Judging Books by Covers

Photo c/o Steve Rotman

Here is a professionally executed, well designed, and beautifully presented, graffiti publication. Steve Rotman and Chris Brennan authored this here 208 page-coffee table book entitled Bay Area Graffiti. If you know anybody that appreciates graffiti or photography, then that person will like this book too.  Highly recommended.
BA baGraffus contains about 800 images, and the images are what will sell this book.  LARGE, richly colored, and beautifully photograffed pictures, portraits of the graffiti that make up this book.
They are portraits of graffiti, yes-but these are portraits of the Bay too; portraits of Time, portraits of Blood, Sweat, and Fears. Like Free-Climbers who scale buildings illegally, w/o safety equipment , these heads are climbing buildings too-billboards, and everything else needed to catch a dope spot.  The difference is, writers usually have to do that carrying 5 gallon buckets of paint(often more than one), rollers, cans, you know- all the accouterments of a professional painter, but they must do this in the middle of the night and rarely with any type of support at all. And these guys are people too,  standing on a 8in' garter over the freeways of SoCal is some scary shit, and then they actually paint there too? Damn.
What I really was diggn on were the quotes; a surprising number of those interviewed expressed feelings one might not immediately identify with "Graffiti Artists": feelings such as fear of death, of remorse and guilt, as well as the fact that writing  is very often an addiction. These are very honest and thot provoking quotes which allow the reader to more closely identify w.these artists; Yeah, these guys deserve to have their work cataloged in the way that the authors have done.
In my opinion, this is the most well designed graff book to come out so far. Let me explain; This book measures about 11.5x9 inches, opening the long way. This book has a spine which isn't connected to the pages, so that spine doesn't crack when the pages are opened.  Plus the pages open to lay flat...think Subway Art, but without ruining the spine of the book, and with no pages falling out.  A book large enough to display these awesome photographs, a non-crackable spine, and pages that lay flat; these are three simple things that I think anyone producing an art/photog book ought tot take into consideration.  We all know it's a major annoyance needing to bend the whole book back to see art at the spine.  Oh Whoops the Spine Cracked.
You'll hear it again and again if you're checking up on Steve, that he is a great Photog.  He Is.  Like Martha Cooper, Mr. Steve incorporates the city-scape within his photos, making the photos extremely visually interesting.. He presents themes that add another dimension to this great hardcover, and it's done without announcing the fact, which is fresh. My favorite theme is the Doorways: 16 doors in two rows of 8, across a two page spread.  In essence, this is one Awesome Graffiti Book; a rare gem indeed.
Also done are some short blurbs about most of the artists it features. I had a couple issues with this, the least of which being the font, in both size and color.  With around 60 Artists statements and quotes, it gets tired trying to read the black words on a dark gray background.  Also there is sorta a feeling in my gut, that not everyone who was up around that time are actually repp'd in this book buuuut I gotta giv'em the benefit of the doubt, being they're residents of the area and I isn't.

Bottom line: This is a book that writers will love. I do feel the cover price is justified, although-as always, check online first for less expensive copies.  The last thing I must admit: For months and months I had been judging Bay Area Graffiti by it's cover...
Boys and Girls, please do not judge books by the Font on the cover. It's probably not indicative of the quality of the book Inside.
Great Job Steve and Chris, Graff Pages has been blessed w.another masterpiece.

PEACE
fS