Critical Review
Plaque (heritage blue) is a resin plaque released in 2011 as a signed edition of 12. Unlike Stik’s towering murals and bold prints, Plaque cuts a diminutive and quiet figure, measuring 2.3 cm in diameter and 2 cm in depth. Hand-painted and cast in tinted resin, the plaque features a figure which is classic Stik, but takes on an emphasised air of vulnerability with its small size.
The use of resin is a further example of Stik experimenting with materials of the street in his art, highly reminiscent of his use of traffic lights in his exhibition entitled Walk. The use of resin in a piece destined for the gallery articulates Stik’s vision of his work as a process that is a continuous “collaboration with the city”. He originally relied on materials found on the street, noting: “I was pretty broke and painted on found materials, pulling things out of rubbish bins.”
The decision to work with resin complicates the neat division between Stik’s street and gallery practice, between which he has tended to draw a contrast. With Plaque, Stik brings materials associated with the urban exterior into the contained environment of the gallery interior.
