Viral Art: How the internet has shaped street art and graffiti, a new ebook by Vandalog editor-in-chief and college senior RJ Rushmore, comes out in just two weeks. Starting December 16th, the entirety of Viral Art will be available to read for free online at ViralArt.net.
What is Viral Art about?
Viral Art traces how the histories of street art and graffiti have been shaped by communication technologies, from trading photos by hand to publishing books to sharing photos online. It’s the most comprehensive look to date at what the internet has done for street art and graffiti. Conceptualizing the internet as a public space, RJ concludes by arguing that the future of street art and graffiti may lie in digital interventions.
Why does Viral Art matter?
If you want to understand street art and graffiti, you have to understand how books, movies, magazines, photographs and the internet have influenced artists and fans. Viral Art gets into all of that in depth.
Today we live on our laptops and smartphones, so RJ argues that the best way for street art and graffiti to stay relevant as forms of publicly engaged art is for these artists to take over the public space of the internet. It’s a claim sure to cause controversy in the street art, graffiti and internet art communities, but it might be the best way to save all three from irrelevance.
This isn’t just another street art book with pretty pictures cheer-leading the movement on. It’s history and theory with a critical stance, and RJ’s plea to keep the core values of street art and graffiti alive in a digital world.
What else is inside?
In researching for this project, RJ interviewed over 50 members of the street art and graffiti communities. In Viral Art, you’ll find never-before-published interviews, quotes and anecdotes from Banksy, Shepard Fairey, KATSU, Poster Boy, Ron English, Martha Cooper and many more.
The cover of Viral Art is an animated GIF by General Howe, featuring artwork by Diego Bergia and Jay Edlin as well as photographs by RJ Rushmore and Martha Cooper.
What’s all this gonna cost?
Nothing. You will be able to read Viral Art for free online. There will also be PDF and EPUB versions available for download.
About RJ Rushmore
RJ Rushmore is a 22 year old student living outside of Philadelphia and attending Haverford College. Outside of school, RJ is the founder and editor-in-chief of Vandalog, a major street art blog. He first became became obsessed with street art in 2008 while exploring the streets of East London with his father. Viral Art is his second book.
About Vandalog
Vandalog began in October 2008 as the place for people to keep up to date on what’s going on with street art. The idea for Vandalog came about when RJ Rushmore didn’t get to be editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper and wanted to show those idiots that they made a big mistake. Since then, it has grown to become one of the most-read art blogs in the world.
