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

Guerrilla street artist Clet Abraham may be the Banksy of the boulevard, hacking road signs with stickers and encouraging people to question authority. Our lead image dated August 31st of 2013 comes courtesy of Flickr member Oilvier Ortelpa, who snapped Abraham’s enhanced traffic sign in Brussels, capital of the EU.

Clet Abraham‘s creative road sign hacks turn everyone’s frowns upside down – well, unless you work for the City – but his subversive street sign stencils are meant to be more than just amusing. The Florence, Italy-based guerrilla artist sees graphic, no-nonsense road signs as uncompromising symbols of authority. His clever stencils facilitate alternate interpretations of the signs’ harsh and uncompromising symbolism, and thus invite the public to think twice before blindly obeying those anonymous commands.

One of Abraham’s favorite targets is the ubiquitous red & white NO ENTRY sign. Possibly alluding to the human tragedy of Europe’s migrant crisis, Abraham hopes to provoke more public debate over the concept of NO ENTRY and what it means to not only those hoping to come to Europe but those already living there. Some examples of the artist’s work in his hometown of Florence are shown above, snapped by Flickr member Marianne (Mariannera) in October of 2013.

When In Rome, Hack The Signs

Now 50 years old, Abraham has lived in Florance since 2005 but originally hails from Brittany, France. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Rennes before moving to Rome, where he honed his skills restoring antique artworks – you won’t find any botched frescoes on his resume!

It was the “omnipresence of street signs” in Italy, however, that spurred Abraham “to intervene, both to notify the public of the absurdity of the situation, and to propose a constructive and respectful alternative.”  Flickr member Philosofia captured a small selection of Abraham’s work on the streets of Rome in January of 2012.

Labor Of Love

“My adhesives are developed to add a further level of reading (to street signs),” adds Abraham, “constructed on the base of their original signification in order to maintain its utility but give it some intellectual, spiritual, or simply amusing interest. The final objective? That traffic keeps flowing without us feeling spoken down to!” Flickr member Irene Grassi snapped the above sun-faded stenciled sign in Florence on January 1st of 2015.

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Warming Signs Clet Abraham Rewrites Rules Of The Road

How would you react if you were walking down the street and happened to notice a pair of hands or a face pressed up against a ventilation grate on a wall? Getting over the initial shock of fear that someone really was trapped inside, you’d marvel at the incredible realism of these street art stickers by pioneering Brooklyn-based Dan Witz.

The artist is a trained realist painter, and his figures are stunningly lifelike. For his series ‘Ugly New Buildings‘, Witz places these tromp l’oeil figures in places where vehicles tend to bottleneck, telling SF Weekly, “People are in their cars and inching forward, and they’re like, ‘What’s that?,’ but they can’t get out and steal it because they’d be crazy to get out of their cars.”

Of the series, Witz says, “In the past few years much of my neighborhood in Brooklyn has been torn down to make way for luxury housing. For better or worse it’s a whole new street-scape out here. Personally, I can’t say I like the new modern architecture very much, it’s sterile and so arrogantly disconnected with its surroundings sometimes it seems like giant alien space ships have landed in the night.”

Dan Witz – What the %$#@? : San Francisco 2011 from Colin M Day on Vimeo.

“But, at the very least, there’s some interesting new textures and surfaces to interact with. These are photo-based, heavily re-painted stickers, mounted on plastic and glued to the walls of the Ugly New Buildings. I hit the Lower East Side and East Village in Manhattan, and Bushwick, Dumbo, Greenpoint and Williamsburg out here in Brooklyn.”

Witz, who has been covertly altering billboards and performing other “corporate vandalism” since the 1970s, appeared in Banksy’s 2010 film ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’, featuring his ‘Do Not Enter‘ sign in Brooklyn. See a selection of Witz’ art from the 1970s to today at his website, or check out his latest book, ‘In Plain View: 30 Years of Artworks Illegal and Otherwise.’

When you walk by graffiti in the street, do you take the time to study it? Do you look at its composition to determine the intention of the person behind the spray paint can? If you do, you may notice that there are identifiable styles or types of graffiti. From the simple, quickly-done tags to the elaborate and often breathtaking full-wall pieces, graffiti runs the gamut. There’s a whole language and complicated hierarchy of graffiti out there that most people simply walk by every day without noticing.

Tag

(images via: orangeacid)

Tagging is the simplest type of graffiti, consisting of the writer’s street name in one color. Tags are basically the graffiti writer’s signature; if they’re associated with a crew, they might also contain the crew’s name or initials. Tags can be seen everywhere and are done in spray paint, markers or pens. If a tag is put up over another writer’s tag or piece, it’s extremely disrespectful.

Throw-Up

(images via: kami68k)

A throw-up is a little more complicated than a tag, usually having two or three colors, but not nearly as elaborate as a piece. A throw-up is something that can be done quickly and repeatedly, while still identifying the writer. They’re usually done in bubble letters, often in one color with a differently-colored outline. When a graffiti writer goes out bombing, they’re usually either putting up tags or throw-ups all over their area.

Stencil

(images via: urbanartcore.eu)

Using stencils is a quick and effective way to put up somewhat-complicated pieces very quickly. By holding the stencil against the wall and spraying, you can get a much more detailed picture than you would be able to with just a spray can. Even if you use two or three layers to make a more colorful and intricate picture, stencil graffiti can be thrown up in a matter of minutes. This is the type of graffiti that was made popular by the likes of Blek le Rat and Banksy and has now taken hold with graffiti writers everywhere.

Stickers (Slaps)

(images via: djwudi)

Stickers are a quick and easy (some say lazy) way to throw up a tag quickly. Graffiti writers used to use the “Hi, My Name Is” name tag stickers, but these days it’s also common to see them on the free address labels you can get from the Post Office. It’s just as likely to see elaborate, professional-looking printed stickers with a message or image plastered all over. Graffiti artists like stickers because  they can take their time on the art in private, then quickly slap them up wherever.

Wildstyle

(images via: ferretfacejones)

Wildstyle is a particular style of writing that was developed and popularized by graffiti artists like Tracy 168, Stay High 149 and Zephyr in New York City. It’s a complicated and extremely stylized form of writing that, to the untrained eye, is not easy to read. Wildstyle writing features arrows, spikes, curves and other elements that non-graffiti artists may have a hard time understanding. Wildstyle pieces are often 3D and considered to be one of the most complicated forms of graffiti.

Piece

(images via: fooishbar, ash-man, Marshall Astor & Caneles)

A piece (short for masterpiece) is a graffiti painting, much more complex than a tag and having at least three colors. Pieces are hard to do illegally because of the time and effort involved, so a good piece will gain a lot of respect for that particular graffiti artist. As graffiti has gotten more respect as a legitimate art form, a lot of pieces have been commissioned – or at least the artists given permission to put them up.

Blockbuster

(images via: otherthings, meophamman & RepoMan84)

A blockbuster is used to cover maximum area in a minimal amount of time. Often consisting of large block letters, the blockbuster can be accomplished with paint rollers and two or three colors of paint. Usually a blockbuster is put up to cover up other work or block other writers from putting anything up on the same area.

Heaven

(images via: two instincts & Liam d’Noit)

A heaven is a piece that’s put up in a very hard-to-reach location, often near or on the tops of tall buildings or on freeway signs. Because they’re so dangerous and difficult to reach, graffiti artists who manage to get a piece up in such a spot will usually gain some added respect from their peers.