The interview with "The Unividuals" offers a captivating glimpse into the world of contemporary art, particularly within the realm of sticker artists. These enterprising artists, known for their iconic faceless figure, share their journey with us, from their early forays into the art of stickers to their visions for the future. Through their words, fundamental themes emerge: collaboration, community, and the importance of keeping authenticity alive in the art world. The interview provides a unique opportunity to explore an often underestimated yet extraordinarily fascinating artistic movement.
How did you become a recognized artist in the sticker art scene, and what have been your major collaborations with other artists?
Not sure we deserve that label but to get recognized as an artist in the sticker scene, in our opinion, is to engage with the community.
Do collaborations, send your stuff to sticker festivals, put up stickers on the street, your own
and those of others. Maybe do an open call or an open collaboration or two.
Of course an appealing artstyle, a prolific production of pieces and a good message that appeals to others also helps. Major collaborations include a comic book made around 2019 with an amazing artist named: Nicholas of the Stars. It was released in a small run and it was a very special collaboration. A set of beautiful animated pieces with Likestyler.
There’s two four way collaborations, one with Whalebomb, Buyit and Dwei that we’re still very
proud of. The second is one with Deef, Broken Reality and Whalebomb which is also pretty
damn special. There have been a lot of them but our collaboration with Bento Ghoul, Spam and Picklechurch are real standouts.
Now the zigzag could represent a long and winding road that symbolizes the turning points that life entails.
Your character lacks a well-defined face. What is the significance behind this choice, and how did the idea of creating such a distinctive character come about?
The zigzag face has taken on a lot of meaning since its creation about 7 years ago.
At first the zigzag was a way to make the drawings that the project started with, universal.
Without a distinctive face, the character could be anyone.
After the actual sticker project was created, the meaning quickly evolved. Now the zigzag could be a long and winding road that signiͽes the twists and turns life entails.
The character also became a truly shapeless entity. They could be anything. Over the years it appeared as so many things, ravens, trees, rats, statues etc Of course the character has a base form but that’s really just to keep it recognizable.
What inspired you to pursue sticker art?
What were your main motivations behind this form of art?
Sticker art initially was a way to send people to the Unividuals instagram. The inspiration for
the first sticker came from watching the documentary ‘Obey Giant’. We were probably not the first ones who were inspired by Shepard Fairey to get into stickers. But it was the discovery of the community that really made us stick with it and get into it seriously.
"Stickermovie" It’s a great movie made by great people. A real celebration of the sticker scene.
"Stickermovie" is about to be released. What are your expectations for this film, and what is your involvement in it?
Yes it is! We’re very excited to have everyone see it. We saw a preview version of it a good while ago. The creators have done an amazing job. Probably a couple years ago now, Agent5Smith and Chilly Willy asked to interview us for the movie and obviously the answer was YES. Subsequently we sent them a great deal of images and videos to use. We can hardly imagine how much material they received from all the great artists they asked to be in the film.
When the film was in the latter stages we received the request to create an animation for a specific snippet of audio that the creators of the film couldn’t and any video material for and it was a real treat to get that opportunity. It was one of the first animations we ever did and it’s
pretty unbelievable to think that it’s part of the movie now.
We think the film is an amazing window into a scene that is actually pretty unknown to most.
Told by artists, for the artists and most importantly, with the artists. It’s a great film made by great people. A true celebration of the sticker scene.
But as long as the artists remember that they started for the love of art, important messages and the freedom to expose their work on the street, without ties, there will always be a small community of stickers pure and beautiful.
How do you envision the future of sticker art?
What trends or developments do you think will occur in this artistic scene?
Not that we are that happy with this vision for the future, but we think eventually stickers will
be recognized by the bigger art community.
This is the way of most disruptive art movements that rise to a certain height as to be noticed by people outside of its own community. Impressionism once was an art movement not recognized by the academy but eventually its validity couldn’t be denied anymore and now it's a household movement.
You already see art galleries becoming more and more interested in stickers. Capitalism only
works one way, something is cool, it gets bigger appeal beyond the initial community and then established brands, companies etc. will see a way to make money with it and eventually the very thing that made it cool will be destroyed.
In its place there will be a caricature of what once was something cool. Gentriͽcation doesn’t
just happen to neighbourhoods, it devours all.
It already happened with other forms of street art, people with more love for money than art
cutting out huge slabs of concrete out of a wall because there is a Banksy on it.
But as long as artists remember that they started out of the love for artwork, important messages and the freedom of displaying their work on the streets, no strings attached, there
will always be a small sticker community that is pure and beautiful.
Which artists have influenced you the most throughout your career?
Is there a particular artist you admire?
From the modern art movement we always loved the works of Joan Miró and Salvador Dalì.
We had a period where we were somewhat obsessed with Sandro Botticelli.
They all had something that really spoke to us. Especially Miró’s journey throughout his long
career, how his style evolved in such a way that it became something different entirely, is
fascinating.
Of course infamous storytellers like Tolkien always inspire with the sheer vastness of their
work, creating an entire universe that seems as real as ours.
But closer to home, we already noted that Shepard Fairey inspired us to create a sticker in the first place. But while doing this Unividuals project we met a lot of artists from around the world and they inspire us daily in all kinds of different ways both with their creative talents and how they are as people. Artists like: Buyit, Picklechurch, Agent5Smith, Kitska, Whalebomb, Sly Maceo, Chad Bilyeu and obviously, a lot more.
Doing this project has given us the opportunity to meet a lot of great people.
The first "Unividuals Original" should be available on all streaming platforms in audio form before the end of 2023.
What are your future projects in the world of art?
Are there new ideas or projects that you are planning to pursue?
We’re on a mission to see what you can do with a single project.
The Unividuals will be taking up all our time for the foreseeable future. We’re now looking into
writing, creating original stories that should further explain the point of view that the project is trying to convey. The first ‘ Unividuals Original ‘ will, hopefully, hit all streaming platforms in audio form before '23 comes to an end. Once again we’ve teamed up with producer Sly Maceo (composer and producer behind the Unividuals Anthem that was released a few years ago) to create a very short audiobook. Since we’re almost at the end of the year, we can reveal the title here, it’s gonna be titled: ‘The Abyss and the Boy’.
There is also a new comic book on the way, but that will take more time to complete.
Lastly, how do you view the European art scene in relation to the American one? Are there significant differences between the two artistic scenes that you have observed throughout your career?
We feel that the European scene kinda follows the American one. For us we actually connected with the US scene before ever connecting to the European one. When we first started we gravitated towards artists from, what looked like, sticker artist valhalla: Portland, Oregon.
The fact that the premier of Stickermovie is taking place over there, is more proof that it’s amajor sticker town. Perhaps there’s more of an entrepreneurial spirit among US artists than among European ones, although that seems to be catching up. But what Stickermovie also shows is that throughout the world, not even just EU and US, is that there are people who have a similar mindset when it comes to stickers and that the rules of the community are also widely held. So while there are maybe subtle differences between sticker artists in different places of the world, the basic tenets are the same, any sticker artist could ͽnd common ground with another no matter where they are from. That’s one of the things that makes this movement great.
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