If you have the time, watch this documentary on New York graffiti circa 1983 (you can watch it for free on google video). It delves into the old argument of art vs. vandalism — a very fitting topic for this blog. It's particularly interesting to hear the 'writers' and 'bombers' talk about lettering style and composition and it's pretty amazing to see where these styles originated from and by whom. You can see these styles reflected, copied and often mutilated in many contemporary "graffiti style" typefaces.
The Style Wars website is also very beautiful.
2 comments:
there's a great book related to this, called bomb the suburbs. love it.
one of my all-time favorite movies about NYC. It's amazing how when you ride on the NRQW or 456, 123, ACE trains, you can see some of this old graffiti preserved in the tunnels, untouched for over 35 years.
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