Stencil graffiti

Stencil graffiti began in the 1960s.

French artist Ernest Pignon-Ernest's stencilled silhouette of a nuclear bomb victim was spray painted in the south of France in 1966 (Plateau d'Albion, Vaucluse)

Blek le Rat's first spray painted stencils were seen in Paris in 1981. He was influenced by the graffiti artists of New York City but wanted to create something of his own.

"Happy 1984" - Stencil graffiti found on the Berlin Wall in 2005. The object depicted is a DualShock video game controller.

An early use of stencil for a tag name, 'Caper', this was by Dee (aka Caper) around 1987. He was part of the graffiti writers group called R2F 'Ready to Fascinate', later known as the Vinyl Junkies from Hayes and Southall, London / UK.

Political graffiti in Poland.
Kraków ul. Podgórska 15.

Australian photographer Rennie Ellis documented some of the earliest examples of stencil art to appear in Sydney and Melbourne in his 1985 book The All New Australian Graffiti. In the introduction to the book, Ellis noted that US photographer Charles Gatewood had written to him and sent him photographs of similar stencil graffiti that had recently appeared in New York City, leading Ellis to speculate that:

... unlike our subway-style graffiti, which is nothing more than a copy of a well-established New York tradition, the symbols of Australia and America had originated separately and unknown to each other.[1]

Over the years this form of graffiti has become a worldwide subculture. The members are linked through the Internet and the images spray-painted on the urban canvas they place throughout the world. Many of its members connect through blogs and websites that are specifically built to display works, get feedback on posted works, and receive news of what is going on in the world of stencil graffiti.

Stencil graffiti is illegal in some jurisdictions, and many of the members of this subculture shroud their identities in aliases. Above / Tavar Zawacki, Banksy, Blek le Rat, Vhils, Shepard Fairey and Jef Aérosol are some names that are synonymous with this subculture.

In contrast to graffito by hand, stenciling requires the making of stencils.[2] They are usually made of cardboard, but can also be made of plastic or laminated paper as well as more rarely of metal or wood, and then are suitable for frequent repetition of the pattern.[3][4] Complex and large-scale artifacts are mounted on thin wire mesh. The combination of different stencils allows you to create multicolored patterns.

The alignment of multilayer stencils (multilayer stencil) can nowadays be done with the help of a computer. The practice of digital layering is used for this purpose, for which computer image processing programs are used. The purpose and function of digital layering is to structure the pattern into meaningful layers and color sections so that when the layers are superimposed, the whole pattern, the composition, is (re)formed.[5] Spray paint is commonly used to apply the pattern. Optimal temperature for most types of paint is between 50 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit.[6] In addition to the spray can for applying paint you can also use a brush, oil pastel and airbrush. In reverse graffiti, paint is not applied through gaps in the stencil, but, using a high-pressure cleaner, for example, the wall is selectively cleaned of dirt.[7]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Graffiti stencils.

• Graffiti terminology
• List of stencil artists
• List of street artists
• Street art sculptures
• Street art
• Street installation
• Wheatpaste street art
• Stencil (typeface)

• C215:"Stencil History X". C215, 2007. ISBN 2-9525682-2-7
• Louis Bou: "Street Art". Instituto Monsa de ediciones, S.A., 2005. ISBN 84-96429-11-3
• BTOY: "BTOY:DY:002". Belio Magazine, S.L, 2007. ISBN 84-611-4752-9

• Jinman, Richard, "Street art moves to a posh new hang-out", The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia, April 9, 2007.
• Norman, James, "Graffiti goes upmarket", The Age, Melbourne, Australia, August 16, 2003.
• Reiss, Jon, [Swindle Magazine: Issue 11] May 3, 2008
• Bello, Manuel, ["Shepard Fairey Interview."Interview with Fecal Face] 14 Aug.2007.
• Bello, Manuel ["Blek Le Rat Interview" with Fecal Face]
• Rogers, Michelle, "Jef Aerosol", Gadabout Paris, Paris, France, 2008.

C215 Community Service, Criteres ed. 2011

• Manco, Tristan, Stencil Graffiti, Thames and Hudson, 2002. ISBN 978-0500283424

• Smallman, Jake; Nyman, Carl, Stencil Graffiti Capital: Melbourne, West New York, NJ : Mark Batty Publisher, October 1, 2005. ISBN 0-9762245-3-4