Sticker art

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

'''Sticker art''' (also known as '''slaps''' in a graffiti context)<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>Marecki, Piotr (2014). ''Stickers as a Literature - Distribution Platform''. NYC: The Trope Tank. p. 2.</ref>

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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> Part of their popularity in street art comes from being a faster, and therefore safer, option in illegal graffiti.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

==History== {{multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | width = 200 | image1 = Sticker art in Sydney. 2024 1636291.jpg | class1 = bg-transparent | caption1 = | image2 = Sticker art 2024 - 2.jpg | caption2 = Two variations on name tag stickers. Sydney, 2024 }}

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.<ref name="2007 Walde">{{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}}</ref> The United States Postal Service's Label 228 sticker also became widely used in sticker art.<ref name="10 July 2012"/><ref name="Cooper2"/><ref name="2007 Walde"/>

In 1989<ref name="Kobi Annobil">Kobi Annobil, [http://formatmag.com/features/shepard-fairey/ Shepard Fairey], 'Format Magazine', January 21, 2008 "The Andre the Giant sticker was just a spontaneous, happy accident. I was teaching a friend how to make stencils in the summer of 1989, and I looked for a picture to use in the newspaper, and there just happened to be an ad for wrestling with André the Giant and I told him that he should make a stencil of it. He said 'Nah, I’m not making a stencil of that, that’s stupid!' but I thought it was funny so I made the stencil and I made a few stickers and the group of guys I was hanging out with always called each other The Posse, so it said Andre the Giant Has a Posse, and it was sort of appropriated from hip-hop slang – Public Enemy, N.W.A and Ice-T were all using the word."{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118182613/http://formatmag.com/features/shepard-fairey/ |archive-date=2022-01-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://peopleshistoryarchive.org/content/andre-giant-has-posse|title = Andre the Giant Has a Posse|date = 21 July 2015}}</ref> In 1996<ref name="1996 OBEY Giant">{{cite web |url=https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/features/shepard-fairey-the-iconic-icon/ |title=Shepard Fairey |website=Juxtopoz.com |publisher=Juxtopoz |quote=[Evan Pricco]: That original face, that original icon. [Fairey]: It was January 1996 when I made that image. I made the star at the same time, the star icon. [Evan Pricco]: Well, how long did it take you to do the OBEY logo? [Fairey]: Well, the original Andre sticker took like 10 minutes, but the icon face… that took me a couple of nights of hanging out at Kinko's until the wee hours. Because first I illustrated it, the whole face, based on the two sides of the analog Andre face. And then I decided which half of the face was more appealing, simplified that, mirrored it, and then I cut it out. You know, I did this all without a computer. I cut it out of a window, out of a piece of paper, then I would scale the image up and down and leave the window the same size, and look at what cropping looked the best. These are all things that I can do very efficiently on the computer now, but it was all done by hand. [Evan Pricco]:Can you shout out the Kinkos where you made this? [Fairey]: Angel Street, Providence, Rhode Island. |access-date=14 January 2026}}</ref> Fairey altered the image of André the Giant and changed the text to read '''OBEY''' and Fairey has commented that "I felt like the face had a lot of resonance already and that I should continue with the branding of the image and just transition it into something that had more of an Orwellian connotation...".<ref name="Documentary 2007">{{Cite website|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHLz0dSe-vI|title=Bomb It - 2008 - Documentary|quote=I felt like the face had a lot of resonance already... and just transition it into something that had more of an Orwellian connotation...". [The] "Andre the Giant has a posse sticker started out as a fluke... ...I completely lucked out with that. You know if someone were to say 'Come up with an icon that you're gonna perpetuate for the next 15 years', definitely wouldn't have been that, but the more I put it out there the more of a reaction it got...|date=2007|website=Youtube.com |publisher=Cool Films and Music |access-date=27 December 2025}}</ref> and since then this new image has been used in sticker art and become popular around the world for its ability to parody Orwellian propaganda.<ref name="Documentary 2007"/><ref name="2017 - Interview">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/nov/14/shepard-fairey-new-exhibition-la-damaged|last=Zara |first= Janelle |title=Interview:Shepard Fairey |website=theguardian.com |publisher=The Guardian |quote="Having begun his career as a teenager clandestinely pasting posters on the sides of buildings in the middle of the night in cities like New York and Providence, and eventually all over the world..."|date=14 November 2017|access-date=14 January 2026}}</ref><ref name="artstory - Fairey">{{cite web |url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/fairey-shepard/|title=Shepard Fairey |website=theartstory.org |publisher=the art story |quote=As Banksy noted, '...I am absolutely positive he [Shepard Fairey] has made more reaches [street art interventions] than any graffiti writer in history ever has done or ever will.'... ...Fairey posted the Obey Giant image in cities across the world in a move that he thought "democratized art". He wanted to make art accessible and show that there was room in the public space for more than advertising and government signage. As Art writer Alex Rayner notes: "What sets Fairey apart... is the scale of his Giant campaign. The Andre image predates most other street-poster graffiti artists and Giant heads have been plastered up in Japan, Russia, Italy and Paris, as well as numerous sites throughout the UK and the US. |access-date=14 January 2026}}</ref>

