Cool Hunting

Word on the street is that the prolific graffiti artist Dumbo had to leave Milan for Brooklyn at the risk of arrest. The writer's tag dots lower Manhattan, around Canal on West Broadway, but in Milan it seems like he hit every single building.

His recent book documents his life as a vandal, including his tags, art, actions and the like, featuring an intro penned by his fan, Barry McGee.

Why a book? Dumbo says "because I'm completely egocentric. Because there are so many things to learn from the experience of vandalism, so why not do a little propaganda for it? Because, unlike those (usually writers) who tout graffiti as the newest high art form, I want to tell the grimy truth, the most indefensible side, which will undoubtedly get me in the most trouble. But also to widen my public. To show this corrupt society that it will never represent me. To give context to all of the photos I've taken in these past years. But more than anything because I was coming to the end of a period that I wanted to record before officially beginning the next."

Dumbo is available from Amazon and Powell's.