#graffitiamsterdam

BACK IN STOCK! AMSTERDAM ON TOUR – The early signs of Dutch graffiti

“The year is 1983 A.D.. New York graffiti occupies the globe, the Old Europe is entirely clean and name writing does not exist on the continent. Well, not entirely… One small village…”

If you ever did research on the origins of graffiti, several forms of name writing culture such as hobo writings, the carvings of Pompeii or Mr. Joseph Kyselak might have passed your way. All of these historic examples of name writing have one thing in common: there is no direct link or coherence leading to the traditional New York writing culture. However Amsterdam is the prime example of how the cities historic writing groundwork was connected with new influences from oversea and finally lead to a continuation of an existing movement.

The history of public writing in Amsterdam dates back to the sixties. Political slogans have been executed with paint and spray paint, during the seventies punk era tools like stencils, stickers and markers were added. Besides bands which promoted their names, single writers began to develop figurative elements, logos and started working on the visual appearance of their names by using calligraphic and typographic influences.

The major advantage of AMSTERDAM ON TOUR is its author: AGAIN, maybe the cities most hardcore bomber ever, proves to be the perfect choice to put together a book on the local history. After eight years of intense research the result is a book, far beyond expectations: it includes texts by e.g. VENDEX, Hugo Kaagman, N-POWER, THE DUMB, DE ZOOT, ANUS PELIKANUS, EGO, DR. AIR, SHOE, WALKING JOINT, DR. SMURRY, HIGH, GASP, DELTA, Yaki Kornblit, QUIK, BLADE, JEZIS, JOKER, ZAP, RHYME, JAZ and CAT22.

Although the written contributions give a pretty good insight into the time between 1975 and 1985, the photographs are treasures at least of the same value. On 202 pages you can join THE DUMB catching tags in 1979, observe DR. RAT leaving marks on doors or watch DELTA tagging the tram. AMSTERDAM ON TOUR is a milestone and the new standard in books on the history of graffiti. We are proud to offer you a small stack of the last available copies.

A’DAM GRAFFITY – L. Koomans and P. Lemin

Graffiti in Amsterdam has an unique status compared to most European cities where namewriting in public became a New York influenced movement in the 1980s. In the Dutch capital writing has a history dating back to the sixties when political conflicts also left traces on the cities walls as slogans and messages. Based on that groundwork the 1970s punk scene discovered public space not only as place to advertise concerts and favorite bands, but also to develop individual nicknames and logos and the term of “getting up” might best fit to describe what was happening years before NYC graffiti reached the Netherlands.

“Check out how graffiti pioneers End, Mano and Friends took over a city, for the first time in Europe, with beautiful and brutal spray painted names.” AGAIN, Amsterdam

When photographer Patrick Lemin visited Amsterdam in 1981 for a punk concert in the evening hours, he arrived earlier that day and started to take photos of the hundreds of different names, slogans and stencils he discovered all over the town. For almost 40 years these historic shots have been locked away in his archives until the NOKKIO Institutes of zines helped digging them out and presented “A’DAM GRAFFITY” at the Unlock Book Fair 2018 in Amsterdam. The fairs motto “Punk and graffiti” was the perfect event to finally publish these rare documents as a limited edition zine. The 20 copies where sold out within a few hours.

“Amsterdam Graffity 1981 by L. Koomans and P. Lemin is a rough diamond and an absolute must-have zine for anyone who wants to taste the atmosphere of name writing in the early 80’s.” Dutch Graffiti Library

As big fans of the underground publisher, we are very pleased to cooperate with NOKKIO and reissue “A’DAM GRAFFITY”! The second edition includes stuff by MANO, -eNd-, CAESAR, KODIAK STONE, THE MANIAC, THE REX, DR.JUNK, DR.EISTEIN, FRIENDS3, DR.RAT, SHOE, SKA, DEVIL, MR.UFO, DR.ZERO, RASCAL, MR.MONGOL, MARS and many others. Patrick Lemins shots do not only show logos and signatures of early taggers, but also political paroles and even two stencil artists caught in the act. On 68 pages you can witness that The Dam had a huge scene of people creating art in the streets years before the hip hop wave hit the continent.

OH by Delta

Photo by Emmett E.