Graffiti Lives. Beyond the Tag in New Yorks Urban Underground
3. Oktober 2011, Maurice Kusber
Ich unregelmäßigen Abständen werde ich in nächster Zeit versuchen Texte und Bücher zu posten mit denen ich mich gerade beschäfitige. Diese stehen nicht immer zwangsläufig in direktem Zusammenhang zu den Themen der Module die ich im Rahmen meines Masterstudienganges „Pädagogik und Management in der sozialen Arbeit“ besuche, könnte es aber durchaus werden oder auch nicht ;).
Here we go, das erste Buch ist in den Kontext der Kriminologie einzuordnen,verfasst in englischer Sprache.Das Buch ist meiner Meinung auch für Leser spannes die nicht so sehr „into Graffiti“ sind. Kriminologische,soziologische und methodisch spannende Szenenzugänge werden von Snyder in interessanter Erzählperspektive und mittels chronologischer „Ich-Perspektive“ verfasst. Die Kontakte zu Graffitiwritern aus New York sind unteranderem seine wissenschaftlichen Quellen, da Snyder kein Graffitiwriter und es ihm trotzdem gelingt echtes Interesse und Vetrauen mit den illegalen Sprühern aufzubauen. Er schaut dadurch wirklich hinter die „tags“.
Autor:Gregory Snyder.
Hier die offizielle Review, gefunden auf Amazon:
Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New Yorks Urban Underground
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Kurzbeschreibung
On the sides of buildings, on bridges, billboards, mailboxes, and street signs, and especially in the subway and train tunnels, graffiti covers much of New York City. Love it or hate it, graffiti, from the humble tag to the intricate piece (short for masterpiece), is an undeniable part of the cityscape. In Graffiti Lives, Gregory J. Snyder offers a fascinating and rare look into this world of contemporary graffiti culture. A world in which kids, often, shoplift for spray paint, scale impossibly high places to find a great spot to „get up,“ run from the police, journey into underground train tunnels, fight over turf, and spend countless hours perfecting their style. Over the ten years Snyder studied this culture he even created a few works himself (under the moniker „GWIZ“), found himself serving as a lookout for other artists engaged in this illegal activity, spent time in the train tunnels in search of new work, created a blackbook for writers to tag, and took countless photographs to document this world – over sixty included in the book. A combination of amazing „flicks“ and exhilarating prose, Graffiti Lives is ultimately an exploration into how graffiti writers define themselves. Snyder details that writers are not bound together by appearance or language or birthplace or class but by what they do. And what they do is reach for fame, painting their names as prominently as they can. What’s more, he discovers that, though many public officials think graffiti writing will only lead to other criminal activity, many graffiti writers have turned their youthful exploits into adult careers – from professional aerosol muralists and fine artists to designers of all kinds, employed in such fields as tattooing, studio art, magazine production, fashion, and guerilla marketing. In fact, some of the artists featured have gone on to international acclaim and to their own gallery shows. Snyder’s illuminating work shows that getting up tags, throw-ups, and pieces on New York City’s walls and subway tunnels can lead to getting out into the city’s competitive professional world. Graffiti Lives details the exciting, risky, and surprisingly rewarding pursuits of contemporary graffiti writers.