This new publication tells the story behind the creation of The Grifters, who in a short time have left a long lasting legacy within the graffiti community, pioneering the analogue aesthetic since it’s inception with it culminating in Grifters Code. In this they translated their analogue photography into a digital video format and used the internet for distribution, something entirely different to the normal ebb and flow of the graffiti world.
The book goes on to chronicle the success story and birth of Good Guy Boris, explaining and defining the heritage of The Grifters and Grifters Code, the path that lead from its embryonic stages in the backwaters of Bulgaria, through to becoming a mainstay of graffiti photojournalism in the capital of France - and everything in-between.
Part of the focus of the book is Grifters Code; an episodic series of short films that broke the self-imposed and unwritten rules of vandalism, bringing to the viewer not merely the end result of a graffiti piece, but the whole adventure and mystique that surround the process. "Documenting Modern Graffiti Writing" is a testament not only to the evolution of The Grifters, but modern graffiti as we now know it.
As evidenced by its title, the author seeks to explain the motivations behind the documentation of modern day graffiti and explore the more meta concepts in the graffiti world, such as how The Grifters fuelled a resurgence in analogue photography within the graffiti community.
The book is clad in a cover literally made from the high visibility vests appropriated by the writers who infiltrate rail networks, and contains exclusive behind the scenes photos and unreleased works featuring Europe’s most renowned and infamous artists. As is a trait common of The Grifters, the book’s focus is one that encompasses the who, where and why of the ephemeral world of modern graffiti; not merely the what.
The book is availabe to purchase online here, signed copies are also available.
