Mark Batty Publisher

New York, NY – May 24,2011 – Long before it made its way into museum collections, graffiti got its start in cities like San Francisco, where writers have been putting their tags up for three decades. In Bay Area Graffiti ’80s-90s: Early Bombing, veteran graffiti writers SFAUSTINA and JOCELYN SUPERSTAR show a true insiders’ view of the early Bay Area graffiti scene, with hundreds of never-before-seen photographs and new interviews with its primary instigators.

An A-Z guide to graffiti greats AMAZE, BENET, BIGFOOT, ESKIMO, MQ, REVOK, TWIST, UB40, WART, and more, Bay Area Graffiti  ’80s –’90s tells the history of graffiti’s earliest days. Instantly recognizable tags, throw-ups, and pieces adorn every surface imaginable in photographs from the artists and authors. Interviews with a range of writers, from different crews and different walks of life, are featured in the volume, including a separate section on women graffiti artists that explores an often-overlooked aspect of graffiti culture.

The book is also a personal glimpse into the lives of graffiti artists: author SFAUSTINA recounts graffiti’s impact on him, saying, “[It had] been an obsession… I paid my dues several times over, paid heavy fines, at times lost some freedom, and hurt my family—a story often repeated in the graffiti world.” JOCELYN SUPERSTAR explains her connection to early graffiti: “My teacher, TIE ONE, instructed me that in graffiti you are either a piecer or a bomber. I am definitely a bomber… Street bombing is what modern graffiti art was founded on.”

The perfect complement to MBP’s Bay Area Graffiti by photographer Steve Rotman, this book is a key collection for any graffiti practitioner or appreciator, shedding light on artists’ ethics, backgrounds, tag names, and influences.

SFAUSTINA’s art and design has been featured in publications including COLORS and Taschen’s 1000 Favourite Websites. He is currently Francis Ford Coppola Presents’ senior graphic designer, and has done the layout for the award-winning lit mag Zoetrope: All-Story. JOCELYN SUPERSTAR is a fine artist whose work has been exhibited throughout the United States. Her graffiti was featured in the documentary Piece by Piece: The History of San Francisco Graffiti Documented.

Mark Batty Publisher is an independent publisher dedicated to making distinctive books on the visual art of communicating, showcasing the visual power and innovation of contemporary culture in all of its varied poses. Today, the visual comes at us from more places than ever, and its dissemination is faster and more advanced every year. Books from Mark Batty Publisher capture this acceleration on the pages of every book. Affordable, well designed, thoughtfully created, and produced to last, MBP books are artful products that readers want to hold onto forever.

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Bay Area Graffiti ’80s –’90s: Early Bombing
SFAUSTINA and JOCELYN SUPERSTAR
Pub Date: May 2011
Page Count: 208
Size: 8 x 10 inches
Format: Casebound
Price: $50
ISBN: 978-1-935613-17-6

For a review copy, more information, or to schedule an interview with the author, contact Kate Abbey-Lambertz at 718.834.8000 or kate@markbattypublisher.com.