bonniegrrl | Aug. 17th, 2005

For those of you interested in street art (stenciling and sticker bombing) and Star Wars, my article about artists and graf writers who pay tribute to R2-D2, Clone troopers, Vader, Yoda and the rest of the galactic gang can be found in Star Wars Insider -- Issue #83 (now on newsstands).

I interviewed Tristan Manco (author of Stencil Graffiti and Street Logos), as well as stencil artists Eelus, Dolk Lundgren, Pawel, and Derek from Urban Medium -- the indie design house who created the popular CheTrooper stickers.

If you have a membership to the Star Wars official fan club -- Hyperspace -- you can also read my online suppliment to the article here, where I also interview Matt from Evil Design about his Yoda/Mr. T mashup stickers.

I think the article is an interesting take on how Star Wars iconography has been used in underground culture and art since the movie saga first debuted in the '70s. It always surprises me how Lucas' world influences and inspires all kinds of artists around the world.

One of the best quotes from the piece is from Derek at Urban Medium, who in addition to the CheTrooper stickers made one of R2-D2 as a boombox-carrying tagger called "DJ-D2."

"Remember in Return of the Jedi when Artoo is cruising around Jabba's sail barge serving alien drinks? Well, I always imagined what Artoo would be doing if he rolled with us. I liked the thought of him cruising through the city with a boombox and a can of spray paint -- altering walls with Imperial symbol stencils."

Hope you dig my article, and please drop me a line letting me know what you think of it!