Traces the history of New York graffiti, shows a variety of painted subway cars, and desribes the graffiti writers and how they work.

Explores artistic production surrounding the world's most famous public transportation system, from just before its opening in 1904 onwards. Using images, this work offers perspectives on ways in which the subway has been used as a subject about which to make art, as a site within which to make art, and as a canvas upon which to make art.

The authors conduct a tour through New York's underground museum of contemporary art, works commissioned by MTA Arts for Transit for the subway system. 200 full-color illustrations.

Authentic first–person accounts from the graffiti artists whose creative genius fueled the movement from its beginning in late 1970s and early 1980s New York Late 1970s New York City was bankrupt and its streets dirty and dangerous. But thecity had a wild, raw energy that made it the crucible for the birth of rap culture and graffiti. Graffiti writers worked in extremely tough conditions: uncollected garbage, darkness, cramped spaces, and the constant threat of police raids, assault by security staff and attacks by rival crews. It was not unlike practicing performance art in a war zone. Yet during the fertile years of the late 1970s and 1980s they evolved their art from stylized signatures to full-blown Technicolor dreamscapes. Henry Chalfant created panoramic images of painted trains by photographing overlapping shots along the train’s length. It took time to earn the writers’ trust andrespect, but Chalfant became their revered confidant and with Tony Silver went on to produce the classic documentary film Style Wars (1983). Through a series of interviews conducted by Sacha Jenkins, we hear the voices of these characters of old New York. Quite a few of the original writers are no longer with us, but those who have survived have continued to push the envelope as artists and individuals in a new millennium.The stories they tell, included here alongside iconic, raw photographs of their work, will enthrall graffiti fans everywhere.

The 2nd ed. includes comments of the graffiti artists on the 1st ed., and photographs of New York from 1975.

See the New York City transit system at a time the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has tried hard to forget. In the early '80s, graffiti writer Paul Cavalieri, who writes CAVS, was drawn to the colorful tags on trains. He started learning train schedules so he could snap works by many writers of the time. This is a compilation of subway graffiti from 1983 to 1989, when the MTA announced that its fleet was entirely graffiti-free. More than 325 color photos capture everything from motion-bombed train interiors riddled with pilot marker tags to epic works covering whole exteriors, top to bottom. Artists tell their tales of adventure throughout and reminisce about working on live third rails, navigating the complex subway system to find their works, and witnessing graffiti's gradual disappearance from the trains. This book presents a nostalgic look at 1980s New York City and the street artists that gave it soul.

More than 250 extraordinary photographs--including both newly commissioned color photographs and period images from the New York Transit Museum archives--chronicle one hundred years of architectural and design history from the New York City subway system, including everything from the interiors of t

The story of the birth of the subway graffiti movement in New York in the words of twelve writers, whose creativity fuelled the flowering of the movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s, capturing all the raw, explosive creativity of that era. Henry Chalfant's photographs in Subway Art inspired budding graffiti writers around the world; now read the stories behind those iconic images in the words of the pioneers of the graffiti movement. In the late 1970s, New York City was bankrupt, dirty and dangerous. Born on these grimy streets, graffiti rapidly made its mark. Here, the graffiti writers give first-person accounts of their experiences. Individually interviewed for this book, they reveal an authentic, unparalleled insight into the golden age of graffiti. Henry Chalfant is the author of the most successful book on graffiti ever published, 'Subway Art', also published by Thames & Hudson.