Henry Chalfant

I bought this awesome book in a record shop in NYC sometime around 2009 or 2010. I was really into graffiti at the time, even though I don't draw (I would like to start learning how to draw and paint though...someday!)

This is a huge book, meant to be displayed and showed off on the coffee table. Crammed inside the pages are wonderfully large pictures of graffiti painted during the Golden Age, which are considered the late 1970s until the mid or late 1980s, before Mayor Koch made the trains show more "graffiti proof." Most of the pictures taken are of the gorgeous pieces put up on the side of subway cars by legendary artists' like Dondi, Skeme, Lee, and Seen, among many others. You can spend a good day just looking at the artwork, studying the all the intricate and clever details hidden between the vibrant and lively splashes of color.

Just remember that these great piece of art were usually done in the middle of the night in the dangerous subway yards, with little to no light to help while spray painting, and all the while trying to avoid security and guard dogs! Once you realize this, you appreciate the work done that much more.

Despite all the risks, nothing beat the pride and joy you felt once you saw your masterpiece the next morning rolling along the tracks displaying your hard work all over the boroughs of NYC. Everyone would know your alias, your name, your tag. The goal of your work was to go "all-city."

I highly recommend this gem if you enjoy art and want a look into the early beginnings of hip hop!

I also HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the documentary Style Wars. This brilliant film is a companion to the book, with the author Henry Chalfant co-producing it. Both works go hand in hand. Enjoy! show less

In 1984, photographers Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant captured the imagination of a generation with Subway Art, a groundbreaking book documenting the work of graffiti writers who illegally painted subway cars in New York City.
Documenting the work of graffiti writers who illegally painted subway cars in New York City, the authors recall how they gained entry to the New York graffiti community in the 1970s and 1980s and describe the techniques that they used to photograph it.