240 pages Edited by Karim Boukercha, with Gautier Bischoff 28.5 x 23 cm Language: French, English Hardback Publisher: Textuel, avec le soutien du fonds de dotation agnès b. 2021
From the streets to the galleries, the graffiti writers speak.
The genesis of this book lies in the discovery of a treasure: old boxes miraculously unearthed in the basement of Galerie du Jour in Paris — the first gallery to exhibit graffiti in France.
Filled with rare and previously unseen archives, these boxes reveal the many layers of urban art from 1984 to the present day. For nearly forty years, the pioneering and visionary agnès b. has invited countless artists she first spotted on the walls of Paris or New York to show their work in her gallery. Through in-depth research, Karim Boukercha has reconstructed this history by collecting the voices of key figures in the movement, tracing the evolution of a global art form that began in the streets and went on to conquer the art world.
In this sweeping narrative haunted by the works of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, the compelling testimonies of poster artists such as the Ripoulin Brothers, stencil pioneers like Blek le Rat and Miss.Tic, graffiti legends including Futura, JonOne, Mode 2 and the BBC crew, and contemporary street-art icons like Space Invader and Obey Giant all come together and resonate.
