Various Artists (KAWS, Barry (Twist) McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, Shepard Fairey, and others). Black Book from Jerod (Geso) ...

Description

Various Artists (KAWS, Barry (Twist) McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, Shepard Fairey, and others)
Black Book from Jerod (Geso) Costa, circa 1995-1996
Hardcover book
6-1/4 x 4-1/4 x 3 inches (15.9 x 10.8 x 7.6 cm)
Signed and tagged extensively throughout book

Created by San Francisco street artist Jared "Geso" Costa (b. 1977) between 1995 and 1996, this work is a mixed-media artist's sketchbook composed of three notebooks bound and taped together. The volume contains over 100 pages with approximately 236 tags and original works executed in pen, pencil, colored pencil, felt-tip, collage, tape, stickers, photographs, and paper. It features contributions from key figures of the era, including Barry "Twist" McGee (b. 1966), Margaret "Meta" Kilgallen (1967-2001), Shepard Fairey (b. 1970), Ruby Rose Neri (b. 1970), KAWS (b. 1974), Jared "Geso" Costa himself, Mr. (LMNT) Element, Spie One, Grey, as well as artists from New York's AOK crew and San Francisco's PVC and THR crews.
What began as a private collection of tags and sketches made in the margins of the street quickly evolved into a landmark document of American graffiti's ascent-from boxcars, tunnels, and back alleys to galleries, museums, and the cultural mainstream. Among peers, Costa's sketchbook earned the name The Bible. Inclusion within its pages signified recognition; a single tag established presence, while multiple appearances marked rising influence. As such, The Bible functioned not only as Costa's personal archive, but also as a symbolic ledger of status and belonging in the graffiti movement of the mid-1990s.


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