The popularity of sticker art has rocketed among contemporary urban artists, but the medium's history stretches back to the 1950s and is intertwined with the growth of the advertising industry. Countless urban artists have cited the fight against ubiquitous consumer manipulation as their reason for choosing to work so publicly in the streets.

In the early 20th century the medium became popular with the Dadaists; in the 1960s artists started to use large-size posters. In the late 1970s, the so-called 'Suicide Club' and 'Billboard Liberation Front' became known through their altered advertising posters. Only a few urban artists revealed their identities and they often felt ill at ease in the sterile atmosphere of galleries, chose their own paths and captured their own audiences.

However, the greatest creative act of rebellion in urban spaces was the graffiti movement ...