Stencils

Stencil graffiti

Stencils have also become popular for street art, less for graffiti, since stencil art using spray-paint can be produced quickly, cheaply and easily repeatable. These qualities are important for graffiti and street artists where graffiti is illegal or quasi-legal, depending on the city and stenciling surface. The extensive lettering possible with stencils makes it especially attractive to political artists. For example, the anarcho-punk band Crass used stencils of anti-war, anarchist, feminist and anti-consumerist messages in a long-term graffiti campaign around the London Underground system and on advertising billboards from 1977 onwards. There has been a semi-recent trend in making multi-layered stencils with different shades of grey for each layer creating a more detailed stenciled image. Also well known for their use of stencil graffiti are Alex Vallauri, John Fekner, Blek le Rat, Epsylon Point, Marie Rouffet, Nuklé-art, Kim Prisu, Miss Tic and Jef Aérosol from France, British artist Banksy, Tavar Zawacki f.k.a. 'ABOVE', Shepard Fairey's OBEY, and Pirate & Acid from Hollywood, California.