Monthly Archives: May 2016

A Study of Hessia

Following hot on the heels of the premier issue is Writing Hessisch 2! This is the Hessian ethnocultural graffiti magazine from Germany. The publication focuses on the industrial Hesse region of Germany and is uniquely written in the local dialect. Once again the mag is limited to five-hundred copies and has a similar look to the first. While the design is familiar the content has a different layout that is ordered by aesthetics rather than categorised by name. There is also an English PDF translation provided with this issue which is really useful.

Continue reading

New Wave Muralism

Muralismo Morte is the second book by Jens Besser I’ve reviewed. In this book the content is made up of photographs interrupted by short pieces of writing linking them together. Rather than examining the more theoretical side of muralism they discuss some history, first-hand experiences, or the ideas behind the work of the artists. The photographs show different styles and techniques, covering a broad range of surfaces and situations, which are brought together under the term of ‘new muralism’. The introduction to the book describes the evolution of a new generation of muralists whose abstract work departed from the writing and letterforms of graffiti to focus on the characters that were no longer “the icing on the cake of a burner.” This is the new muralism that is represented here. To avoid producing yet another anthology of street-art the author has attempted to show lesser known painters with the main focus on illegal productions.

Continue reading

Introducing the Iconosphere

This article is a bit off topic as it’s not really about graffiti and it’s not a review of a graffiti publication either. It’s actually a football fanzine called Stand. The publication is usually an interesting read, which isn’t dominated by all things premier league, and is about as close to an ‘ultras’ stance as you can find in the UK.

Continue reading

Dutch Alchemy

Chemistry is a Dutch graffiti magazine that comes across as quite a sophisticated publication. While there are no texts in this seventh issue the content stretches beyond purely graffiti with sections on urban exploration, some fine art, and a ‘minimal complexity’ chapter that probably wouldn’t look out of place in an architectural journal.

Continue reading