This living history of the graffiti movement reproduces selections from the actual black books that graffiti artists use to perfect and share their work.
Before it hits the wall, graffiti is often planned out in a black book - a common artist’s sketchbook sometimes called a “piece book” – “piece” being short for “masterpiece.” Well-worn and dog-eared, these books are used to develop and trade ideas with other graffiti writers, and they may end up being passed along from artist to artist, becoming unique records of creative expression. “Piecebook: The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers” chronicles the evolution of graffiti via images that weren’t intended for everyday people to see, focusing on the works of New York City writers active from 1970s until the mid-1980s. It brings together hundreds of drawings, most never before published, reproduced on uncoated paper to resemble the pages of an authentic graffiti writer’s black book. Bold works from graffiti history’s most important sources or “seeds” - Zephyr, Dondi, Daze, CRASH, Lady Pink, T-Kid, CAP, and Ghost, among others - represent a dizzying array of