The Pdog19 library update

The library has been busy, but not with what you would call reading material - more picture books. I have been absorbed by guerrilla art. Namely:

Street Knowledge by King Adz
(2010, Harper Collins)

Adz states that "Whether the point of exhibition happens to be in the corporate world via advertising campaigns or 'underground' written on the walls and the bridges of our urban environments - makes absolutely no difference; the only think that matters is impact and visibility on the street.

Adz has travelled all over the world, spending time with, working with, and collecting the work of urban artists. The aim of the book is to document the influences on urban culture over the last 30 years and chart its progression from its origins to where it is today. This is indeed a big ask for one book, but Adz gives it a good go. The drawback being because of the number of artists covered it is somewhat superficial, but it does provide a good taster of what is out there. Plus if your interested in any of these artists you can usually find them on the web.

The writing style will certainly not be to everybody's taste, but the colour reproductions of the art in the book are excellent.


Trespass - a history of uncommissioned urban art edited by Ethel Seno
(2010, Taschen)

This book is some 300+ pages and full of photographs of graffiti from around the world. Each photograph has a caption providing minimal information, normally a location and year; sometimes it includes the name of the artist and the duration of the piece (before removal by the authorities).

In comparison to Street Knowledge (above) there is no information about art, artist and evolution - its just photographs. Nonetheless, it is an inspiring collection of art and well worth the read. For me, the most surprising element of this book was the incredible sense of humour of the artists - there were numerous occasions when I laughed out loud.


Street Sketchbook by Tristan Manco
(2007, Thames and Hudson)

"Sketchbooks retain an eternal fascination. The sketches of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Picasso, for example, are regularly exhibited around the world's museums to huge audiences. Our reverence for them has endured through time, as has their role as repositories of ideas and as sanctuaries for drawing. Working out thought on paper may seem antiquated in this increasingly high-tech world but this process is far from dead."

This book contains sketchbook extracts from over sixty contemporary artists world wide. It provides a brief write up on the artist, their style and approach to art, plus any affiliations (street art). In addition, and most interestingly, is goes on to discuss the relationship between the artist and their sketchbook.

The last page of the book provides a list of websites for the majority of contributing artists - this is a very nice touch.