Alphabeatz

Graffiti writing was born in the streets of Philadelphia in the late 1960s. But it was in New York in the early 1970s that it became a full-fledged urban art, gradually taking over the landscape of the city, from its walls to its subway cars. In these years when this art form was emerging, graffiti pioneers laid its foundations through the constant game they played with the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, which they distorted and highlighted in the tags that they painted on walls. In the first section of this book, Woshe recounts the incredible story of the birth of this culture. He then offers us a detailed examination of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, their structure and the ways in which graffiti writers have made them evolve. This study is enriched with a wealth of illustrations and examples of the customizations that artists add to their letters. At the end of the volume, ten of the international scene’s most talented graffiti creators answer Woshe’s questions about matters that include their practice, their relationship with letters and their cultural references.

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