Meet Chicago Stencil Art Virtuoso: Trip One

From the outside looking in, it's natural for many to think stencil art is easier than freehand art. That's until you give a painter a box cutter and spray paint, the main tools used by Chicago emerging artist Trip One. His style derives from artists like Blek le Rat ( Founder of the Stencil Movement) and an artist most everyone knows: Banksy. The imagery found in his work is comparable to artists like Mike Mozart. Who also goes by the name "Real Ghost Artist".

Looking at the process of Trip's work you can imagine how long a single piece can take. While most artists are use to getting paint on their clothes, they don't have to deal with one major factor that many stencil artists go through. "Getting nasty cuts is all part of perfecting your craft." We'll spare the images of missing fingertips. Trip One began as a street artist in grade school, but as time went on that rush from doing illegal graffiti began to fade. So he shifted his attention more towards canvas work and building custom frames. Often times you'll see the number 372 appear in his work. "I didn't want to put my name on every piece. It just seemed too routine, so I started replacing it with a personal number."

Stencil art is tedious work, but it's become an obsession for Trip. For smaller pieces he creates a base image with a custom cut stencil, then does the rest freehand. After witnessing him create work live, you get to see the art of prediction. When the paint hits the stencil you have to understand what areas your blocking and what's being let through. Many of the pieces found in his collection of work require as many as 5 overlapping stencils done in stages in order to create the final image.

Over the years, Trip's work has become more recognized from collectors outside of the Midwest. Although he still holds down his regular day job, we wouldn't be surprised to see him become a full-time artist in the future. Trip is now accepting a limited amount of commission work in 2019. Here's a collection of some of our favorite pieces he's created over the years.

"Stop Crime" 2014

"Never Stop" 2017

"Thanks A Bucket" 2018

"Supreme Hustle" 2019