London and NYC Club and Concert Listings
|
Book Review: Street Logos by Tristan Manco (Thames & Hudson)
Reviewer: Damian Platt
Street Logos by Bristol-based graphic designer Tristan Manco is another cutting edge art tome from Thames and
Hudson. Like Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant's Subway Art (published twenty years ago and still probably the
Western world's most shoplifted book), it is an illuminating work that draws the reader into an ephemeral and otherwise
largely inscrutable universe of art.
Street logos are the symbols, icons, and characters that artists all over the world have been increasingly using to decorate
streets, rooftops, subways, motorways, and any other public space imaginable. Unlike the tags of old, street logos are
image based and do not use words to identify themselves.
A few years ago, living in Kensal Green in North-West London, I noticed a small pixelated space invader pasted onto a
house wall. Over time I spotted more of these, each time wondering who and why? More recently I stopped to muse over why
someone had rollered "Bäst – Brooklyn" on a mains box in front of my office.
Thankfully “street logos” answered my questions. “Space Invader” is a Parisian dude who has operated not only in London and
Paris, but also in Tokyo, New York and Melbourne. He has even created city maps to show where the aliens have landed! And
Bäst is a former b-boy from Brooklyn who started writing his name on urban spaces in 1983 and now uses bizarre punk style
posters to turn the streets into a public scrapbook.
One of the joys of the art portrayed in “street logos” is that it derives from so many different actions, places, spaces,
and people. The artists are skateboarders, art students, “classic” (i.e. hip hop letter-based) graffiti writers, photographers,
and graphic designers. And unlike the macho world of classic graffiti, where females are rare, there seem to be plenty of
girls getting their logos up and about.
Another advantage that street logos have over hip hop graffiti is that there are no rules to the game whatsoever. Whereas
the writers in Subway Art and their descendants govern themselves with a set of unwritten but generally adhered to
‘laws’ (eg. steal the paint, always use spray paint, and don't fuck with us or we'll bust your lip!), street logos are
completely unregulated. Any medium, shape, or size goes. To name but a few: Sick Boy from Bristol spray paints temples,
Patrick Smith in New York uses wooden structures to cover signposts with interlocking human forms, D*Face from London
pastes posters of a droopy eyed robotic face, Microbo paints and stickers microbes in Milan, and Pez from Barcelona paints
fish.
While the energy and sheer rebellious glory of spray painted underground trains seems to be a thing of the past in many
cities, street logos perhaps herald a bright new dawn for the ‘little guy’ who wants to lay claim to a part of the city.
Once again, the desire of the urban individual to affirm his or her existence is proving unstoppable, and fans of
subversive art will breathe a sigh of relief that the bland visual jibber-jabber of corporate, government, and commercial
signs will not take over all of our cities...yet!
Oh yes, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin et al. please take note because hopefully this lot will soon be eating into your
over-inflated paychecks. Watch your backs, darlings: street art is here to stay, and we don't need to pay any admission
fee to see some dead cow or bed! And hats off to Thames and Hudson for supporting this definitive book. At £9.99 it's a
bona fide bargain - get your copy while stocks last!
Note 1: Street Logos is out in paperback in May 2004 (but can be ordered from Amazon now - see link below).
Note 2: A talk on street art from author Tristan Manco and
others, plus the showing of three short films, will take place at the ICA, London on Thursday 15 April 2004.
RELATED LINKS:
Street Logos
Space Invaders - artist site
Monsieur A - artist appearing in the book
Wooster Collective - the
definitive street art site
Thames & Hudson
Buy Street Logos at Amazon
UK
|
US
BOOK PUBLICATION DATE: Monday 29 March 2004.
PUBLISHED: Wednesday 7 April 2004
To send us books for potential inclusion, email us at
promos@knowtheledge.net
More Reviews
EMAIL UPDATES! Do you want to receive Know The Ledge update emails?
Click here to sign up!
|
::: RELATED LINKS
Street Logos
Space Invaders - artist site
Monsieur A - artist appearing in the book
Wooster Collective - the
definitive street art site
Thames & Hudson
Buy Street Logos at Amazon
UK
|
US
More Reviews
|
