The spraycan painting displayed with such exuberance in these pages derives directly from the graffiti-based "writing" on the sides of New York's subway trains that was so vividly celebrated in Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant's hugely successful book Subway Art.

With its bold calligraphy and brilliant colouring, the style soon emerged from the subway on to walls, handball courts, and other surfaces, and ultimately into the galleries of art dealers and collectors. The Hip Hop explosion of the early eighties helped to spread the technique worldwide. It is no longer necessarily illegal or antisocial: it has become a part of mainstream art.

Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff have documented the evolution of spraycan art from its very beginnings, photographing the artists in action as well as their finished works, and recording their always intriguing comments. This selection of spectacular photographs and thought-provoking quotes —from more than twenty cities scattered across three continents— will be widely appreciated for its social and cultural significance as well as for its striking visual appeal.