Over ten years ago the London based Street Artist Stik started painting Stik figures in the Streets of London. Stik is the most hyped Street Artist in the whole world at the moment. So we have been really happy to get the chance being on the run with him during his stay in Berlin.
Usually the focus should stay on the Artworks and not on the artist. But after hanging around with Stik in Berlin, hearing his stories and having a good time with him, there are some things which should be written about the Artist himself. Stik was homeless, for over ten years. A lot of this time he was living in squats and St. Mungos Hostels who are supporting homeless people. So he knows the other side of our society and how hard and ugly the Street life can be if you are an outsider, a forgotten one.
A very good example to point out his personality is this story: A really bad company (Stik would have NEVER worked with them) used his artworks for adverts without his permission. A lawyer was taking legal actions for Stik and the company had to pay 10.000 pounds. But Stick didn’t want to take that money and donated it directly to the St. Mungos hostels.Stiks past has and will ever have a big influence on his behaviour, not just by donating and working on charity projects but to go out and make the city more beautiful where he used to live: On the Streets.
His works are minimalistic, androgynous and made with simple shapes. That Stik is „just“ painting Stik Men in his simple style is generating a controversy. Some people have the opinion that his works aren’t real artistic, because they seem to be very simple. But right this simplicity makes his Street Art so special, transporting countless human emotions with 6 lines and 2 dots is the real challenge he is mastering like no one else. And of course there are a lot of celebrity’s in his fan base. Pictures got bought by people like: Sir Elton John, Bono from U2, Tini Tempah and the Duke of Kent
„I just draw 6 line and 2 dots. So every single line needs to tell a story.“ –Stick
The idea of Street Art is that it is accessible for free, free to everybody, it is about making our world a little more beautiful. It is about changing the world in an positive way and it is about communication with in the society. Stick is breaking up the natural borders between the different spoken languages. He found the key of telling story’s in a new kind of international, for all understandable, universal language: Pure emotions. Stiks works are an perfect example that six lines and two dots can say more than a thousand words.
