Street Art Books!

Loop Distro is now carrying books, zines, magazines, and DVDs which are focused on the graffiti and street art culture. We are also looking to carry original artwork from any local cats who are involved in this type of stuff. Keep checking back to this section, as we will hopefully be getting in a lot of new items.

If you would like Loop Distro to carry some of your artwork, please email us at loopdistro@gmail.com and we will set up a meeting. Any suggestions concerning material we should carry will also be appreciated.

The Art of Rebellion -- $20

Everyone agrees that graffiti started it all, but at some point people started craving other ways to leave their mark. Stickers, paste, installations, public sculptures… A variety of methods to get a person’s name, image, character, or thought across to the public. The Art of Rebellion is a good sampling of this variety, giving you 144 pages of examples on how some of the most known and experienced street artists do their thing. Names like Swoon, Above, Buffmonster, and Shepard Fairey all have their chapters, but so do artists from other parts of the world. A great book if you’re looking for something other than spray can art.

The Art of Rebellion 2 -- $40

I own a lot of street art and graffiti books, and I mean A LOT. This one is my favorite. Hardback book with over 200 pages of stickers, paint, paste-ups, sculptures, stencils, and all kinds of crazy shit. Tons of artists represented (Miss Van, WK Interact, Mambo, FYC, Above...) from places like Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Toronto, Stockholm, and of course New York. A few flicks of straight graffiti, but most of this book falls into the post-graffiti "street art" category. The only thing better than reading this book is putting it down to work on your own stuff.

Broken Windows -- $25

Broken Windows, which came out in 2002, features graffiti artists from all over the world, including a number of kids from NYC. Bright colors, crazy styles, and lots of characters, a few of which are on subway cars, but mostly flicks of walls, both legal and illegal. All your old favorites are here, including SEEN, Cope2, LADY PINK, ESPO, T-KID 170, and a number of others. This book has a lot of great photos, but just as good are all the comments and conversations. Throughout the book artists talk about paints and caps they use, styles, influences, and even a few "runnin from the law" stories, which we all love. Classic NY graffiti book, lots of great flicks, lots of great interviews.

Published in November of 2006, Burning New York picks up where Broken Windows let off, becoming yet another addition to a list of great graffiti books. This hardcover book is over 200 pages of interviews, portraits, and discussions, all from the graffiti capital of the world. Artists from the old school, and the new, all throw in their thoughts on topics like tagging, beefs, styles, and anything else graffiti. And of course, hundreds of huge, full color photos. If you’re looking for just a straight up graffiti book, with a ton of different New York styles, then here ya go.

Enamelized -- $18

Graffiti from around the world, in full color photos. You're lucky to get even an intro for this one, after that there are no more words, just tons and tons of flicks. Wild style, bubble letters, throw ups, tags, pieces, burners, characters, legal, illegal... You get a little bit of everything. Paperback book, 140 pages long.

R. Crumb Sketch Book, Vol. 9 -- $10

Well, at this point people either know who Crumb is, or they don't. This is a collection of his sketches from 1972 through 1975. All your typical Crumb stuff (which I love). Lots of people, especially girls with big asses, and weird looking self-portraits. If you dig his stuff, you might want to add this one to your collection. This book is paperback, full size, and around 200 pages, all black and white.

RIP -- $5

Spray can art can take on a variety of avenues, from tagging, to piecing, to murals. For many, a well done memorial can have the most meaning of all. RIP is a book full of photos and stories which serve to document the art of memorial wall art in New York City. Large scale art pieces are done on the sides of stores, houses, and trucks to honor and preserve the memory of those whom have passed on. This paperback book, which came out in 1994, shows off some big lettering, as well as a variety of characters, including several portraits. Pictures are full color, and the book, which originally sold for $19.95, is 96 pages long.

Stencil Pirates -- $24

Another great book by another rad Chicagoan, Mr. Josh MacPhee. Josh has been an avid educator on stencil art for quite some time now, and Stencil Pirates is the book all us kids have been waiting for. Not only is it jam packed with page after page of photos, but also a running text throughout. Josh talks about his own involvement in the world of stencil art and graffiti, as well as a short history of how we got to where we are today. Great stories and anecdotes are mixed in with social and political meanings behind different street art movements. And if that’s not enough, there are even tips on how to do your own stenciling, and even some stencil templates to help you see how all this works. Whether you’re an old school graf artist, a new school stencil cutter, or just an appreciator of the cool pictures these kids can make, then you need to go pick this book up. Support these local authors, it’s people like them that make this city so great to live in. Bigger than half-size, glossy pages, some color, excellent cover, 194 pages.

Straight Lines -- $15

Straight lines documents two decades worth of work by German graffiti artsts RESO and ECB. Each did their own thing in the beginning, but after meeting each other in 1993 they became good friends and have since collaborated on a long list of projects. These two are not night-bombin taggers, but rather well established artists whose work is very precise and detailed. They combine some dope graffiti lettering with images and typefaces that look straight photoshopped. Think big, like painting entire 2 story buildings. If you want urban street culture and graf wars, skip this one. This book is for people who want to see what a couple of experienced artists can do when given as much wall space as they could want, and the time needed to make it look just how they want. Amazing colors, cool images, and a pretty unique style. 128 pages long.