Subway Art

Graffiti books are so common these days it is hard for me to really understand what a break-out document Subway Art by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant was for its time. This, along with the 1983 PBS documentary Style Wars (by Chalfant and Tony Silver), give a thorough survey of graffiti art and culture in New York in the early 1980s.

Subway Art was first published by Henry Holt in 1984 and is currently in its 19th printing. It boasts 239 color photographs featuring the painted trains of the New York MTA lines, plus other photos of the writers themselves painting and hanging out. Laid out as panoramic whole cars from multiple photographs, plus details on tags and characters, this book lays the design groundwork that is repeated in just about every graffiti book and magazine unto this day.

This book greatly differs from (and in my opinion, is superior to) subsequent graffiti publications in several ways... aside from the fact that it is the original. The book features a lot of photos of the writers themselves (and none of them are covering their faces). It is also written with the layman audience in mind: Broad explanations of "style" and brief descriptions of "characters" and "going over" in graffiti culture abound. While this may make the written content of Subway Art quite trite and comical to graffiti fans of today, I actually find this type of writing preferable to the strictly ultra-insider vernacular employed within most modern graffiti literature.

The vocabulary section of the book demonstrates that the lingo of graffiti was already set in stone by 1984 (bite, bomb, buff, getting up, hit, piece, throw-up, toy, writer...). Except the train lingo (ding-dong, ridgy, lay-up...).

Much of the art is made by graffiti legends like Lee, Seen, Pink, Skeme, Kase 2, Dondi, Iz, and Blade, but the book is not broken down into sections by artist or crew like so many others, it is separated into subject chapters like History, Vocabulary, Techniques, Writers & Crews, Kings, and Opposition. Unlike Style Wars, this book does not cover the breadth of hip-hop culture (rocking the mic and rocking your body with breakdancing). Subway Art, as the title would suggest, is all about art on the subway trains. No attention is given to non-train graff at all.

This book is an essential component to any street art library. It is definitely the best document of 1980s NY graffiti, and the painting and stories that go with them are wonderful. Along with Style Wars, which is my favorite documentary of all time, this is a full and detailed portrait of an amazing but long gone era. King of the yakkity-yak yard!

You can watch Style Wars online right now.

You can order Subway Art from the Rowan Morrison online store for $22 plus shipping by clicking this link:

Swee(t)art issue # 7

Obi Kaufmann created Swee(t)art zine in the late summer of 2006 as a way to contribute to the Bay Area contemporary art scene as more than an artist. The first issue featured interviews with Lexa Walsh (whose photo graced the cover), Jeff Riley, and the artwork of Alex Rosmarin, Dan Nelson, and other tidbits. Obi inkjet printed every page (many in color) and hand-distributed the 100 or so copies to various galleries in Oakland and San Francisco.

The plan was to self-publish the zine, featuring new contributing art articles, interviews, and illustrations, on a monthly basis. The fact that this schedule was kept through issue #4 is amazing, particularly when you consider the fact that Obi designed, printed, collated, and distributed each copy by hand from his apartment in Oakland, all at his own cost.

The first six issues featured interviews and art by the likes of Brian Caraway, Bert Bergen, Travis Browne, Carl Auge, Junk Pirate, Val Britton, Zefrey Throwall, Bob Jew of Front Gallery, Ezra Li Eismont, Tiffany Black, Crystal Morey, Queequeg, Jessica Serran, and Alex Kopps.
All this plus articles on Boontling Gallery, Swarm, collector Todd Hodes, and many show reviews (both brief and full-sized) from contributing writers.

By issue #6 (March 2007) it was clear Swee(t)art had found it's voice and rhythm, focusing almost exclusively on the emerging artists of Oakland and the spaces that exhibit them. Each issue brought the individual artistic process to the forefront within the artist and curator interviews, a position further expressed with the fact that each full-color cover featured not an image of art, but of a snapshot of the artist. Issue #6 coincided with a Swee(t)art group show at Red Ink Studios in SF, curated by Obi.
It is also noteworthy that Swee(t)art has done a decent job of giving equal space to both women and men, which (sadly) is exceptional in the contemporary art scene.

