I don’t normally review books but in this instance it was a pleasure. I met Yoav in New York years ago just after he published Outdoor Gallery in 2014. The impressive, large hardback book highlights over forty artists across the boroughs of New York and includes interviews.
I have seen loads of street art books and most are filled with photos of finished artworks on the streets, (my books included) that anyone with a passion for it can track down, see it and capture themselves. What differs in Yoav’s new book 2CREATE is that we are invited behind the scenes to explore the whole collaborative process which not many people actually get to experience…. a copy arrived from the USA the other day and I was over the moon.
The book showcases the work of nine pairs of New York City’s finest graffiti and street artists, delving deep into their backgrounds, techniques, and collaborative processes. Each duo consists of artists with unique styles who come together to create a larger-than-life work of street art in a neighbourhood in New York, the birthplace of modern graffiti. Witness the immense creative potential of collaborations that have produced stunning examples of classic graffiti, collage work, screen printing, and murals. Each chapter provides access to a mysterious underworld, leading readers to secretive meetings of creative minds out of which ephemeral, yet nonetheless remarkable, works are born and later transferred onto walls, rooftops, trucks, and subway platforms. The combination of revealing interviews and colourful action photography produces a narrative arc of relationships—formed between individuals from diverse backgrounds and creative upbringings—that follows the artistic process from creative spark to collaborative masterpiece. All photos below by Yoav Litvin.
2CREATE is available locally in Australia through Readings and well worth adding to your book collection….