‘Piecebook’ Reveals Graffiti’s Secret Drawings

Kev TM7 “Art of Noize” (1985)

Long before graffiti became the marketable commodity it is today, the lifeblood of the culture was found in its piecebooks, the hardbound artists’ sketchbooks passed from writer to writer that served as a sort of social networking apparatus for the community. Repositories for autographs and places to work out new styles, piecebooks cross-pollinated graffiti and furthered the combination of community and competition that made the culture thrive.

Last month, Prestel/SHR Airlines published “Piecebook: The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers,” a collection of piecebook drawings from graf legends ranging from the famous to the infamous to the obscure. Recently Complex sat with the book’s editors, Sacha Jenkins and David Villorente (acclaimed graf writers and documentarians themselves), to discuss the project.

Interview by Jack Erwin

Cey Adams “Cey Rocks” (1983)

Complex: Where did the idea for “Piecebook” come about?

Sacha Jenkins: Being a part of the culture and being a writer when I was young, these books were always a big part of communication. We wanted to come with something that hadn’t been done and it was just a very simple and obvious idea.

Complex: How long did it take to come together?

Dave Villorente: We probably started working on the book last fall. It was really kind of a crash course. As a former graffiti artist I was friendly with a majority of the guys in the book already. We just kind of sent the word out and specifically targeted some of the guys we knew would be important to this project. And from there it was just trips to the Bronx, Richmond Hill, Queens, the last stop of the F Train to Jamaica, just going to places I hadn’t been in years to collect material.

T Kid, “T Kid 170 TNB” (1984)

Complex: For someone with little knowledge of the culture, explain the role of piecebooks in graffiti.

SJ: Before the Internet, it was a way that writers communicated. When stuff’s on a train, it’s moving, so it’s kind of harder to study. You have books like “Subway Art” and documentaries like “Style Wars”'piecebooks served that same purpose before people were seriously documenting it with photography. There was a network that existed and piecebooks were sort of the business card. There were so many things they communicated: style, ideas, emotion.

DV: A piecebook is also probably one of the first things you might purchase when you get into graffiti. Before you go out and throw something up on a wall, you’ll fine tune it in your book first. There’s a lot of honesty in the piecebook. And it’s universally recognized. I could be walking through the street in Europe with a piecebook in my hand and a writer will recognize that that and ask to check out my book. It has a timeless appeal.

Complex: Who were some of the artists you were particularly geeked to get in the book?

DV: Skeme, Haze, Quik, Doze, TC 5. Blade is another guy that I have tremendous respect for. And then there were just some really random gems. There was a handful of guys from Brooklyn, maybe it might have just been a KC throw-up, but he was one of the dudes that I grew up looking up to. A guy like Python who was an amazing artist, but kind of had a very limited run during the ’80s. He was out in Far Rockaway so didn’t get some of the exposure that maybe some of the Bronx and Uptown dudes were getting.

SJ: There’s a lot of artists who were really influential but passed away. It’s like no one’s thinking about Cliff 159, who had a tremendous influence on people like Blade and Lee, and to have a piece from him in the book it’s like we’re saying, “These drawings are important.” Caine 1 is another guy who was really influential who was taken at a young age.