Stencil Republic

Ollystudio
Laurence King

Compiled and designed by Ollystudio, a London-based creative studio, Stencil Republic features 20 laser-cut stencils on perforated card stock. Including an introduction by Japanese born and Brooklyn-based street artist Lady Aiko and an in-depth interview with Stencil King (a.k.a. Hugo Kaagman), this is a visually stimulating introduction to stencils, spraypaint and public space.

Each of the featured artists has created an in-situ photograph to accompany their stencil, which gives the templates an important sense of context. This is complemented by short biographical information, giving the reader an insight into the individual artist’s background and their reasons for choosing the medium of street art.

This book is essentially an introduction to the field of stencilling, not only as a technique but also as a means of social and political protest, therefore it piques interest. However, the most frustrating thing about the text is that to make the most of the contextual information and the DIY “paint and bomb” potential, you really have to buy two copies – one for reading and one for cutting apart.

Florence Wright