Street Art, the Punk Poster in San Francisco, 1977-1981

by First Last, Brad Lapin

The book reproduces 126 black and white, Xerox and off-set posters, almost all of them advertising bands. The posters are augmented by Marian Kester's witty and offhanded text, which is in turn augmented by snippets of published interviews, articles on subjects like performance art and even excerpts from Walter Benjamin's mid-century essay, "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Brad Lapin's introductory "15 Theses" provides effective theoretical counterpoint to Kester's more narrative/anecdotal brand of cultural history, by placing the mass-produced punk poster within the context of McLuhan, industrial society and youthful rebellion.

100 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1981