Enamelized is a book about down and dirty graffiti in the Streets! This lush international survey looks at what’s really happening in the urban graffiti scene, not in the galleries, art schools and computer labs. Enamelized features the diverse and unique styles of urban graffiti bombers and the full spectrum of graffiti from the quickly executed tag to full color pieces displayed in the context of the urban environment.
R77 and Gingko have published two exclusive editions of Enamelized: Graffiti Worldwide for sale only through the Urban Outfitters chain, and the two have also published other titles on an exclusive basis for other companies. Gastman's new venture is called Swindle,a quarterly periodical on art, culture, fashion and music distributed by Gingko and published in hardcover, complete with glossy advertising spreads. Gastman said the hardcover magazine offers "original articles on what we think is cool."
Gastman is also working on a project he calls "my masterpiece." He's spent the last 18 months traveling the country to research Bound for Glory, a 300-page history of freight train graffiti that will feature more than 1,000 images and 150 interviews. "It's a textbook on youth culture that will have a market beyond the graffiti audience," said Gastman. "It's a real document of the scene."
David Lopes, an editor and sales rep for Gingko, said Gastman is the perfect collaborator for the company, which publishes its own list of books on "gritty street art," including Fucked Up & Photocopied: Instant Art of the Punk Rock Movement, which has 25,000 copies in print. Lopes said the house publishes 12 to 20 books a year, a mix of original and coproduced titles. The press handles distribution and fulfillment from a warehouse at its Corte Madera, Calif., headquarters. It has a staff of four in the California office, along with a sales representative in New York City and eight people in Gingko's parent company in Hamburg, Germany.
"Roger is very dynamic," said Lopes. "He's a model for nontraditional publishing and his projects help extend our brand."