2011 will be a banner year for graffiti and vandalism. There's a huge show, "Art In The Street" at MoCa, the California museum currently directed by Jeffrey Deitch.
There's the American representation at this year's Venice Biennale where several graffiti artists, all African American, work with the American Folk Art Museum, and two books on the history of graffiti and street art already published: "The History of American Graffiti" and "Art in The Streets" by Deitch, Gastman, Rose and Neelon, co-curators of the MoCa exhibition by the same title, opening this Sunday.
But what if you know nothing about the genre and its influence on Western art and culture in the last 30 years? Well, if you need a primer these five books are what you need to add to your library.
Above: Banksy's stained glass, part of "Art in the Streets". Allegedly Banksy worked on the piece with a group of LA students, and it took them three or four days to complete.
Books after the break!
