"http://www.chrisstain.com/"> src="http://www.woostercollective.com/images/nomorewar2.jpg" WIDTH= "200" ALIGN=
"left" hspace="10">  Back in December, a friend gave us Tristan Manco’s
amazing book, Stencil Graffiti.
We’d been familiar with some of the great stencil work that was being done
around the world, but it wasn’t until we went through the entire book that we
understood the true depth of what can be achieved by working with stencils.  The
artist Manco leaves you with to ponder as you close the book is Baltimore
printmaker Chris Stain.  And it’s easy to see why.  Stain incorporates classic
imagery from our past into his handcut stencils.  Workers in the field… the
railroads…. ironworks…. It’s as if the stencil medium was created
specifically to match Stain’s iconography. Lately Stain’s been working closely
with another Baltimore artist, Scout.  Scout describes their partnership this
way:

“I met Chris up here and we hit it off immediately. Alot of
folks think we’ve known each other all of our lives when they watch us interact. 
He lives by me and we just constantly print stickers, posters, signs, do the
stencil paintings as well as piece, tag etc.”

Chris was kind enought
to answer our five questions:

Wooster: How did you get
started in creating stencil art for the street?

Chris: i got
into graffiti in 1984. ever since then i have had my eye on the streets and what
people were putting up there.

Wooster: What originally
inspired you to do stencils?

Chris: i had no money for screen
printing equipment and i wanted to reproduce images so i started cutting
stencils out of carddboard and spraypainted them onto posters and stickers. soon
after i saw work by seth tobocman, "http://www.workhorsevisuals.com/">chris francis, chris bettig and "http://www.workhorsevisuals.com/">logan hicks were all in baltimore at the
same time i was so we all crossed paths and were able to feed off of each others
energy. the content of chris francis’ work really pumped me up to try multi-
colored stencils.

Wooster:  What other street artists do you
most admire?

Chris: i ‘ve got some old school graff friends
from baltimore who i have always admired for taking it to the next level namely
metasin & href= "http://www.inthedream.com/voke/re_programingabstract.html">voke. they
were always pushing me to think outside of the box.  currently i am working with
scout. it was his idea to hang the paintings in boarded up windows and abandoned
spaces. which is where we are at now.

Wooster: What’s your
favorite city, neighborhood, or block, to post and/or to see street art?
/>
WIDTH= "150" align= "right">Chris: coming to nyc is always inspiring. its
like a gallery that is always open. its a good vibe to pick up on.

/>Wooster: What inspires you now?

Chris: inspiration
for work right now is coming from the anti-war movement. but on another level i
get inspired when i see people put their heart into their work and then place it
on the street for free, for everybody. i get inpired when people take whatever
shitty situation they are in and try to do something postive with it. as a
carpenter called it recently “trying to make chicken soup outta chicken shit”.
its tough but you gotta try for somethin better from where you are at.

/>To see more works by Stain and Scout, check out their "http://www.chrisstain.com/">website.