Prime:
It is the voice of the individual who seeks to reach those who question the norm.
Eye One:
‘LA street art’ is a bit of a misnomer, especially in its current use in the context of graffiti. I consider the entirety of the public space as a container for “art in the streets.” The transition of the northbound 110 carpool lane to the westbound 105 is street art. The Griffith Observatory is street art. The Chicano murals of the '60s are street art.
Where there was more agreement was around the experience of seeing rare books from the 1500s, 1600s, and 1700s, which curator David Brafman selected for the artists during their visits to the Research Institute.
What was your experience of discovering the rare books at the Research Institute?
Prime:
Mesmerizing—I was almost in disbelief that these books had been so well preserved. Some went back 300, even 400 years. Their beauty is timeless.
Eye One:
I was blown away by all the books presented to us in relation to this project. I am fascinated by typography and letterforms, and seeing such a vast wealth of unique works really impressed me. Johann Heinrich Gruber's Liber Amicorum (1602–12) is an amazing antecedent to the work graffiti writers do in black books. I appreciate the Getty's understanding of the lineage graffiti shares with such a volume. It relates directly to my black books, as I have always asked friends, peers, and colleagues to contribute work to their pages.
Angst:
I was in awe at the palpable “life” present in the work, and in the rare books that I saw at the Getty. By which I mean I was electrified, and humbled, to hold the hand-crafted books in my hands and turn their pages, as well as to be able to look closely and study the pages/drawings/manuscripts.
I related to these rare books as one who recognizes a colleague in arms. Had I been born in an earlier age, I would've been a scribe, and I examined these books with a scribe's eye and hand. It was wonderful to retrace with my finger the previous hand of a long dead scribe or artist who drew, wrote, and made the choices or decisions on the page regarding the scale, weight, composition, unity, consistency, spacing, of the letters and images.
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