Interpreting Warmia’s Hidden Patterns from Above and Within
Bartek Swiatecki’s latest book, Warmioptikum, is a striking fusion of abstract painting and aerial photography, capturing the landscapes of Warmia, Poland, from a new perspective. Featuring Swiatecki’s expressive, in-the-moment paintings set against Arek Stankiewicz’s breathtaking drone photography, the book transforms familiar rural scenes into an evolving conversation between art and nature.
Swiatecki, known for his roots in graffiti and urban abstraction, takes his practice beyond the cityscape and into open fields, painting directly within the environment. Stankiewicz’s aerial lens frames these artistic moments, emphasizing their relationship with the land’s patterns, textures, and rhythms. As noted in the book’s foreword by Mateusz Swiatecki, Warmioptikum is a documentation and an exploration of how we perceive and engage with landscape, helping the reader see Warmia through “extraordinary perspectives and new, nonobvious contexts.”
The book is an invitation to slow down and look closely. Stankiewicz’s photography captures the shifting light, subtle variations in color, and natural formations that seem to echo Swiatecki’s brushstrokes. As described in the foreword, the process is intimate and universal. Where nature offers a near-boundless source of inspiration, the artist’s hand responds in a personal and deeply connected way to the land. The artist emerges from the context; his abstract forms divine hidden landscape structures, reminding you how street art transforms overlooked corners of a city. Therein lies a harmony, each informing and amplifying the other.
For those familiar with Swiatecki’s past work, this project marks a compelling evolution that expands his dialogue beyond walls and into the vast openness of Warmia’s fields, redefining both place and perception.
Books in the MCL: Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón. Graffitti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora
Reprinted from the original review.
“Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora” by Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón provides an insightful look into the world of women graffiti artists, challenging the perception that graffiti is a male-dominated subculture. This book highlights the contributions of over 100 women graffiti artists from 23 countries, showcasing how they navigate, challenge, and redefine the graffiti landscape.
From the streets of New York to the alleys of São Paulo, Pabón-Colón explores the lives and works of these women, presenting graffiti as a space for the performance of feminism. The book examines how these artists build communities, reshape the traditionally masculine spaces of hip hop, and create networks that lead to the formation of all-girl graffiti crews and painting sessions. This aspect is particularly useful in understanding how digital platforms have broadened the reach and impact of women graffiti artists, facilitating connections and collaborations worldwide.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
| Title: Graffitti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora | NYU Press. June 2018. Softcover. | Author: Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón | Language: English
Books in the MCL: Johan Kugelberg (ed.). Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop.
Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop. Johan Kugelberg (Hrsg). Expanded edition 2023
Reprinted from the original review.
“Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop” is an in-depth exploration of hip-hop’s roots in the Bronx during the 1970s and early 1980s. Edited by Johan Kugelberg, this hardcover serves as a historical archive and a tribute to the pioneers who transformed a local movement into a global cultural phenomenon.
The book’s heart lies in the photography of Joe Conzo, known as “the man who took hip-hop’s baby pictures.” His candid images vividly capture the scene’s raw energy—block parties, breakers (break dancers), and iconic figures like Grandmaster Flash, the Cold Crush Brothers, and Afrika Bambaataa. Conzo’s photos spotlight the performers and document the surrounding community and atmosphere, reflecting the creativity and resilience that defined hip-hop’s grassroots beginnings. His work reveals a culture inventing itself amidst the social and economic challenges of the Bronx.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
| Title: Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop | 1xRUN. August 2023. Hardcover. | Author: Johan Kugelberg | Language: English
The Wide World of Graffiti by Alan Ket is a comprehensive exploration of graffiti art, tracing its evolution from a marginalized expression to a globally recognized art form. The book delves into the origins of graffiti in the late 1960s and 1970s, primarily in Philadelphia and New York City, where it began as a voice for youth who felt excluded from mainstream society. Ket, a graffiti writer and co-founder of the Museum of Graffiti in Miami, provides an informed perspective, blending personal experience with scholarly insight.
The narrative chronicles the development of graffiti, emphasizing its grassroots beginnings and connections with other subcultures such as skateboarding, hip-hop, and tattooing. This holistic approach provides a broad understanding of the cultural milieu that nurtured graffiti’s growth. Ket documents how graffiti evolved over decades from simple tags to complex murals, reflecting the changing social and political landscapes. The book offers a detailed account of various styles and techniques, highlighting how graffiti artists and street artists have pushed the boundaries of traditional art forms.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
| Title: The Wide World of Graffiti | The Monacelly Press. December 2023. Hardcover. | Author: Alan Ket | Language: English
Enrico Bonadio. Protecting Art in the Street: A Guide to Copyright in Street Art and Graffiti. 2020
Reprinted from the original review.