Only Friday, July 13th, Swee(t)art #7 made its official debut (although preview copies have been circulating for a week or so) with a launch party and the Obi Kaufmann solo exhibition "Spaceship" at Cricket Engine Gallery in Oakland. Without a doubt, this is the best issue of Swee(t)art thus far.

About twice as thick (36 pages) with double the printing (300), issue #7 (the West Oakland issue) features what you come to expect: interviews, illustrations, show reviews, and other images. With the exception of the covers, the entire issue if black & white, which doesn't hurt the overall quality as much as you might think. Contributing writers Lexa Walsh and Theo Auer produced articles on Sarah Filley, John Abduljaami, and Desiree Holman. A show review for Casey Jex Smith and interviews with Scott Oliver, John Casey, Deth P. Sun, Bruce Beasley, and Adam Hatch of Lobot keep this issue bursting with reading material. Michael Mellon's big-rig illustration are interspersed throughout the zine and add some breathing room to all the text. The zine also comes with a die-cut, full-color John Casey sticker.

Obi wisely has settled into a more realistic quarterly publishing schedule, which should keep the quality up while still having relatively current content. Swee(t)art is now officially about "Oakland California Visual Art", which, in my opinion, it always should have been. The color cover features artwork rather than an artist snapshot (at least for this issue) which makes it much more appealing at a glance. And even though the size is bigger, the price remains $3.00.

The Lobot interview, where very intelligent answers are given to relevant questions for this West Oakland warehouse art space, is top of the list. John Casey's interview is intelligent (expect no less from that guy), and the Deth interview personifies the artist perfectly. It is also very, very refreshing to see interviews and articles with artists outside of the "hipster" classification, like legendary Oakland sculptor Bruce Beasley. I hope this trend continues.

But it's not all sugar and sunshine for Swee(t)art #7. This issues, like many critique compilations (this blog included), heaps nothing but praise on everybody involved. I can understand the apprehension at publicly criticizing the folks nice enough to become writing subjects, but this issue is clearly promotional without any counterpoint. Past issues of Swee(t)art have at least featured many short show reviews that were opinionated and critical. I also feel that the color space which is at a premium (only the inside-covers and back cover) was squandered. Space that could have been used for Deth P. Sun's or Adbuljaami's artwork (which both would have looked great in color) was used to promote the Cricket Engine show and Obi's involvement with the Nest Home Design gallery. While I don't think these "advertisements" are necessarily inappropriate to the zine, I think they would have not suffered from being in black and white.

Launching with the premier of issue #7 is the Swee(t)art website (in theory... it still lacks content in every area). I'm anticipating it will eventually feature past Swee(t)art interviews, bonus reviews and art, lots of links, art reception pictures, and upcoming events.

To get the latest issue of Swee(t)art, or to contribute to future issues, contact Obi at sweetartmagazine@hotmail.com.

Acme Novelty Library #16 and #17

Fantagraphics published the first issue of Chris Ware's comic series Acme Novelty Library (which was composed largely of collections of his weekly comic strip appearing in New City, an alternative free weekly newspaper in Chicagoin the winter of 1993-94. Issue #5 (1995) featured the beginning of the epic tale of Jimmy Corrigan, the smartest kid on Earth. This melancholy and partly autobiographical tale of family alienation was serialized through the following 9 issues of Acme Novelty Library, with a short break in issue #7, and then published in its entirety in 2000. The work is groundbreaking, mixing heavy doses of symbolism, an exceptional use of pacing, complex iconic diagrams (often completely void of text), and Ware's phenomenal draftsmanship. This work is widely considered to have pushed the possibilities of the comics medium in way not seen since the work of Winson McCay and Frank King created nearly a century earlier.

After a short break with Acme Novelty Library #15, which featured other Ware characters such as Big Tex, Rocket Sam, and Quimby the Mouse, the Acme Novelty Library started its next large-scale serialized graphic novel with issue #16 (2005): Rusty Brown. It is again a sad tale of a ill-functioning adult and his childhood counterpart.

