Multidisciplinary artist John Fekner set the tone when he used cardboard graffiti stencils and spray paint to create what he called “word-signs” - conceptual graffiti art pieces that employed letters, symbols, dates, and icons to explore social and environmental issues.įollowing in his footsteps in the 1980’s was Blek le Rat, now considered the “father of stencil graffiti.” Inspired by the pioneers of 1960’s and 70’s graffiti, but eager to offer a unique take on the burgeoning form, Blek le Rat learned how to create stencil art, which he claims has allowed him to spray “tens of thousands, maybe a hundred thousand” images in the streets of his native Paris.īlek le Rat’s work touches on social justice issues with empathy and a dash of humor, and, as his name implies, he’s most famous for his portraits of rats, which he’s described as “the only free animals in the city” (humans included). Though they’d long been used for official labelling by government, military, and industrial groups, stencils first met street art in the 1970’s. “You Leave a Part of Yourself”: Blek Le Rat, Banksy, and the Modern Stencil Art Masters And once you’ve gotten a bit of inspiration, we’ll share some common stencil art techniques and show you how to create stencil art of your own. Let’s take a quick look at this rich history.
Using a sheet of cardboard, plastic, or metal with a pattern or letters cut out is surprisingly versatile, allowing craftspeople to color cloth, illustrate manuscripts, print t-shirts, and create some fantastic street art. įast-forward some 30,000 years and stencil art techniques remain essentially unchanged.
Some of our species’ first artists used stencil art techniques when they placed their hands on cave walls and blew ground minerals over them, coating the rock in blooms of red or black pigment and leaving behind their ghostly palmprints. Stencil art is one of humanity’s oldest creative forms.
0 kommentar(er)
