Encore un livre cette fois en provenance de scandinavie:
In this book, nine of the most interesting Scandinavian graffiti writers open their photo albums and their hearts. Each has a personal pictorial language and his own thoughts on graffiti and life. We have compiled their pictures and thoughts with the pictures and thoughts of seven journalists and photographers.
graffiti writers have an ambiguous relationship to appearing in public. While they are generous with their art, they are very secretive about their persons. We see a tag here, a piece there. The beholder may find it hard to understand the meaning of graffiti. Here is a unique chance to understand Scandinavian graffiti writers ? at least nine of them..
23x28 cm
176 pages color
Hard or soft cover printed in four colors plus silver and with a map on the inside.
English and Swedish text
?You wish to be loved, and failing that, admired, and failing that, feared, and failing that, loathed and despised. You wish to instill some sort of feeling in others. The soul shudders at emptiness and seeks contact at any cost.?
From Doctor Glas (1905) by Hjalmar Söderberg.
Graffiti fulfills many needs. One of humanity?s most elementary needs, the need to be visible, is one of the most elementary driving forces of graffiti. It is only once you are seen that you are real ? then you exist. You could appear in a docusoap, work for charity, be good at school or work ? or paint graffiti.
The graffiti writers in Overground are loved by those close to them, admired around the world, feared by transport companies and loathed by the authorities.
Closely related to the need to be visible is the need to express oneself ? to create. The graffiti writers in Overground aren?t trying to be seen by being loathed, but by creating images, often characteristically esthetic images. The intrusion of commercial texts and pictures into public space has cleared the way for a generation of artists who do not ask permission to be allowed in. Graffiti is nothing strange or dangerous: it is a means of expression, adapted to contemporary society.
Graffiti writers are not asocial. They participate wholeheartedly in society.
Overground is not about vandalism, despite what some may say. Graffiti is not destructive, but it transforms. Whether it adds beauty or ugliness is up to the individual beholder.
Historically, one of the most common headlines on graffiti in Scandinavia has been ?Art or scribbling??
Scribbling means careless writing. Nothing in Overground has been done carelessly. Even if it is hastily done, there is much work, planning and thought behind it. Today, artists write tags on streets and trains. For them, what is called ?scribbling? is art.
The graffiti writers in Overground all come from Scandinavia, and have all distinguished themselves with their personal images. These writers illustrate the diversity and quality of Scandinavian graffiti. Their images are powerful, beautiful, humorous, elegant, aggressive, naive and controversial. The North has a strong position in the international graffiti scene. The writers in Overground have inspired graffiti writers worldwide. Many of them are in the avant-garde of a development of the formal language, tools and location of graffiti, a natural progression after a couple of decades of painting. Others work more traditionally, but their images are just as personal and in constant evolution. These writers don?t only have a personal pictorial language, but also their own thoughts about graffiti.
You have seen their work on the street, on the train, in galleries or reprinted in graffiti magazines. A tag here, a piece there. Here, they are given more space, and you will be able to see what lies behind the images. Here, you will see collected pictures, allowing you to see context, background and development.
We who have compiled Overground ordinarily produce the magazine Underground Productions (UP). The contributors have written for UP earlier, or have contacted us because of their interest in graffiti.
Overground is shaped both by the personality of the artists and the different perspectives the journalists raise.
Some texts are mainly concerned with where their subject is today, others concentrate on background or future. Sometimes, images are analyzed in detail, and sometimes the person behind them is analyzed.
Some writers have shown everything from their first paintings to their latest tags and work. Others are more circumspect, and present a selection of their work ? no less interesting.
Malcolm Jacobson
ISBN number 91-973981-2-8 (soft cover) or 91-973981-1-X (hard cover).
