch (Berlin), Sken, Zoe (Berlin), Ruskig (Berlin), Itso (Copenhagen) and Kaos.

„This is a collection of stories about doing stupid things, getting chased, and almost getting away with it.“

Like Lipstick Traces - Daily life Polaroids from thirteen graffiti writers

Intime und persönliche Einblicke in das Leben von 13 Graffiti-Writern  In Like Lipstcik Traces treffen einige der interessantesten Akteure der 2000er Jahre zusammen. Über 600 Polaroids erzählen vom Leben der Personen hinter den bekannten Pieces von Honet, Smash137, der CBS-Crew und anderen. Ab sofort zu haben auf www.hitzerot.de.

Was verraten uns die Fotos, die Writer von ihrem Werken machen über deren Urheber? Um einen Einblick in das Vorher, Nachher, Drumherum und somit in das Leben der Writer zu erlangen, kamen Aurélien Arbet und Jérémie Egry im Jahr 2004 auf die Idee ausgewählten Künstlern eine Polaroid-Kamera und 100 Polaroids in die Hand zu drücken. Bis auf den Graffiti-Kontext gab es keine Vorgaben für die Aufnahmen.

In den folgenden zwei Jahren entstanden so 600 Fotos von Aroe, C.B.S., Dumbo, Honet, Kegr, O’Clock, Os Cururus, Rate, Remio, Rocky, Scan, Smash137 und The E.R.S. für das Buch „Like Lipstick Traces“. Die 13 Protagonisten waren zudem angehalten ihre Gedanken zu den Themen „Nowadays“, „Secret Stories“ und „Instant Photography“ niederzuschreiben.

Die bis dato unveröffentlichten Motive reichen von Familienphotos (Aroe) über die Katakomben von Paris (Honet) bis hin zu Drama- und Ehso-Tags in Tokyo und Bukarest. Einige Akteure haben Ort und Datum zu dem jeweiligen Polaroid notiert, andere ließen ihre Aufnahmen unkommentiert.

Die Fotos sind so verschieden wie das Schaffen der vertretenden Akteure und doch konnten die Herausgeber durch die Limitierung auf das Polaroid-Format ein stimmiges Gesamtbild schaffen.

Der 2009 erschienene Hardcover-Fotoband vereint auf 226 Seiten einige der interessantesten Writer der 2000er Jahre zu einem so noch nie da gewesenen, persönlichen und intimen Einblick in ihr Leben.

Kul Att Det Körs – Per Englund

Per Englund is a Swedish writer and photographer who started doing graffiti in 1994. As he states in the introduction, he kind of regrets the lack of documented tags from his early writing days, due to analog cameras, expensive films and the lower value within the hierarchy of graffiti. It seems as if in today’s times of digital photography for him the habit of always carrying a camera is a long term effect of this loss.

“Kul Att Det Körs” (a Swedish graffiti saying) is a selection of photos Englund took in his everyday life between 2012 and 2017. The black and white photographs clearly show his focus on marker and spraycan tags but you can also find throw-ups and bombings in the book. The documented graffiti is presented in close ups, from a little distance or in atmospheric shots, including more of the respective surrounding from the city of Stockholm.

While the second part features a mix of writers like UZI, SPAIN, SWEDEN, AKAY, ABSENT, SEXVALP, LIGISD, KEGR and BABBO in photo series like trucks or places which have been revisited over months and years, the books’ first half consists of bigger chapters on KANIN, PSYKOS, SERIO, FHER, SPACEY, HONIE & GIMP and GAME OVER. These names have been spotlighted not because of their experience or the practice of the ‘best’ graffiti following New York graffiti aesthetics, but they attracted the photographers attention most and managed to stand out.

On the 136 pages you can find more than 300 photographs, an additional text by Tobias Barenthin Lindblad and an image register to visit the locations yourself. Each copy is accompanied by an leaflet including an English translation. A handful of the very last available copies are signed by Per Englund. Choose your preferred edition underneath.