Talk About Street Art

From the OBEY Giant posters to Banksy’s stencils and from iconic bubble letter tags to mosaic space invaders, street art is omnipresent. Graffiti and street art have long been part of our visual culture, from their origins in ancestral caves to New York City’s subway walls. This book covers all aspects of an art form that is often underappreciated, ephemeral, and illegal. The diverse media and techniques employed are ever-evolving, and include graffiti, stencils, tags and lettering, interventions, urban sculptures, collage, distortions, and even new multimedia. The artist’s engagement and state of mind are important components of street art; the book covers topics such as anonymity, the art form’s dangerous nature, codes of conduct, and ideological engagement, as well as the interface of street art with contemporary art, pop surrealism, toy art, and music and sport. Street art is found on every continent, and the book gives focus to each country and its own modes of expression and specificities. Portraits of 30 key artists, a glossary, and an address book of important venues around the world complete the book.

Elisabeth Couturier, journalist, art critic, and artistic producer for television, is the editorial director of the Talk About series. Jerome Catz actively campaigns for critical recognition of urban art. He is director of Spacejunk, a network of French art centers.