LOVE A BOOK WITH A GREAT TITLE: LONELY BOY RIVER PHOENIX, GENIUS LADY

JODIE FOSTER, PLEASURES AND TERRORS OF DOMESTIC COMFORT... AND NOW A NEW ENTRY IN THAT CHART,

ROGER GASTMAN'S TOOLS

OF CRIMINAL MISCHIEF. 

Also happens to have an enormously aesthetically pleasing cover. Unless you are the parent of a graffiti writer yourself, in which case we can only sympathise. They really should tidy their room, agreed. This is, in truth, quite a messy graffiti book and that's what we like about it. It's not JR redecorating the Louvre, it's...
 

Photo by Cheryl Fair.

JAMONE aka SHAKEN in 1985, tagging up a rooftop vent.

In fact, the most opulent artwork is to be found in these Chicago graffiti artists' books, rather fetchingly presented on this three-piece suite. When it comes to the great outdoors, some writers prefer to express their adoration of other artists...
 

I HEART BRITNEY SPEARS from 1999 being a fine example :) Photo by NEWA.
 

Which is not to say that the book is all pop and no politics. Far from it. This Larry Graff photograph of the Harrison High School disorder in 1968 is given a great double page. 
 

And it's topical too. At least in 1997, after Iron Mike bit off a chuck of Evander Holyfield's ear. Photo by Ivor Miller. It's all very actual and factual. Contextualised before it is idealised. We like it a lot. Of all contemporary-ish books (it was published and sold out in 2011), Tools Of Criminal Mischief is the real raw deal. 
 

The author's room. Bethesda, Maryland. 1995. Sometimes the tools of the artist are the art in itself. 

We have two copies of this book and, in time-honoured tradition of these newsletters, that pretty much accounts for all available copies in the world right now (IDEA 2 : Internet 0). You can buy them on the button below.