If you are following us on any of our platforms you gotta know there is one hella slap show coming up March 29th at Chopsticks UAS. There is still time to mail in your slaps. And if you can’t seem to find that envelope and stamp you can haul ass to Slapocalypse and join in the fun with or without your slaps.
So what is all this fuss over stickers? We asked Nite Owl of Chopsticks to share his insights.
Like who does them?
All the cool kids are doing em. no seriously, all the coolest heads rock slaps !!! It used to be that slaps received zero respect on the streets, but over the years they’ve become a legit form of getting up. Nobody is going to mistake it for a dope burner, but if you play the game right you’ll earn your respect on the streets.
Slaps are cool since they have no boundaries. When we held the first Slapocalypse show back in 2012 we were expecting every writer in the bay area to send in their slaps, but what we found was that people of all walks of life were sending in slaps. Artists / Writers / little kids and normal people like your Mom were sending in their stickers and slaps. It definitely opened our eyes to the sticker scene. I think the reason behind this is that there is zero barrier to entry. All you need is a blank slap and a marker to get at it! This also answers why the USPS Label 228’s and the HELLO MY NAME IS stickers are so ubiquitous on the streets. They’re free if your racking game is tight.
What’s cool about the sticker / slap shows is the amount of females who submit. Can’t explain why, but girls love making stickers. And We love girls who love making slaps ! From a show standpoint, this is the one show we do that draws the greatest amount of female artists.
What materials are used?
Blank stickers of all varieties. As i mentioned the Label 228’s are the hottest ones, followed by any exotic postal stamps (deutsche post, DHL’s, Correo’s are all hot), The HELLO slaps are tight and of course, the more languages you can find these in the better. Make sure you use a PAINT marker for these. Sharpies fade within a week. The paint marker will outlast the postal slaps.
After that you can step it up to the vinyl game. This is for the at home DIY’ers. Burn a screen and start printing in your studio. Hella dope, but hella Toxic.
They are mainly black and white. Why?
Simplicity. Black ink on a roll of white vinyl is the most easily acquired materials. This color combo also has a really good visual impact.
Second, the minute you add another color you add another level or complication and more work. Most writers are rocking the slaps due to efficiency (or laziness) it affords. You’re able to knock out bricks of slaps in no time. It’s quicker than dropping a tag on the streets.
The slap artists that take themselves seriously put another level of effort into their slaps and it shows.
Third reason why they are B+W is price. When you start adding more colors you get more price. When you step up to this level you’ll be creating digital designs and sending them out to quality silkscreen printers such as our good homies over at Sticker Robot. Now these cost money and most writers don’t have the funds for this. If you can afford it, the quality is unmatched.
Content?
whatever… it goes across the whole spectrum. You have the simple tags to hand drawn burners and characters. Some artists do stencils, others just doodle their brains out. Some have agendas or “campaigns” to push and others just like being silly and writing random things that pop into their heads. There is no right or wrong when it comes to content.
Except, we have 1 rule at Chopsticks and Slapocalypse – NO CORPORATE VANDALS – NO CORPORATE SLAPS !!!
How long have they been around and are they now more popular on the street?
Stickers have been around as long as I can recall. As a form of “getting up” I think they only hit legitimacy in the late 90’s and even today some writers will still turn their noses up at you for rocking slaps. But whatever… enjoy your hate. We’ll keep slapping !
The stickers seem to be really prevalent in the Bay Area Scene. Is it like this everywhere?
No, it is not. We are quite fortunate out here in the Bay Area. Stickers have been embraced by the streets and cover the streets out here. I’ve been to cities that don’t have any slaps other than some shitty political bumper stickers (Ron Paul i’m calling you out – That guy is a fucking Vandal hiding behind political aspirations). I make sure to leave my mark when I visit those art less towns. The bay Area street culture is strong! I’m blessed to be a part of this scene. It’s hard to find a surface out here that isn’t slapped up.
What happens at a slap show? Can you buy or trade slaps? Is it just about fun since all the slaps are sent in?
Hell yeah it’s about the fun !!! Artists from all over the world send in their slaps to us. We create some collabo’s that we frame for the walls to showoff. Some slaps are for sale, but 98% of them are given out to the attendee’s. We have a slap table where anyone in attendance can scoop some of the submitted slaps and add their own into the mix. A lot of trading goes on at the shows. People show up and meet other artists that they admire and wind up trading slaps. We also have a few thousand blank slaps on hand so that anyone in the crowd can make their own on the spot. We don’t like leaving people out of the fun.
It’s a blast. It’s a very interactive art show. It’s not about looking at the art on the walls. Grab some blanks, rock something and slap it up !
What’s the premise behind Slapocalypse 3 ?
Well it falls at the end of March, when most people are thinking about March Madness so we went with a final four theme. We are going to rank our 64 favorite submissions. We are also going to be hosting a live Slap Battle during the show. Anyone can battle anyone, as long as they are present. We’re bringing in a basketball hoop for some three point fun and we’ll also have a vehicle outside ready to be covered in slaps !
I hope this answers your slap questions. If not, come out to Slapocalypse 3 and experience it for yourself ! just don’t get too faded. You may wake up to find that you were slapped up !
Visit Chopsticks UAS and Nite Owl
Shop the online store Chopsticks Store and follow on Chopsticks FB
Follow Nite Owl on facebook or see his photos on Instagram
