The book features over 1,000 images and texts from the authors as well as relevant players. In one of the better forwards we have ever read in a graffiti book, James Prigoff writes, “As I write this, Shepard Fairey of Obey (Giant) and Obama poster fame is having a one-man show at Boston’s Contemporary Art Museum. His shows have recently sold out at high prices. On the way to the opening, Shepard was arrested for wheat-pasting a few posters in a public space. The news traveled the world—incredible free publicity. Police tried to pin dozens of felony vandalism counts on him. Such are the dialectics of art coming from the streets. The battle for public space goes on. Corporations build larger billboards and taggers and artists vie for visibility with a never-ending array of personal territorial marking.”

Ranging from the birth of simple signature tags to today’s vibrant murals, and covering the ups and downs of the movement, the value system, its social framework, the various forms of graffiti, and significant artists and crews, Graffiti New York is a great ddition to the documentation of graffiti.
 

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