Mr. Stikman, Sing Me A Song

6th and Spruce, Philadelphia

Have you seen him in your city?

8th and Market, Philadelphia

Lying around on the pavement, looking melty and robotic.

He makes me happy.

Thank you, "Bob", Stikman's creator.

Stikman - a Look at Mysterious Stickman Street Art in Crosswalks...a Washington Post reporter did have an exchange with someone claiming responsibilities for these diminutive glyphs. Calling himself "Bob," to maintain his obscurity, this individual explained that "He considers himself an artistic Johnny Appleseed, spreading stikmen instead of seeds."

On the Trail of the Mysterious Stikman
Created by an unknown guerrilla street artist from corrugated plastic, vinyl records, burlap sacks or scraps of wood, metal or cloth, the robot figure, dubbed stikman, can be seen all over town. From the District to Boston and as far away as Hollywood, it has been spotted on building walls, newspaper boxes and traffic signs. But stikman is seen most often in crosswalks, as a sticker pasted to the pavement.

At first, I found something zombielike about stikman. Maybe it was the vacant stare and stiff pose. When I introduced him to a friend, she was dismissive, declaring him "creepy." Yet by the time I was pointing him out to other people, my affection had grown. He was a wallflower at a party of tourists and nine-to-fivers. He was shy, awkward and often frozen alone in traffic.

More images:
Stikman in D.C.
Philadelphia Stikman Flickr group photos
Stikman in NYC
Another Flickr collection

Related street art:
Toynbee tiles

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Hat tip to my brother for discovering the origins of stikman for me.

Addendum: My daughter found this one in near South station in Boston.

Near South station in Boston