Either you are into the Graffiti scene or you can’t understand them at all, Monokrome (volume two) it’s absolutely a must read book for artists and art passionates: tons of unpublished pictures and exclusive interviews to some of the best Graffiti artists out there will fuel your inspiration as just few books can do.
Does featured in Monokrome volume two
Monokrome (volume two) is a book about graffiti, featuring more than thirty of the best artists from the old and the new school: Does, Remi Rough, Awol Crew, Ink Fetish and Peeta, to mention just few of them. It contains tons of unpublished, amazing full-colour pictures: if you are into the graffiti scene (or simply like graffiti) you will love them.
But if you think -as I do- pictures are not enough, Monokrome has something more to offer: exclusive interviews to many of the artists featured. This is what I’ve really enjoyed and fully appreciated: reading about the experience, the vision and the inspiration of people that have done art for more than twenty years has been really inspiring.
Without going too deep and spoiling your experience, I’d like to highlight the three main concepts illustrated by the artists in their interviews:
- Style and technique - “Graffiti was all about style and the development of your own” ~ Alert
Style is really the key for graffiti artists: having your own, unique, original style is the only way to outstand from the crowd. Style, as the technique, is something coming from experience and experimentation and, sometimes, also from the artists that influence you the most. About this last point, it has been really surprising to discover that some graffiti writers get huge inspiration from artists completely unrelated to the graffiti world.
Keeping the style on mind, the technique also can vary: lettering, typography, characters and also tags, throw-ups, 3Ds… I won’t get too deep into this: the book pictures will show you the different techniques much better!
- From graffiti to art galleries – “The main argument here is that graffiti art loses its potency and ideals when it touches the gallery” ~ Li-Hill
Graffiti artists bringing their work into the gallery context it’s a never-ending debate: from someone graffiti must stay on the streets, for others having exhibitions is just the natural evolution of an artist, for others again it all depends on “if it fits”. Without mentioning what each artist said I’ve found very interesting reading the different points of view and, even more, the different paths that each artist has taken: some of them quit with the illegal walls but still paint on walls only, others are successfully showing their work in art galleries, others again have been able to use their skills and style in other art-related jobs.
- Personal life – “I run the code red project. it’s a graffiti magazine, daily blog about graf and street art, and an independent russian street-wear brand.” ~ Aske
What we usually see is the Art, and maybe the artist, not the person: something really good about this book is that it also tries to go a bit inside what are the personal lives and histories of the artists, and I’ve found it quite interesting. Each artist, as each person, has is own life, ideas, projects and you will be surprised to learn that great artists are really normal people, but with a huge passion for what they do.
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Artist, Poet and Photographer. A person in love with Art who lives trying to make every single day an unforgettable event
