Over recent months we've watched the Leeds love affair with sticker art blossom, as each morning brings a new piece to the street-side gallery. From ornate line drawings popping up on street signs and post boxes to simple but effective scenes played along the banks of the canal, stickers seem to be on the rise.
One of the simplest forms of street art, stickers can be found the world over at all scales. A short walk from Leeds Railway Station to the city's iconic Kirkgate Market takes in more than 200 varieties. From branded motifs displaying the city's club culture and music scene, to the kitsch and cute 'Kiss Me Quick' stamps, the city is awash with stickers in the simplest forms.
But look a little closer and you can find an army of talented illustrators at work experimenting with everything from the surreal to the comical, playing with typography and materials. The stickers at this end of the street art spectrum are on par with some of the most well known street artists and illustrators the likes of Hop Louie, Jon Burgerman (who will be visiting Leeds next month for the Loop Arts Fair) and Obey.
With meticulous attention to detail the stickers are reproduced to high quality showing every intricate complexity and posted up smooth and clean.A blank concrete canvas can be transformed into vibrant, un-censored exhibition featuring thousands of artists, bringing a splash of colour and personality to an otherwise mundane urban environment.
One of the easiest forms of street art to get involved with or just a great starting point, stickerering is a growing fraction of street art with several sites acting as trading posts to spread your art across the world by a sticker-loving network of street art ninjas.
Here's a few we think are worth a look: Bomit, Sticker Trader
Seen something we've missed? Take a picture, pass it on and we'll feature it here.
Your 'Splash of colour' is my eyesore. If you can put up art stickers where you choose, can Coca Cola do the same? Or anti-immigration posters from UKIP? Leeds council cracked down on flyposting a few years ago and the city looks better for it. Night clubs and poster printers (of which I am one) don't like it but tough for us. The image of the city is what matters, not our individual rights and interests. If your artists want to bee seen why not invite them to put their work on your blog page? Then any fans can see it ad lib but those who aren't interested don't have to. The internet gives opportunity for exposure undreamed of in the past. The city has cleaned up and modernised no end since I moved her in the '70s. I for one do not want to go back to the unkempt free for all that existed then.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments and the time you took to read our post.
ReplyDeleteWe have to be honest and say we don't agree. For us there is a difference between mindless vandalism and tagging and genuine street art. The stickers, posters, murals and small scale installations are, in our view, what adds vibrancy and character to a place.
You talk about the image of a city but you only need to look at Berlin, London and Barcelona where street art is embraced as much as the more tradtional art forms to see the positive effect this can have on city image.
Yes vandalism is a blight but there is a difference between this and street art. The stickers in this post took time, skill, creativity and effort to create. Cities and towns do need to ensure that vandalism is dealt with swiftly but they also have a duty to nurture new talent and to recognise creativity when they see it.
Not everyone has aceess to the internet, they do have access to the streets.
We may have to agree to disagree, but we will continue to post and celebrate the work we find around the city.
First of all, what a wicked blog. There's s lot of good street art in Leeds that o think needs recognising.
ReplyDeleteSecondly two interesting arguments, and I have to say I agree with both (fence sitter huh!). My take on the while street art/tagging - is it right or wrong argument is this. If a piece of art/graffiti improves the surrounding area then it's good, for this to happen it has to be more than just a lazily scrawled tag. Obviously this is all relative, what you think improves a wall I may think otherwise - look at it this way though. I'd much prefer to look at a colourful motif painted on a wall than I would a blank wall of bricks.