The first European sticker art project is that by Piermario Ciani, initially started in the 1980s within the Trax project and more intensely starting from 1991,<ref>https://archive.org/details/mart-archivio-del-900?tab=collection&query=piermario+ciani+sticker+1991</ref> as also documented by a catalogue published in that year.<ref>{{cite web | title=P. Ciani, Free stickers catalogue, 1991 | date=1991 | url=https://archive.org/details/p.-ciani-free-stickers-catalogue }}</ref> Solo One was one of the first graffiti artists to use stickers with tags on them in 1999.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

thumb|upright|Sticker art that replicates a United States Postal Service's label 228. On the back of a street sign in Sydney. 2025

==Creation== [[File:Coffeeshop Green Place façade covered with stickers in Amsterdam.jpg|thumb|upright|The exterior façade of the coffeeshop "Green Place" entirely covered with stickers in Amsterdam. 2024]]

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Any kind of blank sticker can be used for sticker art. Both name tags<ref name="10 July 2012">{{Cite web|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}}</ref><ref name="Cooper2">{{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}}</ref><ref name="2007 Walde"/> 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 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

== 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Graffiti shops often have places for writers to exchange stickers, and global stores allow for worldwide sticker exchanges<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sticker Trading |url=https://www.redbellyculture.com/pages/stickertrading |access-date=2023-08-29 |website=Redbelly Culture |language=en}}</ref> which lets artist have their work put up in places they may never visit themselves.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Sticker art is sometimes a collectable item<ref>{{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}}</ref> with some collections having over 10,000 stickers.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Within graffiti culture, it is considered good manners for collectors to put up at least some of the stickers received in an exchange.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

Sticker art exchanges also allow large numbers of artists to collaborate on a single sticker, or multiple stuck together.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

==Artists== Popular artists that use this medium of street art include Shepard Fairey, D*Face, and Ron English.

Artist Cristina Vanko refers to her "I am Coal" project as "smart vandalism."<ref>{{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}}</ref> Vanko uses stickers to identify objects that are coal-powered, spreading awareness of global climate change.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

The artist Cindy Hinant created a series of projects from 2006 to 2009 that combined the tradition of sticker collecting<ref>{{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}}</ref> and sticker bombing in works that reflected on feminine representations in popular culture.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zucker Saltz|first1=Lizzie|title=Crafting Romance|date=2009|publisher=Athens Institute of Contemporary Art|location=Athens|page=5}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery widths="240" heights="240"> 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 O'leary' on the back of a street sign in Surry Hills, Sydney. 2025. File:Street art stickers by Rx Skulls, Nvrasir, ShallowLagoon and Dark Evil on a sign in Brick Lane, London, 2024.jpg|Stickers on a sign in Brick Lane, London by Rx Skulls, Dark Evil, ShallowLagoon and Nvrasir. 2025. Sticker art - Sydney 2025 -4b 01.jpg|An OBEY Giant sticker created by Shepard Fairey in 1996,<ref name="1996 OBEY Giant"/><ref>[http://obeygiant.com/main_new.php?page=articles&article=i4 Shepard Fairey interview in Tattoo Magazine, 1999.] "I finally got a notification from his [Andre the Giant's] estate that I couldn't use the phrase "Andre the Giant" in any images or use his face in anything. The thing is, and this is why I had to shut my website down and change the name from www.andrethegiant.com to www.obeygiant.com., [is that] because the WWF owns the name obey giant... ..But in the more recent images that I've done, the face has changed enough from the original likeness to not be copyright infringement. So what I'm gonna do is still make the original sticker, just not sell them or put that name on any clothing that I could get a lawsuit for. As far as the fine art domain, it's totally open. Warhol didn't get sued for using Marilyn Monroe's likeness, as long it was changed enough."{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708210421/http://obeygiant.com/main_new.php?page=articles&article=i4 |date=July 8, 2007 }}</ref> based on the original Andre the giant has a posse sticker first created by Fairey in 1989.<ref name="Kobi Annobil"/> This image has become famous across the world for its ability to parody "Orwellian"<ref name="Documentary 2007"/> propaganda.<ref name="artstory - Fairey"/> Darlinghurst, Sydney, 2025. </gallery>

==See also== {{Div col|colwidth=20em}} * Culture jamming * Flyposting * Graffiti * Guerilla art * I Did That! * Papier-mâché * Stencil street art * Street art * Street installation * Street poster art * Street art sculptures * Wheatpaste {{div col end}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * IZASTIKUP:A Unique Collection of Stickers Compiled by Bo130, Microbo and The Don. Drago Media (2005) {{ISBN|978-88-88493-33-6}} * Claudia Walde (MadC): ''Sticker City. The Paper Graffiti Generation (Street Graphics / Street Art)''. Thames & Hudson, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-500-28668-5}} * ''PEEL: The Art of the Sticker'' by Dave & Holly Combs. Mark Batty Publisher (2008). {{ISBN|0-9795546-0-8}} * ''Stickers: Stick Em' Up'' by Mike Dorrian & David Recchia. Thames & Hudson (2002). {{ISBN|978-1-86154-247-2}} * ''Skateboard Stickers'' by Mark Munson & Steve Cardwell. Laurence King Publishing (2004). {{ISBN|1-85669-379-1}} * ''Name Tagging'' by Martha Cooper. Mark Batty Publisher (2010). {{ISBN|978-0981960067}}

{{Commons category}} {{Street Art}}

Category:Visual arts media Category:Graffiti and unauthorised signage Art Category:Articles containing video clips