'Stencil Nation' book tour tags the Upstate
Graffiti around the world in a day
By Matt Wake
Metromix
December 3, 2008
Link to original Metromix post
This piece by Minneapolis artist Amy Rice is featured in the book “Stencil Nation,” by Russell Howze. A Greenville native, Howze is touring to promote “Stencil Nation.” The events feature slide presentations of graffiti art featured in the text, with Howze riffing about the style’s virtues and vices. (Credit: Amy Rice)
When: 5 p.m. Dec. 4
The Open Book
110 S. Pleasantburg Drive
Greenville
864-235-9651
www.theopenbookonline.com
When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5
The Showroom
149 S. Daniel Morgan Ave.
Spartanburg
864-582-0056
www.hub-bub.com
San Francisco author Russell Howze has found spray paint salvation on Berlin’s Reichstag and on the side of a Clemson apartment building. Launching his Web site, www.stencilarchive.org in 2002, Howze is a noted curator of stencils, a sub-genre of graffiti which utilizes stencils to produce poignant (and expedient) imagery.
His 192-page ode to the form, “Stencil Nation” was published in June. The tome boasts more than 500 full-color photos of works from more than 350 artists hailing from 28 nations. A second printing is already in the works.
“Stencils have a mystery to them,” Howze says. “Most of the people that make them don’t put their name on them, so there’s not much vanity in them. The placement of stencils makes them really interesting.”