Stencil graffiti, made famous by Banksy in the last 5 years or so, has actually been a form of street art for 25 years. You can employ cardboard, paper or other forms of surfaces (such as plastics) to develop templated imagery and text. You simply cut out the shapes from your cardboard/paper/other surface, put said surface onto a wall (example), then spray or roll-on paint.

The definitive rule of stencilling is creating outlines via cutting shapes, and spraying paint within these cutout shapes – creating well-defined images on the surface underneath. It’s also feasible to use multiple layers of stencils to produce an illusion of depth or even add colours.

There are innumerable reasons for being a stencil graffiti artist. For some, it is a great platform to communicate a political point. Many artists treasure the publicity that their artwork can acquire. Some only wish their art to be seen. As the stencil remains unchanged throughout its use, it is far easier for a stencil artist to quickly copy what could be an intricated piece at a very speedy rate, when compared to other conventional tagging methods, so without doubt, there is also a persuasive self-promoting reason to choose stencilling.

Banksy has used stencilling as a means to make a political statement, often quite succinctly, leaving the viewer to work out that very point in their head. This is oftentimes why people enjoy his work so much, as they make the viewer think. Banksy artwork is being reprinted on canvas art, t-shirts and posters, such is the popularity of the street artist.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 am and is filed under Art. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.