Tristan Manco's definitive look at stencils

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16192 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 108 pages

Synopsis
In Stencil Graffiti, the first book to examine comprehensively this design phenomenon, Tristan Manco traces the history of stencil art and provides an exciting and thorough overview of the medium. His introduction traces the history of the form, from cave paintings, Chinese silks and Egyptian pyramids to Art Nouveau pochoirs and the Pop art forerunners of stencil art, and then proceeds to a specific history of Stencil Graffiti, tracing its genesis in the Italian fascist propaganda of the 1940s and Basque and Mexican political protests of the 1970s, and examining Stencil Style (typography, functional stencilling, street signage, advertising, decoration). The core of the book is the state of Stencil Graffiti today, from Pop Art to individual street artists' work plus spreads arranged by theme/subject.

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Customer Reviews

Eclectic, inspiring and highly recommended.
The text to image ratio in Stencil Graffiti is perfect; the right amount of information is included to leave the pictures open to your thoughts without leaving you entirely in the dark. Tristan Manco often uses quotes and opinions from the artists themselves which adds to the free and unpretentious nature of this book.

But back to the pictures- Manco proves himself to be an excellent editor and compiler of images as well as words. They are amazing and 99% are of extremely high and clear quality. Simply presented and taken from so many different world locations, parts of buildings and street furniture, inside and outside- they consistently inspire. In the right places they are cropped for detail or taken from a few steps back to show that graffiti is as much about position as it is message, colour, shape, texture and style.

The line between graffiti and vandalism is subjective- but I honestly think that even the most anti-graffiti people and pre-teenage children scrawling words on underpasses would be able to find something to admire in this book. Personally, I feel that all of these artists have crossed this line in these images to the point where it's a distant blur.

An okay introduction
I'm glad that I bought this book, mainly for the pictures.

Stencil Graffiti
This is a great book. As soon I I read it I had to buy it. The book is well designed and laid out and has a good balance of interesting text and high quality photographs. Tristan Manco has explored the origins of Stencil Graffiti and has interviewed many artists for their insight to their work and the world of Stencil Graffiti.

Buy now!