Sticker art

{{Short description|Type of street art}}File:Smear Sticker.png photographed in Los Angeles in 2006]]

Sticker art (also known as slaps in a graffiti context){{Cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7kYrDwAAQBAJ |title=Routledge International Handbook of Visual Criminology |last2=Carrabine |first2=Eamonn |date=2017-07-06 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-49754-7 |language=en}} is a form of street art in which an image or message is publicly displayed using stickers. These stickers may promote a political agenda, comment on a policy or issue, or comprise a subcategory of graffiti.Marecki, Piotr (2014). Stickers as a Literature - Distribution Platform. NYC: The Trope Tank. p. 2.

Sticker artists use various types of stickers, from eggshell stickers to free paper stickers, such as the United States Postal Service's Label 228 or name tags.{{Cite book

| title = Going Postal

| last = Cooper

| first = Martha

| date = 2009-03-28

| publisher = Mark Batty Publisher

| isbn = 9780979966651

| location = New York; London

| language = en

}} Part of their popularity in street art comes from being a faster, and therefore safer, option in illegal graffiti.{{Cite book |last1=Elsner |first1=Daniela |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bBdnqY19cUC |title=Films, Graphic Novels & Visuals: Developing Multiliteracies in Foreign Language Education : an Interdisciplinary Approach |last2=Helff |first2=Sissy |last3=Viebrock |first3=Britta |date=2013 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-90390-7 |language=en}}

History

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| caption2 = Two variations on name tag stickers. Sydney, 2024

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Name tag stickers that were printed with the text "Hello my name is" were first introduced by C-Line Products in 1959 and became widely used in both graffiti and sticker art.{{cite book|last=Walde|first=Claudia|title=Sticker City: paper graffiti art|year=2007|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=9780500286685|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LQvaAAAAMAAJ&q=avery%27s}} In 1989 Shepard Fairey created the sticker Andre the giant has a posse and it has been recognised as an early example of printed sticker art in the United States.{{Cite web|url=http://peopleshistoryarchive.org/content/andre-giant-has-posse|title = Andre the Giant Has a Posse|date = 21 July 2015}} The first European (and non-American) sticker art project is that by Piermario Ciani, initially started in the 1980s within the Trax project and more intensely starting from 1991,https://archive.org/details/mart-archivio-del-900?tab=collection&query=piermario+ciani+sticker+1991 as also documented by a catalogue published in that year.https://archive.org/details/p.-ciani-free-stickers-catalogue

Solo One was one of the first graffiti artists to use stickers with tags on them in 1999.{{Cite book |last1=Ferrell |first1=Jeff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MuOOAgAAQBAJ |title=Cultural Criminology Unleashed |last2=Hayward |first2=Keith |last3=Morrison |first3=Wayne |last4=Presdee |first4=Mike |date=2016-04-15 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-30984-8 |language=en}} Since 2000, many graffiti artists and street artists, like Katsu or Barry McGee incorporated stickers in their production, using them as an alternative to tagging and bombing, or as autonomous art projects.{{Cite web|url=https://en.99designs.it/blog/design-history-movements/history-famous-sticker-art/|title=Exploring pop culture's subversive sticker art culture|date=26 August 2015}}

Creation

Sticker artists may hand-draw stickers, print them using a commercial printing service or at home with a computer printer and self-adhesive labels, or have them made commercially.{{Cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Michelle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7kYrDwAAQBAJ |title=Routledge International Handbook of Visual Criminology |last2=Carrabine |first2=Eamonn |date=2017-07-06 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-49754-7 |language=en}}

Any kind of blank sticker can be used for sticker art. Both name tags{{Cite website|url=http://markbattypublisher.com/books/name-tagging-2/|title=Name Tagging: Martha Cooper|date=10 July 2012 |website=markbattypublisher |access-date=27 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710033038/http://markbattypublisher.com/books/name-tagging-2/ |archive-date=10 July 2012}}{{Cite book| title = Going Postal| last = Cooper| first = Martha| date = 2009-03-28| publisher = Mark Batty Publisher| isbn = 9780979966651| location = New York; London| language = en}} and Label 228s are often used with hand-drawn art, and are quite hard to remove, leaving a white, sticky residue. Eggshell stickers are also a popular a type of sticker created specifically for street art. They are named because an attempt to remove them results in tiny pieces breaking off, like an eggshell.{{Cite journal |last1=Viljoen |first1=V.A. |last2=Spocter |first2=M. |date=2021-10-08 |title=An exploratory foray into visual street art and graffiti in south African cityscapes |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359114320 |journal=Proceedings of the Biennial Conference of the Society of South African Geographers and the Southern African Association of Geomorphologists |via=ResearchGate}} Eggshell stickers are made of a mixture of paper and plastic which protects them from the elements. Eggshell stickers longevity allows sticker art to be a part of many urban landscapes.{{Citation |last=Shobe |first=Hunter |title=Graffiti as Communication and Language |date=2020 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02438-3_81 |work=Handbook of the Changing World Language Map |pages=3155–3172 |editor-last=Brunn |editor-first=Stanley D. |access-date=2023-08-29 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-02438-3_81 |isbn=978-3-030-02438-3 |editor2-last=Kehrein |editor2-first=Roland|url-access=subscription }}

