Great book on NYC graffiti just came out - pick yours up, it's pretty sick.

EARLY NEW YORK SUBWAY GRAFFITI 1973-1975     

by Keith Baugh

ISBN  9780956320100

In the early 1970s English painter and photographer Keith Baugh visited the USA and captured some astounding images of New York subway graffiti from the elevated tracks in Harlem and the South Bronx.  Keith's photographs, from what is now recognized as the 'Golden Era' of graffiti writing, have just been published in a delicious hard-back book 'Early New York Subway Graffiti 1973-1975.

In the introduction to the book, Sami Montague, editor in chief at Graphotism wrote:

"What Keith, a total outsider to the actual creation of graffiti on the New York subway system, did was amazing. He took photos of what very few other people bothered or cared to do. He recognized that what he was seeing on the sides of the trains was something exceptional and new and as a result of this unusual sensitivity he took the time to capture for posterity the very ephemeral art that we now know as train writing."

When I asked Keith what inspired him to take this series of photographs, he said:

'To my mind, these extraordinary early 1970s train paintings linked inextricably with a view of American culture that embraced and mythologised the rebel and the outlaw, from Bonnie & Clyde, Billy the Kid and John Dillinger to Brando's sneering 'what have you got?' when asked what he was rebelling against, to Dylan's 'the pump don't work 'cos the vandals took the handles.

I still vividly recall the initial thrill and amazement on seeing this powerful artwork. The full impact, of course, was in seeing the trains in daylight from the elevated tracks in the very badlands of New York City. The spray-paint colour was rich, fresh and bright in the strong sunlight and very recent attempts to clear the windows with some kind of solvent gave off a strong acrid smell that mingled with the warm metallic blast from the over-heated braking system. The graffiti was so extraordinary and unique that I muttered a few times under my breath 'only in New York, only in New York.' To my European eye this was an incredibly strong cultural phenomenon with the constant stream of writing on the passing trains providing an exotic visual mix of beat poetry, bebop, jive, pop art, jazz and Puerto-Rican funk...

'Chico / Chico / Super Strut / Hondo / Sin / King / Silver Tips / Lil Hawk / Blade / Stoney Dice / All Jive / Stay High / Sky / Ale One / Soul Gag / Death / Kill / Mico / Mico and on and on.'

Within a few weeks of the book being released Keith had received messages of thanks from a number of 'Old School' New York writers who were delighted to see rare visual documentation of work by over 150 pioneer subway writers. Lee Quinones sent congratulations for the fabulous book and its photographs of many graffiti milestones. Further messages from Ale-One, Freedom, CAVS, J.SON / Terror 161, Comet, @149  Street, Subway Outlaws, Topaz, Staff 161 and the EBONY DUKES along with a personal note from Jon Naar all mentioned the rarity and  historical importance of these classic  photographs.

In January 2010, Keith was invited to Paris to meet up with legendary New York subway writer BLADE and photographers Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper at the opening of a 'Subway Art' photography exhibition at Galerie Bailly Contemporain on the Left Bank. Keith said 'Wow, this was such a thrill. Six weeks after the release of the book I get to meet these legends. BLADE told me that the book was 'the real deal....pure old school nostalgia'. Martha told me that I had captured some historic photographic images that would excite many pioneer writers and graffiti aficionados'.

Blade, Henry Chalfant, Keith Baugh & Martha Cooper

Links to online interviews, book review and YouTube promo video can be found on www.keithbaugh.com

 The book EARLY NEW YORK SUBWAY GRAFFITI 1973-1975 is only available from www.keithbaugh.com  at £25.95 with free worldwide postage.

Banga and Shuck One