Books We Wouldn't Steal: Graffiti Argentina
These past few years all eyes have been turning to South America to see where artist will take their work on the streets, and not just Brasil anymore. This is because of a different set of laws and freedoms that simply don't include people that paint walls on their Most Wanted lists. The seminal book of Argentinean Graffiti, aptly titled Graffiti Argentina by Maximilian Ruiz, has just been released to the global market through Thames & Hudson and if you're interested in the history of this rapidly growing scene this is the book you will want to pick up.
Argentina's graffiti has been rapidly progressing since the early 90's when it began in the streets of Buenos Aires. Graffiti Argentina includes the history and development of the scene through its various subsections. With plenty of texts and photos this retrospective takes you through the Old School styles, its development throughout the cities, the train bombers and the bombing scene, and a number of very nice sketchbook images.
The photo material, design, and writing seem to be strong in the book (as we can expect from Thames & Hudson). While "Street Art" (as much as I hate that name) is mentioned with a few artists who have been key to the scene there (Doma, Fase, etc) there doesn't seem to be much focus on it despite its rapid growth in the country and the international recognition its artists and street scene are receiving now.
Either way we can see more and more international artists traveling to Argentina to take advantage of the relaxed laws on painting in the streets and to see how the country has developed in its own unique way. Whenever you travel to a new place it's worth learning about where you're going and for the Graff-heads this is the book you will need to pick up in reference to the Argentinean scene.
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