Stick "Em Up"

Stickers are the new flyers, and a major means of street-based communication, used by the hippest advertising agencies and the most underground messengers alike. Spurred on by groundbreaking innovation from a coterie of underground artists worldwide, many of whom are renowned exponents of graffiti, the sticker craze answers a need for instant coverage via a barely conspicuous action. Prepared in advance from an array of materials and techniques, including appropriated and altered labels, self-adhesive film, stencils, colour-copies and computer print-outs, these elaborate and distinctive artworks are capable of blanket coverage at street level. From the tiniest, most exquisite, hand-coloured or vinyl examples, to giant wheat-pasted murals and finely – engineered stencils, this book encompasses all forms of instant coverage. Not to be ignored, in terms of the language of graphics, stickers represent a never-before articulated dichotomy, as both technology and lo-fi mark-making create an instant revolution in communication; these messages are subversive, imaginative, amusing and more often than not, intriguingly cryptic. Having circumnavigated the globe and dug into archives, the authors have amassed some rare finds, both as originals (unpeeled and pristine) and in-situ photographs. Represented here are highly prized examples from cities renowned for their sticker art, including San Francisco, New York, London, Tokyo and Amsterdam, alongside choice finds from locations off the beaten track, including Stockholm, Antwerp, Manchester, Paris, Reykjavik, Melbourne and Berlin.