In June 2018, Ohio’s Massillon Museum hosted “Moniker: Identity Dropped & Discovered,” an exhibition that includes a distinctly extraordinary documentation of mark-making and monikers, a grassroots movement which commenced in rail yards in the late nineteenth century. An exhibition catalog revealed at the time bought out virtually immediately. This month heralds the release of a next edition in softcover format of Moniker: Id Lost & Found in conjunction and cooperation with the Black Butte Centre For Railroad Tradition and its recent show, Conclusion Of The Line.
Released by Burn Barrel Push, the just-released Moniker: Id Missing and Found options 148 full-colour internet pages of unusual archival documents, photographs, and artwork, alongside with a glossary of pertinent conditions. A intriguing foray into a distinctly American subculture of ephemeral artworks, it also delivers a glimpse into a lot of of these artists’ minds in their personal voices. What follows is a sampling of illustrations or photos from the pages of this significant e-book as it brilliantly introduces us to an art variety that is usually disregarded by so lots of, which includes us graffiti and avenue art aficionados.
Who is This J.B. King? – from The Saturday Evening Put up article by Jean Muir, May possibly 1945 — referencing the prodigious “writer” J. B. King, who was identified by his loopy scrawl
20,000th mark, 2002, From the selection of Smokin’ Joe
Crafting implements, courtesy of Scot Phillips
Hoboe’s (sic) Listing, Nevada 1910 Special Collections, College of Nevada, Reno Library, College Archives, (UNRS-P2017-07)
I Want to Be a Manager. Photograph by Sally and Jerry Romotsky, 1969. 35mm shade transparency. Rail employee graffiti below the Fourth Street Bridge in Los Angeles. Courtesy Sally and Jerry Romotsky
Matokie Slaughter – Photograph by Kurt Tors
You can purchase the paperback version of the vastly instructive and entertaining Moniker: Id Misplaced & Identified right here.