Exchange

Unlike other forms of graffiti which are created on public surfaces, stickers are portable before being "used" and many graffiti artists ("writers") trade stickers, and more popular artists sell their stickers.{{Cite web |title=Graffiti Stickers Used For Good At UGLY Gallery |url=https://www.wbur.org/news/2013/06/10/graffiti-stickers-ugly |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=www.wbur.org |date=10 June 2013 |language=en}} Graffiti shops often have places for writers to exchange stickers, and global stores allow for worldwide sticker exchanges{{Cite web |title=Sticker Exchange |url=https://www.streetfame.net/s/stories/sticker-exchange |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=www.streetfame.net |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Sticker Trading |url=https://www.redbellyculture.com/pages/stickertrading |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=Redbelly Culture |language=en}} which lets artist have their work put up in places they may never visit themselves.{{Cite web |title=Sticker Bombing: The Effects of Stickers on the Graffiti Culture |url=https://machinestudio.com/blogs/graffiti-school/sticker-bombing-the-effects-of-stickers-on-the-graffiti-culture |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=Machine Studio |language=en}}

Sticker art is sometimes a collectable item{{Cite web |title=Hatch Sticker Museum |url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/hatch-sticker-museum |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=Atlas Obscura |language=en}} with some collections having over 10,000 stickers.{{Cite web |last=Kurutz |first=Steven |date=2009-07-30 |title=Artist Michael Anderson Creates Graffiti-Sticker Mural for the Ace Hotel Lobby -- New York Magazine - Nymag |url=https://nymag.com/arts/art/features/58166/ |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=New York Magazine |language=en-us}} Within graffiti culture, it is considered good manners for collectors to put up at least some of the stickers received in an exchange.{{Cite news |last=Lefrak |first=Mikaela |date=2019-02-04 |title=Stickering is an increasingly popular art form for D.C. artists, particularly women |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/stickering-is-an-increasingly-popular-art-form-for-dc-artists-particularly-women/2019/03/29/2631eaf2-499b-11e9-93d0-64dbcf38ba41_story.html |access-date=2023-08-19}}

Sticker art exchanges also allow large numbers of artists to collaborate on a single sticker, or multiple stuck together.{{Cite web |last=Eliason |first=Robert |date=2020-03-17 |title=Art travels around the world with sticker packs |url=http://benitolink-newspack.newspackstaging.com/art-travels-around-the-world-with-sticker-packs/ |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=BenitoLink |language=en-US}}

Artists

Artist Cristina Vanko refers to her "I am Coal" project as "smart vandalism."{{cite news|title=Student art project is vandalism for a cause|url=http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Student-art-project-is-vandalism-for-a-cause-86760522.html|access-date=4 April 2011|newspaper=The Herald-Times|date=7 March 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320000018/http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Student-art-project-is-vandalism-for-a-cause-86760522.html|archive-date=20 March 2012}} Vanko uses stickers to identify objects that are coal-powered, spreading awareness of global climate change.{{cite web|title=Making Engaged Art: Response and Intervention on Climate Change|url=http://canary-project.org/2010/07/indiana-university/|work=The Canary Project|access-date=4 April 2011}}{{cite book|last1=Bierut|first1=Michael|last2=Friedman|first2=Thomas|last3=Morris|first3=Edward|last4=Siegel|first4=Dimitri|title=Green Patriot Posters|year=2010|publisher=Metropolis Books|isbn=978-1-935202-24-0}}

The artist Cindy Hinant created a series of projects from 2006 to 2009 that combined the tradition of sticker collecting{{cite web|last1=Bent|first1=Gala|title=Interview With Cindy Hinant|url=http://sidebar.asthmatickitty.com/archives/913|website=Asthmatic Kitty|access-date=20 November 2014|date=August 2, 2007|quote=Cindy Hinant’s installations are luridly colorful collections of objects that seem to gather and spill out of otherwise ignored corners. Some of her materials are masses of bright and shiny stickers, girliness with the volume on ten.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129102430/http://sidebar.asthmatickitty.com/archives/913|archive-date=29 November 2014}} and sticker bombing in works that reflected on feminine representations in popular culture.{{cite book|last1=Zucker Saltz|first1=Lizzie|title=Crafting Romance|date=2009|publisher=Athens Institute of Contemporary Art|location=Athens|page=5}}{{cite news|last1=Watt-Grade|first1=Susan|title=Cindy Hinant: Cascades|url=http://www.nuvo.net/indianapolis/cindy-hinant-cascades/Content?oid=1231388#.VG5OFYdFvDk|access-date=20 November 2014|agency=Nuvo|date=September 19, 2007}}

Gallery

File:Sticker art in Pittsburgh.jpg|Sticker art in Pittsburgh

File:Sticker window amsterdam01.jpg|Sticker art in Amsterdam

File:Stickerart.jpg|Sticker art in São Paulo, Brazil

File:Sticker Art on a hand dryer.jpg|Sticker art expressing support of the pro-choice and transgender rights movements on a hand dryer in a public restroom in Portland, Oregon

File:Miss Me Yet? Sticker art on a McDonald’s order kiosk in Washington, D.C., 7 February 2024.jpg|Sticker art expressing support for Donald Trump, using the slogan "Miss Me Yet?", on an order kiosk in a McDonald's branch in Washington, D.C.

File:Sticker art in Sydney - 2025 10h - 1.jpg|A sticker by the artist "Onnie" on the back of a street sign in Sydney. 2025.

Sticker art

History

Creation

Exchange

Artists

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading