Critical Review
Walk (red) is a screen print in red, white, and black depicting a stickman in motion, gazing ahead with determination.
This is another example of Stik bringing the street into the art gallery, taking the vibrancy, instability and harsh materials of the urban exterior into the tightly controlled, comfortable space of an exhibition. Whilst neither the prints or the exhibition are objects of street art, they allude to the street being the natural home of Stik’s work. Of his stickmen, the artist has remarked: “I feel they are safer on the streets. And it is also my signal to the world that I exist – somewhat in the vein of a graffiti artist. The street is like a theatre. When I get up there, I join the dialog. My art becomes my voice.”
The action of the stickman in Walk mirrors the motion of the pedestrians who walk past Stik’s murals on a daily basis. Stik has remarked that he enjoys seeing the reactions of viewers as they walk past his graffiti: “They love him. They respond to his simplicity. I like watching people’s reactions to Stik from my studio window.”
