With the release of their monograph in 2011 MOSES & TAPS™ became two of the most famous graffiti writers, also outside of the graffiti scene. Several print runs and not least the recently published revised TOPSPRAYER EXPIRED™ edition furthermore paved the team’s way into the art world. While in the last decade the duo established their studio works in the gallery scene on the one hand, they didn’t seem to slow down their trainwriting activities on the other. Both paths lead to the 544-paged GRAFFITI AVANTGARDE™ from 2020, which even tends to outshine their previous book.
In this publication both of them could have easily shift the focus solely to the conceptual non-writing works that developed from their roots in trainwriting. But following the “No Train, No Fame” motto, in addition there are hundreds of pages filled with new and further developed traditional namewriting panels, wholecars and throw-ups by MOSES, TAPS, the symbiotic merge of ALIAS and their friends on global rail systems.
While these chapters maintain their credibility as genuine writers, others like SPLASH™, SCRATCHITI™ or the CORPORATE IDENTITY™ series present how the duo evolves and tries to transport the authenticity of illegal graffiti into a gallery setting. The most interesting works might be these, in which the artistic expression influences back on their illegal pieces and expand their trainwriting activities as shown in the separated TAPS™ and MOSES™ chapters.
GRAFFITI AVANTGARDE™ functions as a continuation and update of their first monograph as well as an explanatory exhibition catalogue with insights in their legal works. The huge tome includes texts from Katharina Galladé, Edward Nightingale, Niels Shoe Meulman, Larissa Kikol, Robert Kaltenhäuser, Tania di Brita, Pietro Rivasi as well as an interview by the criminologist IKE.
544 pages, 24,6 x 28,5 cm, hardcover, blue yellow linen cover
Language: German & English
Release date: February 2020
Publisher: The Grifters Publishing
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