Ruyzdael Publishing releases Shoe’s Black Book: Graffiti in the 1980s, a major publication dedicated to the early days of European graffiti through the perspective of Niels “Shoe” Meulman, a founding figure of the movement. This exceptional book brings together previously unpublished archives drawn from the artist’s personal sketchbooks, documenting a pivotal period when graffiti was taking shape, circulating and inventing itself between streets, trains and studios.
Far more than a simple collection of images, Shoe’s Black Book offers an intimate immersion into the raw energy of the 1980s. Sketches, lettering, drawings and experiments bear witness to the emergence of a visual language that would go on to profoundly influence contemporary urban art. The early traces of what would later become calligraffiti, Shoe’s emblematic practice, are already visible.
At the crossroads of personal history and collective memory, this publication stands as a key reference for understanding the rise of graffiti in Europe and its gradual integration into the history of art. An essential book, both a historical document and a vehicle of transmission, for anyone interested in urban cultures and their pioneers.
December 13, 2025