In the story, Brown is shown as a young boy from Nebraska and an approaching-middle-age man, who has a lifelong obsession with the collection of action figures and similar pop culture detritus. Rusty Brown's only friend throughout his life is Chalky White. White is also a collector of action figures and the like, but gives up collecting as he grows up, gets married, and starts a family, unlike his friend Rusty, who remains locked in a permanent manchild state, always looking for elements of his lost childhood.

Much like Jimmy Corrigan, the Rusty Brown story follows the characters as both children and adults, with frequent side-stories of supporting characters. While the artwork remains amazing, and the books themselves (self-published by Ware himself starting with issue #16) are gorgeously hardbound and embossed, the story is a downer. I mean a big, big downer. In fact, while almost all of Ware's work circulates around themes of loss, alienation, depression, disappointment, and loneliness, the Rusty Brown story is just too depressing for me to handle. I really don't know if I will fork over another seventeen bucks when #18 comes out.

However, issue #16 of Acme Novelty Library ends with a fantastic addition to the Building Stories comic series by Ware (previously featured in Nest and the New York Times magazines). This features what truly excites me about Ware's work - the complete re imagining of how to tell a story visually. A mix of architecture, narrative comic panels, and informative diagram connects the residents of a 4-story building to their apartments, each other, their pasts, the flowers, and even a family of bees. And speaking of bees, issue #17 of Acme features several pages of the tales of Branford the Bee and his family.

In conclusion, I think that Ware's work should not be missed, but I don't recommend the current Acme Novelty books. You'd be far better off finding the oversized The Acme Novelty Library Annual Report to Shareholders (2005) or the Chris Ware book from Monographics(2004), which also features his toy and machine designs as well as comic work.


Some Chris Ware links:
An article in Time magazine, Chip Kidd's article in Print magazine, the Acme Novelty Archive

Artist's Guide to Making Money

The Artist's Guide Volume 1: The Practicing Artists Guide to Making Money is the first of what may be many volumes of topical art books featuring the writings, drawings, and compilings of many a young artists. You might find some hard-hitting and practical, step-by-step advice to turn your creative passion into a lucrative profession. There might be lots of motivational insights and helpful worksheets to put you on the right track to make millions doing what you love. It could just be the most serious book you ever read about the finances for working artists ever made.

Then again, it might just be an awesome independently published image book with doodlings and essays about art and mighty dollar compiled by Matt Cassidy and Sam Spratlin.


Printed in vibrant black and green, this book does address the issues of money and the practice of art, often in a humorous and self-deprecating way. It compiles images from about 14 artists from around the country and England, a bunch of somewhat serious essays on the commodification of art, a few choice quotes about money and labor, and a poster by Dan Funderburgh (plus a bonus diagram of who makes who green with envy).

Most of the featured artists contributed groups of images that stick to the "making money" theme, though a few either submitted whatever they were doing, or I'm missing the connection. While I like grotesque monsters and skulls as much as the next guy, I think the work of Kate Bingaman, who meticulously draws her credit card statements and prices them for the minimum balance payments, brings together the often loaded topic of money and artistic integrity together in a creative and stunning way. I wish all the artists contributed towards this topic a little more directly.

My favorite artist of the pack is definitely Jessica Lynch. Her intricate and loose drawing style is a testament to the success of her "5 Ways To Make Money (maybe)":
1. Draw where you are.
2. Draw for your friends.
3. Draw what you want to know.
4. Draw what you love.
5. Draw what you want to see.
Plus, she gets bonus points for her sketch of Oakland's Hill Castle Apartment Hotel.

I really like how this book deals directly with the relationship of artist's books to the topic artists making money. It reprints high-end printer pricing quotes, mocks the notion of limited editions (on the page with the edition number), and the entire book cover was sold to sponsors. The entire project has enough sarcasm to make it fun, but not so much that it would disrespect the artists and viewers.

"The insight of such luminary minds cannot be quantified. However, using some sophisticated financial calculators we came up with the median of $16 each." Get your copy mailed to your home (or office) right now by clicking the paypal button below. You will be richer for doing so, as will I and the publishers of the book.