You Weren’t There – 1990s NYC Graffiti

Graffiti’s avant-garde nature and transgressive relationship with private property challenge art norms. Born in the 1960s, it reached a fever pitch in 1990s New York after the end of the train era in 1989.
Artists adapted, using the streets and architecture to combat alienation. It became a high-stakes game, blending aesthetics and lifestyle into a global blueprint that reconnected art with the pulse of human existence.
These artists are modern-day tricksters with a deliberate counterpoint to an ordered art world.

Focusing on the 1990s – a decade of unpredictability and innovation – this book traces graffiti’s evolution and its sensibilities within broader social currents.