Beyond the Web: Stickers on the Streets of Williamsburg

Walking through Williamsburg can sometimes be like browsing Reddit-esque forums: You’ll see the bizarre, ironic, unusual, amusing and sometimes intelligent things that people do, often anonymously, just to spread an idea or make a statement.

Things as simple as individually cut, hand-drawn lettering can become art when espousing a simple, encouraging and uplifting message. Part of the beauty of this sort of street art lies in this sort of cloaked anonymity–people donate their time, effort, talents and ideas for the sole purpose of sharing those ideas with others, sans money, sans quests for fame, sans corporate influences. These messages, through their anonymity, have a personal sway to them; they have a way of reaching into us and making us consider what was communicated as if someone close to us had spoken that idea.

And in an age where we’re riddled with attempts by commercial industries and politicians to ingrain select messages and associations in our minds, this anonymity and complete lack of self-interest is refreshing. It’s also a reflection of the times we live in. Some seek to promote what we should be doing, while others aim to critique the system.

Very much like Internet/Twitter memes, these works are coming from an untold number of diverse people, and therefore have the capacity to be wonderfully random.