Autograf: New York City's Graffiti Writers

by Peter Sutherland

A controversial art form and provocative cultural phenomenon, graffiti has inestimably influenced our entire environment--from music and fashion to advertising, architecture, and graphic arts. Yet it... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576872033
• ISBN13: 9781576872031
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: powerHouse Books
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.9" x 10.5"

Customer Reviews

tagging and bombing

graffiti gets a bad rap for polluting our visual landscape throughout the world. who are these so-called criminals? city officials spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year trying to remove this art when they could better spend that money on educating our youth. what motivates these individuals to bomb public surfaces, yet there is no face to the tag?peter sutherland reveals the mysteries behind today's NYC tag-and-bomb scene by photographing the sources. the portraits are well crafted in composition, lighting, and context. on top of that, each artist has tagged his/her own portraits. sutherland has taken an original idea and elevated photography to a higher art form by revealing the diverse personalities, demeanor and emotions of these artists. definitely a book that everyone should add to their collections!

Excellent view

As New Yorkers, we always have graffiti as part of our landscape. This book is an excellent view into the underground art that paints our walls. It's very cool to see who the source for these are. This book tells you an urban secret. What an awesome idea for a book! The photos are amazing!

instant classic

This is an instant classic... up there with the darkest and grittiest of NYC documentation. When first flipping through this book, other classics such as Back in the Days came to mind, as well as the feature length documentaries Pedal and Dark Days, which all sucessively set out to document some of NY's most influential subcultures. By themselves Peter's photographs are amazing, but add to that the ingenious concept of having the artists actually sign the photo and you have more than a photograph, you have a valid piece of contemporary art. I'd say you could easily add this to the list of sucessful documentaries, plus, having this book on your coffee table won't hurt your street cred! Highest recommendation.

a stylish look at nyc grafitti culture

sutherland delivers a comprehensive collection of the faces behind new york city's world famous grafitti culture. the portraits are taken with an eye for style and provide a rare look at a subculture that is generally inaccessible to outsiders. highly recommended.

great idea for a book!!

peter sutherland came up with a great idea: take portraits of nyc's best graf artists and then have them tag over their photos! genius! I always wondered what these people look like and now I get a glimpse. glimpse is a fairly appropriate word here because in many of the pics the subjects have obscured their faces in a variety of creative ways. in my opinion this is what takes the project from great to outstanding!! genius...sheer genius!!check this book out if you get a chance. and if you see peter around nyc give him a big hug and thank him for his creativity...he's making the world better every day.