Enrico Bonadio, a seasoned expert in copyright law, delves into the complexities of legal rights surrounding street art and graffiti in this insightful book, “Protecting Art in the Street.” Accompanied by a foreword from renowned graffiti writer, artist, and historian Zephyr, the book is a thorough and accessible guide for artists in understanding and navigating copyright laws.
Bonadio underscores the heightened vulnerability of street art and graffiti to unauthorized use and exploitation. He highlights that these art forms, often placed in public spaces, face greater risks of misappropriation and destruction compared to traditional fine art. This vulnerability, he points out, has led to an increase in legal actions against those who commercialize these works without the artists’ consent or proper compensation.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
| Title: Protecting Art in the Street: A Guide to Copyright in Street Art and Graffiti. | Dokument Press. December 2020. Soft cover. | Author: Enrico Bonadio | Language: English
In “The Red Skein,” Swoon (Caledonia Curry) thoroughly examines her artistic work over the past decade, encompassing both her street art and studio pieces. The book, spanning 224 pages and containing over 200 color images, is a detailed account of Swoon’s contributions to street art and related fields. It includes contributions from notable writers and critics, such as Dr. Gabor Maté, RJ Rushmore, Melena Ryzik, Jerry Saltz, Pedro Alonzo, Jeffrey Deitch, and Judy Chicago, offering a multifaceted analysis of Swoon’s career.
The book is structured as a visual compilation and a narrative documenting Swoon’s artistic development. It covers her pioneering efforts in street art, studio work, animation projects, and community initiatives, providing insight into her innovative techniques and wide-ranging influence. The title, “The Red Skein,” draws on the mythological concept of Ariadne’s thread, symbolizing the complex trajectory of Swoon’s career and the interconnections within her work.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
| Title: SWOON: THE RED SKEIN | Drago Publishers. October 25, 2022. Hardcover | Authors: SWOON | Language: English
Books in the MCL: John P. Jacob (ed.). Kodak Girl: From the Martha Cooper Collection
Kodak Girl: From the Martha Cooper Collection. John P. Jacob (ed.). 2012
Reprinted from the original review.
“Kodak Girl: From the Martha Cooper Collection“, edited by John P. Jacob with essays by Alison Nordström and Nancy M. West, provides an in-depth examination of Kodak’s influential marketing campaign centered around the iconic Kodak Girl. With a riveting collection of photographs and related ephemera, the book dives into the intersection of technology, culture, and the role of gender in the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. It offers readers a comprehensive look at how Kodak not only transformed photography into a widely accessible hobby but also significantly influenced societal perceptions of women.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
| Title: Kodak Girl. From The Martha Cooper Collection / Edited by John P. Jacob | Steidl. Germany, 2011 | Authors: John P. Jacob, Alison Nordstrom, and Nancy M. West | Language: English
Books in the MCL: Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead. REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR
REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR. Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead. 2022
Reprinted from the original review.
Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead. REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR
In the pantheon of New York graffiti legends at the turn of the century, few names resonate like REVS. Thanks to the regard other writers have for him “Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead,” compiled alongside XSOUP and ARBOR, stands as a monumental tribute to the gritty essence and raw spirit of the city’s subterranean graffiti culture. The 510-page tome emerges not only as a collection of inside views but as an immersive chronicle of the lives, thoughts, and experiences of over a hundred NYC graffiti writers. Each account is a testament to the unvarnished reality of the streets, capturing the adrenaline, artistry, and audacity of those who dare to leave their mark in the most impermanent of all galleries: the urban cityscape.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
| Title: Life’s A Mission Then You’re Dead. REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR | Self-published / 2022 | Authors: REVS, XSOUP, and ARBOR | Language: English
As the year comes to a close, we are pleased to present our 14th curated list of books—a reflection of our ongoing commitment to building a world-class library in Berlin. As co-founders of the Martha Cooper Library, our mission is to develop and maintain one of the most comprehensive collections dedicated to art books, photography archives, urban culture studies, street art monographs, graffiti history, and public art anthologies. These works serve as a vital resource for researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts who engage deeply with these fields.
Looking ahead to 2025, we are thrilled to announce the inaugural Martha Cooper Scholarship, which will launch next year in collaboration with Urban Nation Museum, the Martha Cooper Library, and Martha herself. This scholarship will support outstanding achievements in photography, underscoring her and our dedication to fostering new generations of talent and scholarship in visual culture.
Numerous publications explore street art, graffiti, and related practices each year, adding valuable perspectives and insights to the field. While our focus for this year’s list includes some recent releases, we’ve also highlighted significant works from previous years that help us put today in a better context. We invite your suggestions for books you’d like to see featured or added to the Martha Cooper Library collection and featured here. Your recommendations are invaluable as we continue to expand and diversify our offerings.
