Writing the same name for over 25 years seems to lead into two possible scenarios: writers achieve a kind of individual peak of style and piecing, which is now constantly repeated with minor changes. Or the second, and by far more rare occurring one: writers who continuously work on their never-changing letters, facing the challenge to let their name look new, surprising and vivid with every latest piece.

In NEVER BE LATE, prime example of the latter category ROGER, presents a selection of 55 pieces from 2006 till today. Full colour panels in Vienna and hall of fame burners in Berlin, abandoned industrial black-and-white pieces and S-Bahn candy coloured quicks or dirty subways combined with perfect traffic shots in bright sunlight: these opposing couples hint the variety of surfaces he uses while at the same time each double page demonstrates the artist’s sheer endless ways of reshaping his name.

The remaining pages show hundreds of name and crew sketchings. Unlike other publications of the last years in which sketches are presented as perfect drafts for later pieces, you can follow ROGER working on ideas which sometimes need several attempts to become final outlines. While the pieces, as painted in public space, are intended to reach a broad audience of spectators, having access to these authentic sketches feels like a clandestine look into an intimate diary of style.

Analyzing ROGER’s scribbles you will find yourself checking the books’ first half again and again for possible executions of his ideas, but also wondering if you might have seen the product in traffic, online or if they have ever been realised at all. Don’t miss the chance to get the first print publication ever by one of Berlin's top notch writers!

100 pages, 22 x 19 cm, screen printed hardcover and additional dust jacket

Paper: Munken Lynx rough

NOGA, or Nation of Graffiti Artists was the utopian vision of Jack Pelsinger, who begged the city for a studio where kids of all talent levels could further their interests in the arts. The 1970s were a time in New York’s history where a request like this could be accommodated, the city leased the group a run-down storefront for $1 dollar a month in 1974. Like moths drawn to a light, the kids showed up, hundreds of them.

A ragtag bunch of teenagers helped him clear garbage from the space and build it out (while covering it in tags and pieces, of course). For some of them, it was the first time holding a brush or spray can. Some had painted a few trains before, and soon some of the biggest names of the era became regulars (SCORPIO, BLOOD TEA, ALI, STAN 153, SAL 161and CLIFF 159).

152 pages, Hardcover, 8" x 11"

Filled with 26 colourful marker drawings contributed by some of graffiti art's ultimate style masters.

The ABCs of Style is part children's book - part adult art primer, tracking the evolution of graffiti letter forms.

Each letter of the alphabet has been rendered by a different artist - with work from renowned writers: Blade - Lee - Daze - Fuzz One - Haze - Jester - Doc - Ces - Cey - Trike - Part - Reas - Wane - SP - Keo - Queen Andrea and many others.

Hardcover - 64 pages - 30 colour - 21 x 26 cm

This classic title, back in print in this special 10th anniversary edition, is the story of New York City's infamous RIS crew in their 1980s heydey. At the same time the golden age of hip hop was in full bloom, a group of kids got together to taste the last of the city’s painted subway trains, just in time to experience a new era in New York’s graffiti history. This title celebrates the RIS crew and their worldwide infamy, innovative graffiti style and persistence in the face of persecution from the authorities.
ISBN 9789188369406. Dokument Press. hb. 128 pages. fully illustrated. 19 x 25 cm.

MOSES & TAPS™ Nine years after their legendary book INTERNATIONAL TOPSPRAYER™, which is out of print long-since and traded for hundreds of euros by now, MOSES & TAPS™ release a brick twice as thick: GRAFFITI AVANTGARDE™ GRAFFITI AVANTGARDE™ is a heavyweight!

With 544 pages, more than 2000 photos in ten chapters as well as a variety of exciting and subtle texts, it gives a deep insight into MOSES & TAPS™ broad work as graffiti artist since 2011.

The book shows how they managed the balancing act between bombing trains and being accepted artists and explains why these two worlds are not mutually exclusive.

The monograph begins with an interview with MOSES & TAPS™ by the criminologist Ike, in which she explores the question of what actually constitutes the graffiti avant-garde, who it is, what goals it has and what it drives.

The TOPSPRAYER™ chapter, in which MOSES & TAPS™ lead us through various stops on trains from Russia to the USA, is followed by the SPLASH™ chapter, in which you learn on which places you can leave colorful traces with spray cans without using a fatcap and letters.

Afterwards the scepter is handed over to ALIAS™, whose professed 1001 trains in 999 days on 176 pages are rounded off by his stories and the action photos of Edward Nightingale.

In SCRATCHITI™ MOSES™ shows why he paints glass panes in order to clean them, how he brings them from the train yards to the museum and back again and we learn why he hates Mickey Mouse.

In the chapter CORPORATE IDENTITY™ Robert Kaltenhäuser then deciphers how all chapters can be connected via MOSES & TAPS™ CI codes, why yellow-blue works better than Banksy and what s behind the TM. In IMAGE OF GRAFFITI™ TAPS™ makes clear, why Graffiti must be illegal and reveals how one can create an image of it on canvases nevertheless. 

While the chapter SCHÖPFERISCHE ZERSTÖRUNG™ („creative destruction“) deals with the complexity of MOSES & TAPS™’ works, which are expressed in collage pieces, the part KONZEPT-VANDALISMUS™ is dedicated to their unique conceptual works on trains – and sometimes also the walls inside.

To round the book off, MOSES & TAPS™ explain and illustrate in two separate chapters their very personal approach of developing their styles.

Estevan Oriol is a Mexican-American photographer who is famous for his black-and-white photos of Los Angeles low-rider and gang culture. Now he has trained his lens on the Japanese youth biker subculture known as “bosozoku”, whose adherents ride Japanese road bikes customised with extravagant paint jobs and modified with often illegal mufflers. Bosozoku motorcycles offer a nod to American chopper culture with a look found only in Japan.
ISBN 9781584237211. Gingko Press . hb. 160 pages, 200 x 255mm, 120 illustrations.
Publication date: August 2021.

A comprehensive history and interpretation of the Street Art movement, featuring all the key practitioners from Banksy to Swoon.

Street Art is a phenomenon and subcultural movement that reaches from the darkest urban backstreets to the most glamorous international art fairs. Simon Armstrong examines how it evolved from its origins in the 1970s New York graffiti scene to embrace many new materials, styles and techniques along the way, tracing how this marginal art form graduated into art galleries and the art market, while also heavily influencing design, fashion, advertising and visual culture.

Despite having earned a place in the canon of 20th-century art history, Street Art’s qualifications are often disputed both by the art establishment and practitioners themselves, all concerned with notions of authenticity. Examining Street Art’s controversial history in detail, this book provides a full-colour worldwide journey, taking in all of the movement’s significant artists and artworks, styles, materials and methods, and showcasing the works that have come to define it more than any other. It also examines its close relationship to Pop Art and Digital Art, and explores possible futures for Street Art.

About the Author
Simon Armstrong is an author, artist, agent, editor and book-buyer for Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Tate Liverpool. He has worked as a DJ, club promoter, Head of Retail at London's Design Museum. He is the author of Cool Art and Cool Architecture.

• ISBN: 9780500294338
• Paperback
• Language: English
• Number Of Pages: 176
• Published: 19th September 2019
• Dimensions (cm): 21.59 x 13.97 x 1.27 cm