Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti in Los Angeles - Not Found and Highly In Demand
For years, the book “Cholo Writing: Latino Gang Graffiti in Los
Angeles» (first published in 2009) is finally available again
this spring 2024 at Dokument Press in a 2nd expanded edition with cover
rigid. \n \n"Cholo Writing" is the oldest form of graffiti of the 20th century.
century, a Mexican-American phenomenon emerging in Los Angeles well before
the appearance of tags and coins in the late 1960s in New York.
Cholo writing has had a major influence on the visual expressions of the
California popular culture, including the lowrider, surf, and skate movements
and hip hop. The “Placas” are the territorial inscriptions created to define
the territory of a gang, a real urban calligraphy in constant
evolution with strict codes used by Chicano groups for
street writing since the 1930s. In this book, the evolution
The aesthetics of Cholo writing are precisely documented and the influence of
Gothic calligraphic fonts and designs from the old
Europe (Texturas & Rotundas) is traced through two collections of
photographs: one by Californian Howard Gribbble, who photographed the
Chicano gang graffiti over a wide geographic area in the early 1900s.
1970, and the other by French graphic designer François Chastanet, who
crisscrossed the same Los Angeles neighborhoods in 2008 to document the
inscriptions from the beginning of the 21st century. This second edition includes
many additional photos, and the main essay "The Gangster E" was
updated according to the latest historical research on the sources of the style
calligraphic Cholo. \n \nPreface by Chaz Bojórqez, pioneer of graffiti from
East Los Angeles and godfather of West Coast Cholo writing for over
50 years old.