Below is our selected shortlist – books that make meaningful additions to any library and thoughtful gifts for family, friends, or even yourself. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.
Bartek Świątecki, aka Penner, has a style that is a confidently defined blend of bold colors, geometric shapes, and abstract forms harmoniously intertwined. It’s a graphical minimalism that speaks volumes, with straight lines and pure colors forming complex, geometrical clusters. This unique visual language demonstrates his mastery of blending traditional graffiti with modern abstraction and reflects a deep engagement with high art and youth culture. His murals and canvas works, often large-scale, are known for their dynamic and vibrant nature, inviting viewers into a world where street art and fine art converge.
Books In The MCL: Golden Boy as Anthony Cool: by Herbert Kohl and James Hinton
From BSA:
Herbert Kohl and James Hinton’s “Golden Boy as Anthony Cool,” published in 1972, is a seminal work in the study of urban graffiti and street culture. Not only an academic exploration; it’s a journey into the heart of graffiti as a form of personal expression, rebellion, and cultural identity. Kohl’s insightful essays paired with Hinton’s evocative photographs provide a window into the lives of young people in the urban landscapes of New York City and Los Angeles as they simultaneously boil, wane and flourish in the late 60s and early 70s. These vibrant and vibrating communities are chronicled, whether affluent suburbs or struggling neighborhoods, each appears to brim with stories cryptically told through tags and murals on walls and doors.
Text Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo Photos by Sebastian Kläbsch
Books In The MCL: The Self-Titled “NeSpoon” by NeSpoon.
From BSA:
“NeSpoon,” a monograph on the work of the Polish artist, provides a comprehensive examination of her unique integration of lace patterns into urban and natural landscapes. The book, limited to 111 copies, each spanning over 420 pages, showcases the artist’s extensive portfolio and delves into the anthropology, cultural, and historical significance underlying her chosen medium.
“Why lace? It just came to me. Lace chose me, not the other way around. I’ve never liked lace. Before I started working with it, I thought lace was something old-fashioned, from a grandmother’s dusty apartment. Today it seems to me that each lace harbors harmony, balance and a sense of natural order. Isn’t that just what we are all searching for instinctively?”~ NeSpoon
Text: Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Photos: Sebastian Kläbsch
Books In The MCL: Tokyo Tattoo 1970. Martha Cooper. Stockholm, Dokument Press.
From BSA:
In “Tokyo Tattoo 1970,” photographer Martha Cooper, well-known for her definitive work on New York City’s graffiti scene, applies her ethnographic skills to document traditional Japanese tattooing. This book provides a clear and respectful portrayal of a secretive and highly specialized art form, preserved in black-and-white film photography. Through Cooper’s lens, readers gain access to the traditional techniques and cultural narratives embedded in Japanese tattoo art, offering insights into an art form that was largely inaccessible during the early 1970s.
Text: Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo Fotos: Sebastian Kläbsch
Books In The MCL: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora. Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón.
Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora. Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón. 2018. New York. New York University Press.
From BSA:
“Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora” by Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón provides an insightful look into the world of women graffiti artists, challenging the perception that graffiti is a male-dominated subculture. This book highlights the contributions of over 100 women graffiti artists from 23 countries, showcasing how they navigate, challenge, and redefine the graffiti landscape.
From the streets of New York to the alleys of São Paulo, Pabón-Colón explores the lives and works of these women, presenting graffiti as a space for the performance of feminism. The book examines how these artists build communities, reshape the traditionally masculine spaces of hip hop, and create networks that lead to the formation of all-girl graffiti crews and painting sessions. This aspect is particularly useful in understanding how digital platforms have broadened the reach and impact of women graffiti artists, facilitating connections and collaborations worldwide.
Text: Steven P. Harrington & Jaime Rojo Fotos: Sebastian Kläbsch
ESCIF / “The Foundations of Harmony and Invention”
FROM BSA:
It would be challenging to extricate Escif’s work from the city and its daily routines. The city, with its cacophonous soundtrack created by its inhabitants’ constant movement and the fluidity of their industry and agency, remains central to the artist’s focus and relevance.
For Escif, the city is not just a muse but the bedrock of his artistic inspiration, a canvas, and an outlet for addressing its contradictions and inequalities. In his work, the city is not an abstract subject but a perpetual, tangible, and knowable presence, manifested in myriad encounters, journeys, dreams, observations, and experiences, later reassigned onto paper, canvas, or concrete.
It would be challenging to extricate Escif’s work from the city and its daily routines. The city, with its cacophonous soundtrack created by its inhabitants’ constant movement and the fluidity of their industry and agency, remains central to the artist’s focus and relevance.
