stickers

TODD BRATRUD

in ,

(1975, Minnesota, US)

Todd Bratrud is an illustrator and artist born on the same day as the wreck of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. He is the owner of Send Help skateboards, previously known as The High Five skateboards. 

He is currently living in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota until he moved to Santa Cruz, California in 1999 to become the art director of Consolidated Skateboards. 

He has created hundreds of graphics for skateboards, stickers, advertisements and apparel for companies like Consolidated Skateboards, Flip Skateboards, Birdhouse Skateboards, Enjoi Skateboards, Black Label Skateboards, Creature Skateboards, Real Skateboards and Volcom. He is also an illustrator and blogger for The Skateboard Mag. Examples of his skateboard graphics can be found in the book Disposable, published by Ginkgo Press.

Watch this video of Todd presenting his book:


SHEPARD FAIREY

in ,

(1970, South Carolina, US)

Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (…OBEY…) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), which appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News.

Fairey's first art museum exhibition, entitled Supply & Demand (as was his earlier book), was held in Boston at the Institute of Contemporary Art during the summer of 2009. The exhibition featured more than 250 works in a wide variety of media: screen prints, stencils, stickers, rubylith illustrations, collages, and works on wood, metal and canvas.

As a complement to the ICA exhibition, Fairey created public art works around Boston. The artist explains his driving motivation: "The real message behind most of my work is 'question everything'."

In July of 2015, Fairey was arrested and detained at Los Angeles International Airport, after passing through customs, on a warrant for allegedly vandalizing 14 buildings in Detroit. He subsequently turned himself in to Detroit Police.

Watch this video of OBEY:


LONDON POLICE

in ,

(1998)

The London Police started in 1998 when big English geezers headed to Amsterdam to rejuvenate the visually disappointing streets of the drug capital of the world.

The motive was to combine travelling and making art to create an amazing way of life not seen since the days of King Solomon. From 2002 onward TLP started sending missionaries into all corners of the globe. Known for their iconic LADS characters and precision marking TLP have recently celebrated 10 strong years in the art world and their work has graced streets and galleries in 35 countries during this time.

London policemen have come and gone but founding members are still known to walk the streets of every city in the world spreading love with pens and stickers.

Watch this video of The London Police painting a mural at Art Basel 2007:

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