Cover by Mike Makatron.
It is a pity that a book as good as this one has been limited to 500 copies. The perceptive and wide-ranging foreword by Jeremy Taylor brilliantly introduces Mike Makatron and gives the reader a real taste of this talented artist. Taylor, unsurprisingly, given his wit and background, sees street art as part of a continuum starting with ancient wall paintings. He notes that ‘what makes street art such an exciting and relevant movement is its often contradictory pursuit of both the subversive critique of commodification as well as an inherent drive to create an urban spectacle’.
The book itself is about two things. Firstly, it serves to reproduce some of Makatron’s street art, not all of it illicit, though it is itself sometimes defaced by graffiti. These reproductions are well done, with the larger pictures more striking; the nature of Makatron’s work is such that the full-page illustrations are the most satisfying. We are treated to many of Makatron’s animals and some of his extraordinarily rich hamburgers, including the famous Kama Sutra Burger.
The other focus of the book is the artist himself. Makatron recalls his early days, and his lust for life and adventure that has taken him around the world. The narrative is sprinkled with memories and anecdotes, such as the following:
‘Some artist friends in Brooklyn told me they had tried for years to get this massive wall at a busy intersection of Williamsburg, and wanted to know how I did it when I was just passing through NYC. The conversation went something like this:
‘Hi, I was wondering if I could paint your wall?’
‘Um, what would you want to do?’
‘Something like this sketch…’
‘OK, it’s all yours man.’
He also tells of his love affair with the bicycle and his mixed feelings for ‘those weirdo serial blogger photographer types’.
Like some talented people, Makatron appears to undervalue his ability (at one point, he describes his art as ‘painting brain-farts’ ) but unlike many artists, or indeed many human beings, he is intensely collaborative, as his acknowledgements at the end of the book attest.
But it is the illustrations of the street art that make In Ten Cities truly memorable – from the snails on a Brooklyn wall and the skeletal fish in Rio de Janeiro to the elephants in Melbourne’s Northcote, this book is a work of art in itself.
In Ten Cities
By Mike Makatron
