On the left we have the Street Art Stencil book from OllyStudio published by Lawrence King. It’s less a brief introduction to stencil artists and more a book of actual laser cut stencils you can use to make the artists more famous or get them into trouble. The skateboarding gnome is attributed to Bandit. On the right is a stencil as seen on the Twitter feed of Longboard Girls Crew @longboardgirls. It’s pretty good renegade stencil work but it’s hard to ignore the some obvious signs of Photoshop manipulation. Just look at the repeated patterns on the bottom right. Is the whole thing fake? Even if it is, it’s a good idea. My favorite type of street art is the kind that incorporates some element of the surroundings in the composition instead of just using it as a canvas. – Thanks to MC and @philosophersk8r for the tip.

TR853-1™ is a “street artist” form SIngapore who, among other things, puts up these small stencils of skateboarding figures. I think these are most interesting when done in a temporal context. Some of them appear to float mid air without any reference until they are seen at the right time of day or night with the correct accompanying shadow. Another cool thing about TR853-1™, aka Trase is that he’s got the artwork available for free download, so you can make your own. I love stencil art, it’s been a long time since I dabbled. I have a hard time believing he’s doing these pieces in Singapore though, considering their harsh stance on chewing gum. I can’t imagine what would happen if he got pinched mid-stencil. Check out some of his work. – Thanks to Mike Buckley for the tip.