London's first graffiti book is out. Crack and Shine is 212 pages of full colour photography with rare insights into the world of London graffiti as told by some of the scene's finest.

The book encompasses many aspects of early graffiti in London such as the struggle for materials, the long cold nights, the lifestyle that goes along with the passion, and insights into a rarely viewed subculture.  The photography is incredible and varied, it showcases many of the great pieces of the 90's as well as portraits of writers and action shots with great quality and attention to detail.  The book is more than just pretty pictures, it's a how-to guide, it's a document of an ephemeral art form and it's a record of the struggle for the right to express individuality in a city that loves conformity.

FatCap caught up with the author to throw a few questions at him...

FC:  Can you present who you are, your goal and your background?

I am Freddie Forsyth, I published and edited Crack & Shine, and I run an online gallery/communications agency called Topsafe.

FC:  How did you get into the graffiti movement?

One of my earliest memories of seeing graffiti was Roid (MSK crew) doing an outline at a friends’ house aged 14. I knew a little about tagging then but seeing something more technically advanced like that really opened my eyes. I have been interested and involved in graffiti in some way since around then.

FC: When did you have the idea for the book?

I always wanted to be the first to do a book on graffiti in London. Growing up and not being in London very often I was constantly looking out for things in print or online about the scene here and there was always very little. After moving back permanently from university I decided to start a magazine project, which soon turned in to a book. The name Crack & Shine is my homage to a style of London graffiti I grew up loving.

FC: By reading the book we found a lot of similarities with the Parisian graffiti movement, but it seems that in London you didn't have good materials, cans, ink and stuff... The material seemed to be fairly bad in UK...

Large paint brands weren’t available as easily, but I don’t think writers in those days were as interested in buying it- racking culture was far more prevalent. There has always been a connection between DDS and GT and UV crews- the styles and bombing attitudes are similar.

FC: How did you meet the artists, how did you choose which artists went in the book?

I think myself and Will wanted the people whose styles we had grown up seeing in the book. It didn’t seem right documenting graff that we weren’t familiar with. It was also important that they were illegal writers as neither of us are as interested in legal wall graffiti. The only writer we didn’t know before we started who ended up in the book was Sput. He has a really strong style.

FC: Did you go with some artists during their graffiti session?

It wasn’t really necessary for me to go as I never took any photos for the book, I was more involved in editing the content and helping structure the design for the book.

FC: What’s the most important thing you have learnt with this experience?

Be persistent and determined if you want to achieve your goals. I have learnt this lesson many times before in life, but the production was at times very, very slow for this book so Will and I had to be patient and keep going.

FC: How was your relationship with your publisher?

Stressful at times, but I learnt a lot about the book industry by doing it independently. When you spend as much time as I did thinking about the book it is difficult to let a big publisher tell you what to do with the design and the cover and how they want to promote it so I wanted to be in full control over those decisions.

I think also more importantly, this book shouldn’t of been a commercial book with a spraycan on the cover and 15,000 copies in every bookshop in the world- it’s nicer that it is a bit more underground and people have to learn about it through word of mouth in some cases- it adds some mystery to the culture.

FC: How many copies did you publish?

There were 2000 editions of the book. We kept the numbers low as I wanted people who own the book to treasure their copy. There aren’t ever going to be many books like this one so hopefully the 2000 owners will keep it on their bookshelves for a long time.

FC: Can you explain to our readers the legendary story of the magic walky talky?

DDS are the most prolific crew in London for the past 20 years, they have maybe more than 100 members in every corner of the city. When the crew were at their most prolific in the mid 1990s they had access to a police radio so they knew when the police were going to raid the yard. They would paint with the can in one hand and the police radio in the other.

There are a lot of really well written stories in the book of how DDS had a control on the London Underground in the 1990s and the mad things they would do to outfox the police.

FC: Tell us more about the Subway map of Dasoner

Das is a very keen follower of the history of graffiti in London, and when we first met to talk about the book he had already spent a couple of years working on it. He very kindly offered to show the finished map in the book for the first time.

Das researched the history of graffiti in London between the years 1980-2000 and replaced the names of the stations on the map with Kings of this era. He spent a long time perfecting it and the final product is probably my favourite section in the book.

We later produced a print of it for Topsafe. You can see it here

FC: Any news from Neas and the DPM crew?

Neas was one of the coolest people I met doing the book so it was upsetting to see him go through everything he did. He was thankfully released around September 2009. He was the last of the DPM guys to be released.
 

FC: How necessary was the legal disclaimer for this book, how long did it take to get it drafted properly?

Of course it was necessary as you have to feel comfortable that you aren’t doing any wrong when releasing any book- but it was not very difficult to get done after some research.

FC: With more prison sentences being handed out and an increasing security on yards and train lines, do you think painting trains will ever be a thing of the past?

Trains are the ultimate medium for any writer so they will always be sought after. But who can tell if the next generations of train writers will be as passionate about it as the current one and willing to take the risks. I hope it does last though.

FC: Do you think "graffiti" will go out of fashion in the world of art sales?

I don’t particularly think it is that “in” fashion now- street artists still get the limelight. Only the very best graffiti writers will ever be successful commercially- I don’t forsee it becoming like street art where any talentless illustrator can pretend to be a graffiti writer and make a go of it commercially.

But I think the past has shown that there are some hugely gifted artists who come from a real graffiti background. As long as there is a desire amongst talented writers to push their art as much as their graffiti there will always be other graffiti success stories in the art world asides from Twist, Kaws, Os Gemeos. These guys and people like Krink and Banksy have learnt to diversify away from traditional graffiti practice.


FC: Tell us more about the different photographers of this book? There are a lot of awesome pictures.

Will Robson Scott took the majority of the portraits in the book- the book was a follow up to a project called Egobombing, which documented writers in their natural environment. The images he took for Crack & Shine were more about the characters behind the graffiti. It was more of a challenge to get writers to open up and show him their studios or do day to day stuff like being with their families or working in their studios. His images really make the book what it is and makes the book unique in terms of graffiti books.

FC: Where can we buy your book?

The book is available to buy from here at crackandshine.com

Please contact us at info@crackandshine.com if you are a distributor or stockist who would like to buy the book.

Prints by some of the artists involved in the book and other writers such as Horfe, Honet, Gorey and Finsta are available at topsafelondon.com

FC: What's coming up in the next few months? Show etc…

I am about to relaunch the Topsafe website, and we are producing a short film and some unique walls in London to promote the relaunch. Later this year there will be some individual shows with some of the artist involved in Topsafe.

Will and I are currently working on a new international edition of Crack & Shine, which will be a much broader look at illegal graffiti writers around the world- Will Robson-Scott is taking the photos and Stephen K. Schuster (former photo editor of Mass Appeal) is contributing some work from New York.

There is also a potential free magazine in the making.


FC: What's your real goal?

I want to take what we’ve learnt so far and make the perfect graffiti book for the international edition. I also plan to produce some interesting new projects, events and products with some of the artists involved with Topsafe. It has had a lot of teething problems but I believe there is a lot of potential to do some groundbreaking work in the next 2 or 3 years and establish Topsafe as an innovative art brand and really push the artists involved forward to a new level.

Beyond that I have a lot of ambitions I hope to achieve in life.


FC: Any words of wisdom?

Work hard, learn quickly from your mistakes, cut out the fat, enjoy success and don’t get caught!

FC: Thank you Fred.

Crack & Shine

Tope Safe

Graffiti in London