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Review
This hardback book is a great addition to any street art fan's bookshelf or coffee table. The images are enchanting, at times thought-provoking as well as beautifully captured throughout. --Arrested Motion
In All a great book with lots for well photographed art in derelict places. The accompanying text gives an interesting insight into the intentions,feelings and criticisms of the author and a selection of the artists. --Street Art News
In All a great book with lots for well photographed art in derelict places. The accompanying text gives an interesting insight into the intentions,feelings and criticisms of the author and a selection of the artists. --Street Art News
Product Description
Not all art craves attention, some of it hides in the secret places. Some of it is buried treasure, out in the urban wilderness, left scattered in empty rooms of derelict buildings like strange markings left by an unknown tribe. These works are gifts given only to the occasional explorer, found in abandoned factories, warehouses, industrial sites and deconsecrated churches. This is art you have to earn by leaving the designated areas and heading out past the No Entry signs of the urban environment. A diverse range of artists find themselves attracted to these twilight zones and in recent years something of a movement has come to light, huddled around the idea of urban decay and abandonment as the ultimate canvas. This burning curiosity to see what is behind the fence exists to a greater or lesser degree in most people, but for some it is irresistible. Urban ruins are like the woods in the old fairy tales, they are the place where the ordered reality of modern city life gives way to the irrational, the ambient and the surreal. If the estate is the village, then the industrial wasteland is the woods into which the babes go laying crumbs behind them to find their way back. The intervention of street art in these places ranges from walled spaces saturated with layer upon layer of tagging to strange little installations intended to mess with your head. Surreal comments scrawled on windows can be found alongside hidden characters, placed to surprise you as you turn a corner. Is there some universal human urge to say 'I was here'? So next time you think about placement, why not look a little off the beaten track? Visibility is good for certain projects but the delightful, terrible intimacy available to you in the urban woods is just begging to be explored. Just remember to take some breadcrumbs with you to help find your way home.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I'm ambivalent about street art, so this is not going to be a professional, knowledgeable review. And I was ambivalent about buying this book, so am doubly amazed how completely it's absorbed me. To put it into context, I'm never sure how "real" street art is, although it claims to be the most real art form. As a whole, it's taken the mantle of freedom of expression upon itself, yet it takes away our freedom of choice to see it - it's there, end of, and however good it may be that makes me slightly uncomfortable. And occasionally it's sandwiched into a great big glossy book, which is not a happy marriage anyway, then topped off by a load of learned essays involving words like "zeitgeist" and "post-modern." Not my thing at all.
So, why even consider this? One reason, because RomanyWG has some great photostreams of abandoned places on Flickr, and of the photos in Beauty in Decay, his previous book, his own were among my favourites. Quite simply, I bought it because I was after the photographs of the places the street art was to be found; the art itself being secondary.
And I was right there - unusual places, nooks and crannies, buildings at the very end of their lives, everything I'd hoped for, essentially. But so, SO much more. This really is art at it's most intimate; these people are following some impulse driven entirely by their vision. It's very unlikely anyone will ever see these works; at best they'll perhaps be viewed by the odd junkie or homeless person, there following their own concerns and with no interest. And the buildings are unused, many condemned - this has to be the most fleeting, ethereal form of art possible; it's longevity is essentially nil.
And what these visions are is impossible to quantify - a decaying, dank room becomes a backdrop for an entire apocalyptic scene. A cartoon family have come to reside on the walls left behind by the real occupants. A single hand or foot, a surreal statement from
nowhere. Absolutely everything you can think of, there purely for the private reasons of the artist, a fleeting vision that to all intents and purposes is gone as soon as the artist leaves the room, often leaving no trace of identity and assuming it will never be seen. There is no exhibitionism in these paintings, none of the self-conscious "look at me" which can be found in so much street art.
There are short essays interspersed throughout, and comments from the artists, but there is no opining by experts, or pontificating about deep meanings or posterity or any of the rest of the stuff I HATE about art writing. Just attempts by the artists to explain why maybe they find a particular place compelling - even down to the very prosaic, human need to be out of the wind and rain to
create in peace!
And, as I hoped, RomanyWG has it all in context - not just the artwork itself, but a comprehensive view of how it fits in to the scene, and the scenes are intrinsic to the works. Clean photographs, no fiddling and faffing, and no attempts to sanitize or brighten scenes. He captures the place concerned in a way that you can understand what grabbed the artist.
In all seriousness, this not only exceeded my expectations, it's blasted a lot of prejudices too. If you want to see REAL street art, this is THE book.
So, why even consider this? One reason, because RomanyWG has some great photostreams of abandoned places on Flickr, and of the photos in Beauty in Decay, his previous book, his own were among my favourites. Quite simply, I bought it because I was after the photographs of the places the street art was to be found; the art itself being secondary.
And I was right there - unusual places, nooks and crannies, buildings at the very end of their lives, everything I'd hoped for, essentially. But so, SO much more. This really is art at it's most intimate; these people are following some impulse driven entirely by their vision. It's very unlikely anyone will ever see these works; at best they'll perhaps be viewed by the odd junkie or homeless person, there following their own concerns and with no interest. And the buildings are unused, many condemned - this has to be the most fleeting, ethereal form of art possible; it's longevity is essentially nil.
And what these visions are is impossible to quantify - a decaying, dank room becomes a backdrop for an entire apocalyptic scene. A cartoon family have come to reside on the walls left behind by the real occupants. A single hand or foot, a surreal statement from
nowhere. Absolutely everything you can think of, there purely for the private reasons of the artist, a fleeting vision that to all intents and purposes is gone as soon as the artist leaves the room, often leaving no trace of identity and assuming it will never be seen. There is no exhibitionism in these paintings, none of the self-conscious "look at me" which can be found in so much street art.
There are short essays interspersed throughout, and comments from the artists, but there is no opining by experts, or pontificating about deep meanings or posterity or any of the rest of the stuff I HATE about art writing. Just attempts by the artists to explain why maybe they find a particular place compelling - even down to the very prosaic, human need to be out of the wind and rain to
create in peace!
And, as I hoped, RomanyWG has it all in context - not just the artwork itself, but a comprehensive view of how it fits in to the scene, and the scenes are intrinsic to the works. Clean photographs, no fiddling and faffing, and no attempts to sanitize or brighten scenes. He captures the place concerned in a way that you can understand what grabbed the artist.
In all seriousness, this not only exceeded my expectations, it's blasted a lot of prejudices too. If you want to see REAL street art, this is THE book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
Adventure, Explorartion & Risk
4 Dec 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Beautifully photographed and well laid out, the narrative of work is centred solely on characters as well as to provide the reader with inspired insights from the artists themselves.
This book is not only a creative insight into the artists and their work, but provides the reader with a reflective written and photographic account of how isolation and desolation can befall beauty.
This book is a must for every graf writer, street artist or enthusiast alike.
This book is not only a creative insight into the artists and their work, but provides the reader with a reflective written and photographic account of how isolation and desolation can befall beauty.
This book is a must for every graf writer, street artist or enthusiast alike.
Great Book!
17 Oct 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Great view of sub / STREET / art.
Nice photos and text about the graffitti at abandoned spaces.
Great choice of purchase.
Nice photos and text about the graffitti at abandoned spaces.
Great choice of purchase.
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