The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti

Since its genesis on the East Coast of the United States in the late 1960s, street art has travelled to nearly every corner of the globe, morphing into highly ornate and vibrant new styles. Exhibiting their work in what is effectively the world's largest, most open gallery, urban artists unveil thei [...]
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Since its genesis on the East Coast of the United States in the late 1960s, street art has travelled to nearly every corner of the globe, morphing into highly ornate and vibrant new styles. Exhibiting their work in what is effectively the world's largest, most open gallery, urban artists unveil their imaginations to a public unable to avoid them, challenging conventional ideas about the place of art in everyday life. From Steve Powers (Espo) in New York to Kid Zoom in Australia, taking in Banksy's London, Paris as transfigured by Honet and OX, and the gargantuan murals of the Brazilian twins 'Os Gemeos', The World Atlas of Street Art and Graffiti is the first truly geographical history of the form. Featuring specially commissioned works and interventions from major graffiti and street art practitioners, it offers the reader an insider's view of the urban landscape as it is experienced by the artists themselves and traces the myriad ways in which this diverse artistic and social phenomenon has developed.At its best, urban art is not simply an aesthetic based on slogans, political posturing or personal promotion: it is a global movement deeply committed to spontaneous creativity and the infinite variety of the city. This beautifully illustrated book, produced with the help of many of the artists it features, dispels the idea of such art as a thoughtless defacement of pristine surfaces, and instead celebrates it as a contemporary and highly creative inscription upon the skin of the built environment.