Sickboy (artist)

Sickboy (1980^[1]) is the name of a street artist from Bristol,^[2] UK, known for his temple logo and his 'Save the Youth' slogan.^[3] Sickboy moved to London in 2007 and his street art became prevalent particularly in the Shoreditch area and London Borough of Tower Hamlets.^[4]

Sickboy originally trained in fine art^[5] and, as well as painting graffiti on the street, he also paints on canvas and exhibits conventionally in art galleries. He has been painting street art since circa 1995.^[4] In recent years Sickboy has become known for painting his 'temple' logo on wheelie bins, which can then be worth up to £50,000.^[6]

In a 2011 The Guardian article Sickboy named Spanish street artist La Mano as a major influence. He said "At the time, graffiti was mainly seen as letter-based, but [Le Mano] just used a logo and repeated it... I'd never been a big fan of stencil work, which is where a lot of people think graffiti crosses over into more acceptable street art. La Mano stuck more closely to the graffiti aspect, which I try to adhere to now. I like the freehand, grab-a-tin-of-spray-paint approach".^[7]