For Escif, the city is not just a muse but the bedrock of his artistic inspiration, a canvas, and an outlet for addressing its contradictions and inequalities. In his work, the city is not an abstract subject but a perpetual, tangible, and knowable presence, manifested in myriad encounters, journeys, dreams, observations, and experiences, later reassigned onto paper, canvas, or concrete.
Escif’s keen commentary on essential subjects—the environment, social injustice, human rights, humanity, and beauty—is profoundly intertwined with the city. He neither backs away from its battles and challenges nor sugarcoats his art with glossy, shiny distractions that ignore the habitat around him. His elegant compositions, stripped of noise and clutter, present ideas rooted in reality and the inherent beauty of urban life’s ever-present comings and goings.
His new book, “The Foundations of Harmony and Invention,” is a 600-page tome compiling his work from the past 12 years. Crowd-funded, the project brings people together under a shared symposia of ideas and notes spearheaded by the artist. This spirit of collaboration is evident in the dozens of contributors featured in the book, including photographers, illustrators, artists, and writers.
Structured non-linearly, the book resembles an orchestral symphony, with every instrument—some homemade—and voice at play. Against this backdrop, Escif’s visual works, such as paintings, sculptures, and photographs, are combined with written contributions—cogitations, observations, anecdotes, manifestos, lamentations, odes, and protests—from himself and others. The result is a nutrient-rich, rumbling, and vital river of ideas and propositions that evolve into an expansive dialogue between the artist and the world around him.
We found the book’s description in the press release particularly compelling and share an excerpt here:
“So, this book, in a rectangular shape and hardcover, could well serve as a wedge with which to block the revolving doors of the Central Bank; as a companion for pleasure and adventures; as a small step to lean on to jump over a fence; as a cushion to sleep under a tree; as a throwing-object directed against a shop window; and also—why not—as a book, claiming pause, silence, and timelessness against the dominant paradigm of productivity.”
Somehow, Escif captures the everyday serenity and absurdity of life in these times—caught somewhere between the industrialization era and the algorithmic age, the imagination economy. For a man who may spend much time in his head, it is impossible not to feel his heart in these pages.
Hard cover: 600 pgs. approx. Year: 2024 Language: English & Spanish Edition: 900 copies
Click HERE to purchase ESCIF’s “The Foundations of Harmony and Invention”
Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora. Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón. 2018
“Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora” by Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón provides an insightful look into the world of women graffiti artists, challenging the perception that graffiti is a male-dominated subculture. This book highlights the contributions of over 100 women graffiti artists from 23 countries, showcasing how they navigate, challenge, and redefine the graffiti landscape.
From the streets of New York to the alleys of São Paulo, Pabón-Colón explores the lives and works of these women, presenting graffiti as a space for the performance of feminism. The book examines how these artists build communities, reshape the traditionally masculine spaces of hip hop, and create networks that lead to the formation of all-girl graffiti crews and painting sessions. This aspect is particularly useful in understanding how digital platforms have broadened the reach and impact of women graffiti artists, facilitating connections and collaborations worldwide.
MARTHA COOPER LIBRARY: BOOK RECOMMENDATION
| Title: Graffitti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora | NYU Press; 1st edition (June 22, 2018) | Authors: Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón | Language: English
Book Review by Steven P. Harrington & Jaime Rojo / Brooklyn Street Art for the Martha Cooper Library at Urban Nation Museum, Berlin, Germany.
“NeSpoon,” a monograph on the work of the Polish artist, provides a comprehensive examination of her unique integration of lace patterns into urban and natural landscapes. The book, limited to 111 copies, each spanning over 420 pages, showcases the artist’s extensive portfolio and delves into the anthropology, cultural, and historical significance underlying her chosen medium.
“Why lace? It just came to me. Lace chose me, not the other way around. I’ve never liked lace. Before I started working with it, I thought lace was something old-fashioned, from a grandmother’s dusty apartment. Today it seems to me that each lace harbors harmony, balance and a sense of natural order. Isn’t that just what we are all searching for instinctively?”
~ NeSpoon
NeSpoon revitalizes the traditional craft of lace-making, tracing its roots back to the mid-sixteenth century in Venice and Flanders. This blend of past and present is a recurring theme in her art, as she applies centuries-old designs to contemporary settings. Beyond aesthetic enhancement, her projects aim to instill harmony and natural order—qualities she believes are inherent in lace patterns. CLICK URBAN NATION BERLIN TO CONTINUE READING.
Text: Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Photos: Sebastian Kläbsch
For a decade, SaveArtSpace has transformed New York’s streets into open-air galleries, reclaiming advertising spaces as canvases for public expression. …Read More »
Interpreting Warmia’s Hidden Patterns from Above and Within Bartek Swiatecki’s latest book, Warmioptikum, is a striking fusion of abstract painting …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
| Title: Graffitti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora
| NYU Press. June 2018. Softcover.
| Author: Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón
| Language: English
