‘Street’ news! New book celebrates the work of graffiti artists

Wouldn’t it be nice to experience street art without ever having to hit the street?

Steven Harrington and Jaime Rojo took this concept and have turned it into two successful “street art” books, the 2008 debut “Brooklyn Street Art” and their broader new collection, “Street Art New York,” which features more than 100 artists, from established writers to the new kids on the block.

You know the work — hell, it’s ubiquitous — but you don’t often know the names.

Take Skewville, the Brooklyn twins responsible for those dangling wooden sneakers on power lines — a reference to the 1980s drug wars. Since starting over a decade ago, the shoes now number in the thousands.

And gracing the book’s cover is a piece by Judith Supine, the man behind those toxic green collages of disfigured heads and bodies pasted to buildings across the city. One of his pieces even hung from the Manhattan Bridge (if only for a few hours).

Another highlight includes Specter’s elaborate graffiti of a man carting a mountain of soda cans (pictured above), a 3-D image that makes the wall alive in a fashion similar to the work of London’s Banksy (he’s in the book, too, along with other out-of-towners like Shepard Fairey).

Bushwick’s Factory Fresh Gallery — one of the thriving spots for new street art — will have the art on display later this month.

“Street Art New York” launch party at Factory Fresh Gallery [1053 Flushing Ave. between Morgan and Knickerbocker avenues in Bushwick (917) 682-6753], April 24, 7 pm. For info, visit www.brooklynstreetart.com.

Photo by Jaime Rojo