Mystery Science Theater 3000 (or MST3K for short) was a Nineties pop culture TV phenomenon that endures through graffiti, stickers, stencils and street art.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 debuted on Minneapolis TV station KTMA in late 1988 and the final episode (#211 for those keeping count) of its tenth season aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in September of 1999. Skewering late twentieth century society and culture along with the “cheesy movies” it riffed on every Sunday A.D., the show featured Joel Hodgson (aka Joel Robinson) and later Mike Nelson accompanied by their robot friends and co-riffers Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot.

As seen in our lead image snapped by Flickr member huntingtherare in 2010 and the next one, captured by Flickr member Courtney “Coco” Mault in 2007, the show’s most identifiable trope is the silhouette of Servo, Hodgson/Nelson and Crow in movie-watching mode.

Hands Down

One of the most famous MST3K episodes (and one of the worst movies ever made, regardless) was “Manos: The Hands of Fate”. The 24th episode of MST3K’s Season 4 aired in January of 1993 and was preceded by a short film – also mercilessly riffed – called “Hired”. Just how bad was Manos, a 1966 ultra-low-budget horror flick? To quote Joel, “Every frame of this movie looks like someone’s last known photograph.” Flickr member Thomas Anderson snapped this blood-red stencil of the Manos hands on a Chicago street back in the fall of 2007.

Cambot, Is That You?

Besides Crow and Servo, the main human protagonist of MST3K also enjoyed the company of robotic characters Gypsy (played by producer Jim Mallon) and Cambot. We’re not sure if whomever stenciled the sign above was inspired by the latter or if it’s just coincidental. The sign is (or was, in September of 2009) located outside the Electric Fetus, a renowned Minneapolis record store, and was snapped by Flickr member 612 to 651.

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Riffin Large Mst3k Graffiti Stickers Stencils

North Korea may be making the headlines like never before but the world’s graffiti artists have been featuring the Hermit Kingdom’s leaders for years.

When it comes to North Korea, there’s a lot to look down on. Take the country’s unique leadership – a communist dynasty? Who knows what the late Karl Marx might think of that (though it’s not hard to guess). In any case, NK-themed graffiti and street art should never be looked down upon, at least not by those living outside North Korea. Flickr user _eddie999_ brings us our lead image featuring Team America: World Police’s take on Kim Jong-il, snapped in Brighton, UK early in 2012. Just below, Mauricio Balvanera’s (maubrowncow) 2007 photo of a stenciled North Korean soldier with a flower in the muzzle of his rifle gazes out from a wall near the Toy Factory Lofts in Los Angeles, California.

The Sun Is (Still) There

Kim Il-sung (“Kim become the sun”) was North Korea’s first supreme leader – the “Great Leader” in official parlance – who held power from 1948 to his death from natural causes in 1994. Among his most lasting accomplishment was the establishment of the Kim ruling dynasty, now into its third generation in the form of Kim Jong-un. Speaking of lasting accomplishments, Flickr user Loïc Brohard snapped the above artwork captioned “Vote Kim il Sung” in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in April of 2010.

The Son Is Here

Kim Jong-il inherited power from his father in 1994 and was known in North Korea as the “Dear Leader”. Flickr user Larry Jones (westbymidwest) captured this full-color portrait of Kim Jong-il in full panhandler mode on September 20th of 2009 at the Albany Bulb, an artificial landfill peninsula extending westward from the the east shore of San Francisco Bay. It’s uncertain whether the splash of orange paint across the portrait’s “HELP” sign is part of the original composition or a later amendment.

A Spectacles Of Himself

Kim Jong-il was over 50 years old when he assumed North Korea’s leadership but he had been groomed for the position since the early 1980s. Kim the Second raised the cult of personality established and encouraged by his father to ever-greater heights. The stencil above, found in NYC’s Koreatown district, dates from 2009 and was captured in April of that year by Flickr user e.yamasaki.

The Future’s So Bright…

Kim Jong-il’s designer shades take center stage in the above NYC photo pastiche snapped in late 2011 by Flickr user allan molho (amolho4). Sources state Kim Jong-il was a fervent fan of Western cinema, boasting a collection of over 20,000 titles including every Elvis Presley flick. His fascination with “The King” in his late-1960’s rhinestone jumpsuit phase may have influenced Kim’s sartorial preferences, at least when it came to prescription and fashion eyewear.

Thanks, Obama

First rule of tinfoil-hat prognostication and doomsday cult propaganda: never predict near-future events! The unknown creator of the above paste-up mini-manifesto evidently didn’t get that memo. To their credit, they did manage to evoke the spirits (and images) of Lincoln, Churchill and an alarmingly youthful FDR to add weight to their shrill Cassandra callout. Bonus: stating “Prime minister of North Korea said so its the God truth.” Kudos to Flickr users shoehorn99 and allan molho (amolho4) for capturing these ravings in August of 2008 and April of 2009, respectively.

