Alan Ket: Urban Art Legends

Reprinted from the original review.

Urban Art Legends is a concise, image-driven survey of artists who helped propel graffiti and street art from subcultural practice to global cultural presence. Written by Alan Ket—known professionally as KET, a longtime New York graffiti writer, curator, and advocate—the book assembles 38 profiles of figures he regards as pivotal to that transformation.

The volume opens with a brief introduction situating graffiti within what Ket calls “this other art world,” a parallel system of recognition that developed outside conventional institutions. From there, the book unfolds as a sequence of compact artist entries, each pairing color reproductions with biographical sketches and commentary. Ket highlights career milestones, stylistic evolutions, crew affiliations, and moments of crossover into galleries, museums, or commercial collaborations. The structure is accessible and consistent, making the book easy to navigate for readers unfamiliar with the field.

The roster spans generations and geographies. Early New York train writers appear alongside European stencil pioneers and later street artists whose practices intersect with design, fashion, and fine art. Well-known names are included, but the emphasis remains on influence and trajectory rather than celebrity alone. Several profiles underscore the dual identities common in the culture—artists who move between street and studio, illegality and institutional acceptance—offering a clear view of how the movement broadened its reach over time.

Text Steven P. Harrington & Jaime Rojo     Photos Diana Paun

Title: Urban Art Legends
Published: Loom Art, Great Britain, 2015
Author: Alan Ket
Language: English

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