Sticker art

Artist ABOVE is known for his heavy overkill and layering of his stickers. Here is an example seen from Portland where he puts multiple different color stickers as well as many overlapping each other.

Sticker art in Amsterdam

Street Art in Dixon, CA taken in 2012

An example of sticker art in Ottawa, Canada.

Sticker art (also known as sticker bombing, sticker slapping, slap tagging, and sticker tagging) 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.^{[citation needed]}

Stickers can be placed anywhere accessible, with a much lower risk of apprehension by officials enforcing anti–vandalism laws.

Sticker art in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Sticker artists use a variety of label types, including inexpensively purchased and free stickers, such as — respectively — the United States Postal Service's Label 228 or name tags. Label 228's are often used with hand-drawn art, and are quite hard to remove, leaving a white, sticky residue.

Sticker artists can design and print thousands of stickers at low cost using a commercial printing service or at home with a computer printer and self-adhesive labels.

Sticker artists also print their designs onto adhesive vinyl, which has an aggressive permanent adhesive, is waterproof, and generally fade resistant. A variant type of adhesive vinyl, called “destructible”, is used by some artists. Destructible vinyl decals are primarily used as tamper indicators on equipment and shipping containers. The difficult–to–remove nature of this material is attractive to sticker artists, including B.N.E. and Obey Giant.

Artist Cristina Vanko refers to her "I am Coal" project as “smart vandalism.” Vanko uses stickers to identify objects that are coal powered, spreading awareness of global climate change.

Sticker artists often trade their work with each other in order to expand distribution. An artist's stickers may be distributed worldwide and end up adhered in places they themselves have never been to. These trades are sometimes arranged personally or through social networking sites.

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: 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
• Islamic graffiti