81 Books Like Nov York

Gordon Matta-Clark is one of my favorite ever artists. An innovator who crossed the fields of architecture and art, Matta-Clark found new modes of expression by simultaneously deconstructing his urban surroundings and destabilizing the canonical regulations of art. What’s more, and unlike many of his contemporaries, Matta-Clark had a keen eye for graffiti, using it within his own practice (such as in the work “Graffiti Truck”) as well as archiving the images that surrounded him in 1970s New York. 

Whilst some of these images have previously been seen in exhibitions of Matta-Clark's work (his hand-colored, stunning “Photoglyphs” most famously), the majority of the 2000 photos Matta-Clark took during the early ‘70s have never been seen until the publication of this stunning book. At over 400 pages and with over 400 beautiful color images, as well as containing interviews and essays by some key practitioners and writers of the era, this… show more.

The summer I finished my PhD, I had the feeling that I had made a huge mistake—the mistake being I hadn’t written my whole doctorate on the life and work of Rammellzee, the pioneering artist and mythical graffiti writer who had died aged just 49 the year before. A game-changing innovator who combined literature, music, performance, sculpture, and fashion to produce an avant-garde art practice that is still influential today, Rammellzee showed what was possible when graffiti was truly unshackled and set free.

Whilst it was too late for me to go back in time and restart my PhD, thankfully, Maxwell Wolf and Jeff Mao have produced the most definitive monograph on Rammellzee to date. Packed full of incredible images and the most mind-bending ephemera, it’s a must for anyone interested in graffiti, Afrofuturism, or performance art, let alone anyone who wants to learn about one of the most electrifying,… show more.

I learned so much from reading anthropologist Susan Phillips’ fantastic account of Los Angeles over the last 100 years. Exploring the history of the city from the ground up, she combines a microscopic analysis of the city’s diverse graffiti cultures–from the graffiti of hobos to that of surfers, prisoners, and punks–with a macroscopic account of the changing nature of this most famous megalopolis.

I loved the beautiful, intimate images Philips included, as well as her refreshing, first-person appearance throughout the book. More than anything, though, I really enjoyed the way that Phillip's approach extends the understanding of 20th-century graffiti beyond the traditional East Cost (and hip-hop-centric) focus, seeing an entire world within the traces the most marginalized leave behind and showing how graffiti reveals as much about the changing nature of a city as of society itself.

Norman Mailer is a legend of American literature and, without a doubt, the most famous writer to have ever written seriously about graffiti. Alongside the equally legendary British photographer Jon Naar, whose stunning images grace their joint work, this book is up there as one of the most influential books on graffiti ever written.

Celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its publishing in 2024, Mailer and Naar’s book was the first to take graffiti seriously as both a public act and public art alike. Whilst much of Mailer’s essay is colored by his own personal tribulations and enmities, and whilst Naar’s photos are in some ways more ethnographic rather than focussing on the “best” works of the era, the book’s unmistakable positioning of graffiti as art was critical in reframing the possibilities of the practice. In this way, The Faith is not only critical as a document of its time but… show more.

Wizard is one of Seattle’s homeless magicians, a seer who tells the truth to those who need it, haunted by a nebulous menace and hiding from his past. Apart from its (often ambiguous) fantasy elements, it’s a beautifully-written guide to urban survival and to downtown Seattle (as well as the setting for my latest novels). 

The World Atlas of Street Art is a treasure trove of Graffiti from all four corners of the earth. From hurried random scribbles on a wall to intricate creations worthy of Da Vinci, you can get lost inside this book only to emerge with a new appreciation of this puzzling art form. Some might insist on calling graffiti a form of vandalism. I am certain that none of them had the privilege of perusing this beautiful book.

When we first moved to our farm, we discovered witches’ marks carved into the walls of our granary. Hundreds of years old, these ancient scribblings are absolutely everywhere–churches, grand homes, cottages, and farm buildings. These are not mindless doodles, however, but prayers for a good harvest or desperate protections against harm.

Matthew Champion’s well-researched book is a highly readable summary of this secretive and surprisingly common practice.

My interest in graffiti started during a visit to Ramallah, Palestine. Since there is no functioning government that can remove graffiti, the city walls are covered in layers upon layers of graffiti. Anything reachable by human hand is decorated in paint. From the profound to the vulgar. Political to benign. It suddenly occurred to me that in the city of Ramallah no one needs to wonder: “What are people thinking? What is on their mind?” The writing is on the wall. Simply open your eyes and absorb the order within the chaos. Against the Wall reminds me of that moment of inspiration that later informed my novel.

There is no escaping that name when broaching the subject Graffiti. Banksy is the king. In Wall And Piece you get a broad study of his creations. You can leaf through and enjoy the pictures, but I highly recommend that you invest the time to read the witty and through-provoking text accompanying them. I am not saying that a comparison to Tolstoy immediately came to mind. All I am saying is that I continued to think about the book days and weeks after reading it.

A bombastic start that leads to a gentle beautiful ending. Nothing works how you expect it to in this novel. The graffiti is woven through the story like broad brush strokes of a Van Gogh painting. Abrupt and yet conveying of most delicate feelings. Open the first page, leave all your expectations to the side and let yourself be taken on the ride. The less I tell you the better.