If you’v ever been intrigued by the enigmatic little adhesive treasures found in dense urban areas like NYC, then I recommend checking out an art book simply titled, Stickers. It’s authored by my good friend and colleague DB Burkeman, an old school cat who is largely responsible for pioneering the rave and drum & bass scene in the US . DB came to NYC in the 80′s, when graffiti and punk was still thriving, with already having an affinity for the medium in England, and like anyone coming to NYC with an artistic taste, immediately became enamored by the ever changing creative life of the street.
This book is the culmination of obsessively collecting stickers for many years, and even more so with the help of friends when he discovered he needed to share his collection with the world through this book.
Stickers is very comprehensive, it not only touches on the originating graffiti and punk cultures, but expands from skate graphics, to contemporary art, to big brands with cult followings.
Another reason why i’m plugging this thing. Two pages feature my handmade postal stickers from a couple street campaigns two summers ago (pictured above). It’s really an honor to share a book with some legendary artists and writers like Revs & Cost, and well, pretty much everyone who made a name for themselves. This book really is a who’s who.
The photos above are of the limited edition hard cover version (only 300). Which came with a bundle of hand signed stickers. The last shot is of Typcut artist Lee Trice’s contribution.
An amazing short documentary on NYC sign painters called Up There, produced by the forward thinking ad agency, Mother. Between jumbo screens and vinyl; a dying trade within advertising. Personally i love and pay more attention to hand painted advertising, an aged craft that has human sweat and blood behind it, and i feel less like the ad is cheaply being jammed down my throat by the now mechanical / digital world that advertising has become.
It’s also wonderful when you see an old, faded, hand painted ad on a building, it’s the only advertising that i feel adds to the city’s character.
C215, one of the most prolific and talented street artists i’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing, almost daily in NYC, that’s how many ups he has. He is from Paris, but he spreads his beautiful work, all over world, from Brazil to India. This shot was taken in Brooklyn, in the DUMBO neighborhood where i used to work, sadly it’s been buffed (painted over). Take a peek at his flickr, it’s cool to see how complex is work has gotten over the years.
I know this blog has been super quiet lately, but it certainly hasn’t been out of laziness. I’ve been ultra busy with my new position at the almighty R/GA in NYC (responsible for the genius Nike + campaign). I’ve been hired to work on their Nike account, which has been very fun. Tons of great talent here, very inspiring, i’m going to make some posts introducing some of the talent soon. A few of the designers I work with here have been contributing to Typcut, which has been on fire lately, the pieces above I did recently.
