Tristan Manco's definitive look at stencils

---

Product Description

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.

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36147 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 108 pages

About the Author
Tristan Manco is a partner in a Bristol-based design company, and is extremely well-known and active in the international graffiti community.

---

Customer Reviews

A Modern Menace?
I found this book a pleaseure to read and something I could be proud to own. The book contains examples of stencil art from around the world, although a lot seems to be from within the UK - some of the work has a political message, some comments on society in general, but a lot of it is just good fun (like artist Thomas Baumgartel who sprays whole walls with images of bananas).

There is a brief introduction into the history of stencil art and stencil graffiti, then the book is separated into chapters each focusing on different artists, groups or themes (ie.faces, figures, ccartoons, tribal art etc). Each chapter has a few paragraphs of explanitory text which is actually worth reading, unlike some other design books I've read.

A lovely book to look at but even better if you actually read it!

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.

A Superb look at a much ignored art form
Tristan has put together a wonderful look at Stencil Graffiti with lots of excellent images and information about the history, artists and styles...

I recently attended a talk by Tristan and he was extremely well recieved and no doubt inspired a lot of people in the audience... buy this!