We get sent an awful lot of press releases about street art these days, and it’d be easy to imagine that it was because, as an art form, it’s only become more popular, turning from something which was pegged as the pastime of thugs and hooligans, into a multi-million-dollar medium. We know what the real reason is, though – it’s that the huge sticker of the Art Wednesday logo that someone’s slapped on the poster for that awful Russell Brand film where he’s the rabbit, somewhere in deepest, darkest Hackney, is finally being recogised as the masterpiece it is.
God bless you, masked AW fan. You’re a true artiste.
Since the release of Crack & Shine, London’s first graffiti book, publisher Fred Forsyth and photographer Will Robson Scott have been traveling the globe to bring together some of the worlds most notorious and prolific writers for the next installment – Crack & Shine International. Crack & Shine International creates an honest and revealing picture of graffiti sub-culture worldwide. Within each section of the book, writers discuss style, influence and history, and consider how these elements have come together to make graffiti what it is today.
Crack & Shine is the only distinctive voice of authenticity to come of the underground graffiti scene in recent years. It draws a very clear line between what is real and what is street art. The line-up of artists featured in this book are the elite within this subculture, and gathering them all under one project is a truly unique occasion and one that will draw interest from every corner of the culture. Crack & Shine Int’l aims to unlock the potential of introducing this subculture and the leading artists involved in it to much broader audience.
Ben Eine (London)
“Writing my name, getting up, has been the largest part of my life. from the age of 14 graffiti has guided me to Where I am now, how I live, the person I am. I learnt it all through graffiti, the tears, sorry mum, the fines, nights lock up, nights in bushes, the chases, the escapes, the stories, the friends, the travels, the sofa’s the cuts, bruises, breaks and stitches, the raids, the photos and the memories, I owe it all to Graff.”
Steve “ESPO” Powers (New York)
“Banksy described himself to me as a graffiti Writer, I asked him “do you really think you’re a graffiti Writer?” I meant it as “you’re so much more than that, you’re so beyond that, you’re doing so much more than the semantics of graffiti – Why tie yourself to graff?” Just to get the cred? so it can look like you’re eating off of graffiti? It hurts graffiti and makes him look like an opportunist. banksy paints a Wall and its perceived to be Worth thousands. revok paints a Wall and its perceived to be thousands in damage. When revok tags are chiseled out and put on ebay We can thank banksy for his efforts on behalf of graffiti. Until then, he should call himself an artist and keep it moving.”
Katsu (New York)
“Graffiti is advertising to me. It’s promotion in the purest form. Any graffiti artist that says he’s not in it for fame is lying. A graffiti artist goes out and displays his name in the most visible and exposed environment. A graffiti artist always feels good about getting attention for a tag because that is what you do graffiti for. Graffiti is about being noticed and by the most people as possible. I see graffiti as a contest with myself and with others.”
Roger (Berlin)
“I don’t give a fuck if graffiti is an art form; it’s just great to do it but it is completely senseless in a way. But that is what makes it cool; it is just pushing a name and nothing in the background. Just some fucking name taken from somewhere, and you push it and there’s nothing behind it. For me it reflects society in the Western World. It is Just capitalist; competitive and self-indulgent. As china and Russia become more capitalist we are seeing a graffiti rise in these parts of the World as well, the two things just go hand in hand.”
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Crack & Shine website [click here]
Crack & Shine
Crack & Shine
Crack & Shine
ESPO
Eine