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Nk Ink North Korea Graffiti Stencils Street Art

Vladimir Putin of Russia is a polarizing figure to say the least, as these examples of street art, graffiti and stencils from all over the world illustrate.

Considering his position at the zenith of Russian politics for most of the 21st century, it’s really no surprise Vladimir Putin has topped Forbes list of The World’s Most Powerful People the last four years running. Such global influence hasn’t gone unrecognized by the world’s artistic community either, though their acknowledgment isn’t always complimentary.

One place where you WILL find pro-Putin street art is in Crimea, the Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in March of 2014. Are these flattering public portraits really the work of independent street artists? That’s the authorities’ story and they’re sticking to it.

Social media users aren’t sure what to think of the tributes and as one might think, critiques are a delicate matter – Big Brother really is watching. Even so, some anonymous protesters have made their feelings felt, in some cases so effusively the compromised “artwork” has had to be painted over.

The Worm Turns

In other parts of the Ukraine, Putin is, er, not so highly regarded. The above graffiti from Ternopol, western Ukraine, implies Putin has acted in an insidious, duplicitous, “wormlike” manner. The German stahlhelm is meant to evoke a previous threat to Ukrainian lives and livelihoods.

Ukraine Not Weak, Very Tasty

Being the powerful leader of a nation practicing an aggressive foreign policy is a two-edged sword: that leader becomes the focus of resentment, resistance and remonstrance by the aggressees. This graffiti of Putin acting power-hungry was painted in Odessa in April of 2014 by artist Sviatoslav Lavrusenko. “I think, Putin will get indigestion, if he does not stop,” states Lavrusenko on his Facebook page.

“The character ‘HACKERMAN’ from the 2015 film Kung Fury… is used in jokes regarding a person’s inflated sense of self-esteem when they solve a simple technical issue,” according to Know Your Meme. Russia’s alleged hacking of the DNC during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, however, was (a) no joke and (b) doubtlessly did little to boost Vladimir Putin’s healthy sense of self-esteem. This cleverly painted corrugated metal garage door can be found in Melbourne, Australia.

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Breaking Vlad Street Art Takes On Vladimir Putin

Nearly photo-realistic figures stenciled in place make bright surrounding tags all the more vibrant in this series of street art juxtapositions by artist Martin Whatson of Norway.

The characters, generally rendered in black and white, are sized and scaled like residents and passers by in the built environment. The tags, rich and overlapping, look more like what most people would call “graffiti.” The anti-artist Gray Ghost comes to mind, famous for painting over the works of other artists, like Banksy.

On their own, each component is somewhat predictable, but in their interactions these works come to life. The characters look through windows surrounded by color, or sweep up street graffiti, or pull back walls to reveal it. The tags, in turn, add light and life to the scenes, points of color in a drab and dreary city.

Much of his work breaks this format as well, but generally still finds itself at the interaction of urban spaces and imaginary worlds. Below, a figure painting clouds on the wall gives depth and dimension on both fronts: the clouds seem to go back and the painter appears to stand out.

More about the artist and his approach: “Martin has a continuous urge to search for beauty in what is commonly dismissed as ugly, out of style or simply left behind. He looks for inspirations in people, city landscapes, old buildings, graffiti, posters and decaying walls. This interest for decay has helped develop his style, motives and composition and he enjoys creating either unity or conflict between materials, backgrounds, motives and human intervention” (via Colossal).

Making his way through the boroughs of New York, the infamous but mysterious interventionist Banksy is broadcasting new stencils, installations and mixed media work all month as a street-artist-in-residence in America’s largest city.

In Midtown Manhattan, his figures, phrases, plays on words and signage can be found defacing (or at least: refacing) concrete walls and garage doors in Banksy’s typical self-referential style. From there, he has moved onto Williamsburg and other Brooklyn neighborhoods, and no one knows quite where he will pop up next.

As he often does in new destinations, Banksy is actively toying with New York City culture and tropes, from its stylized graffiti fonts to its world-famous Broadway shows (his contribution to existing tags above: “The Musical” stenciled alongside each).

Branching out from two-dimensional pieces, here is “a New York delivery truck converted into a mobile garden (includes rainbow, waterfall and butterflies).” This piece in particular is also actually moving around the city: “The truck will visit a different location every evening from dusk,” starting in an East Village location.

Perhaps best of all, this time Banksy also provides wonderful faux-vintage commentary on this series (titled: Better In Than Out) in the form of audio tour files you can click to play on Banksy’s website – or by calling a special toll-free number found spray-painted next to a number of these pieces: 1-800-656-4271. Of course, as always and almost as quickly as they appear, many of his works are being erased or defaced by city workers or other street artists – it goes with the territory.