Skull-zombies sticking around
(Art project, rooted in street art, unfolded between 2016 and 2020)
Conceptual Framework
The Skull Zombie project reflects on the discomfort of contemporary society and the conformity imposed on individuals by the cohesion of technology and power. Today, many people act like zombies—neither fully alive nor truly dead, a logical contradiction and a natural aberration.
The human skull is naturally round, spherical. Yet, the zombie skulls in this project are molded into tight, boxed, cube-like forms, bandaged like the bound feet of a chanzú lotus. This transformation is almost imperceptible to the majority, perhaps desensitized by endless spectacles and sterile distractions. The constriction prevents excessive growth, ostensibly for the benefit of societal cohesion, but it is riddled with contradictions that go unnoticed or unaddressed. Art, in this context, speaks to what has been left unsaid. The Skull Zombies are a critique of life, expansion, constriction, and conformity. A quick example? Take modern education. As Pink Floyd famously sang: "We don’t need no thought control... Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!"
From primary school to advanced university studies, an invisible, diffuse force perpetuates the status quo of contemporary society. Through subtle, non-illegal means of manipulation, many educators—self-deluded and serving the "ministry of education"—act more like parasites than life instructors. The ancient concept of paideia (holistic education) has long been forgotten.
Historically, power has often resorted to extreme measures to suppress ideas that challenge the established order. From Socrates to Giordano Bruno, and countless others, this pattern persists even today. The most paradigmatic example is Jesus, whose message of love and harmony has been reduced to the iconic image of the cross—a symbol of punishment, fear, and pain, rather than joy or happiness. And a warning to those who dare confront established power. This lead us to ask if there is a beauty-pain binomial at play here?
The beauty of new ideas—not material things—lies in virtue, correct thoughts, and unbiased freedom. Goodness is beautiful. But for who? Primarily for the young, who are often ignorant and immature, yet necessary for change. On the other hand, pain is ugly. Old ideas, like aging bodies, grow unattractive over time. Desperate to survive, these outdated ideas resort to force, resisting death as if it were an end rather than a transition.
Excessive desire and greed breed a conservative attachment to the status quo, rejecting change as a necessity. This clinging to the past is like an aging actor denying their years through endless cosmetic procedures—a psychological imbalance rather than a sign of a healthy, mature mind.
As you can see, skull-zombie stickers have a quite deep conceptual explanation, beyond stickerbombing.
Visual Design and Archetypes
The visual designs of the Skull Zombies adapt opposing archetypes into antagonistic dichotomies, creating a metaphysics of human relationships through contemporary psychological profiles:
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The Existential Conscious
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The Candid Goodist
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The Self-Pleasing Ignorant
Versus
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The Unrecognized Addict
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The Indolent Hedonist
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The Integrated Psychopath
Medium and Dissemination
The medium chosen for this project was countercultural. When it began in 2016, street stickers were a lesser-known facet of street art, often seen as a minimal expression. For Skull Zombie, the variety of designs was intentional—rather than bombarding the streets with a single image, the goal was to provoke reflection through the message conveyed by each sticker.
Today, the project feels somewhat isolated or misunderstood. While stickers are a countercultural medium, they rarely carry messages of artistic depth. The Skull Zombie designs needed to reflect this depth visually, hence their cubic, three-dimensional forms. These boxed, protruding shapes symbolize the weight of the issues they address. In more advanced designs, shadows were added to create the illusion of floating, further emphasizing their detachment from superficiality.
The designs were more than sufficient to adapt to the paste-up medium, allowing for more elaborate creations than basic stickers. This approach became a recognizable element of the artist’s style, marking a turning point in their broader body of work.
by Papaboule
Skull-zombies all around
This is an art project based on street arts that took place over the years 2016 to 2020.
Conceptual Framework
The Skull Zombie project reflects on the discomfort of contemporary society and the conformity imposed on individuals by the cohesion of technology and power. Today, many people act like zombies—neither fully alive nor truly dead, a logical contradiction and a natural aberration.
The human skull is naturally round, spherical. Yet, the zombie skulls in this project are molded into tight, boxed, cube-like forms, bandaged like the bound feet of a chanzú lotus. This transformation is almost imperceptible to the majority, perhaps desensitized by endless spectacles and sterile distractions. The constriction prevents excessive growth, ostensibly for the benefit of societal cohesion, but it is riddled with contradictions that go unnoticed or unaddressed. Art, in this context, speaks to what has been left unsaid. The Skull Zombies are a critique of life, expansion, constriction, and conformity.
A quick example? Take modern education. As Pink Floyd famously sang: "We don’t need no thought control... Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone!"
From primary school to advanced university studies, an invisible, diffuse force perpetuates the status quo of contemporary society. Through subtle, non-illegal means of manipulation, many educators—self-deluded and serving the "ministry of education"—act more like parasites than life instructors. The ancient concept of paideia (holistic education) has long been forgotten.
Historically, power has often resorted to extreme measures to suppress ideas that challenge the established order. From Socrates to Giordano Bruno, and countless others, this pattern persists even today. The most paradigmatic example is Jesus, whose message of love and harmony has been reduced to the iconic image of the cross—a symbol of punishment, fear, and pain, rather than joy or happiness. This is a hypocritical warning to those who dare confront established power.
Is there a beauty-pain binomial at play here?
The beauty of new ideas—not material things—lies in virtue, correct thoughts, and unbiased freedom. Goodness is beautiful. But for whom? Primarily for the young, who are often ignorant and immature, yet necessary for change. On the other hand, pain is ugly. Old ideas, like aging bodies, grow unattractive over time. Desperate to survive, these outdated ideas resort to force, resisting death as if it were an end rather than a transition.
Excessive desire and greed breed a conservative attachment to the status quo, rejecting change as a necessity. This clinging to the past is like an aging actor denying their years through endless cosmetic procedures—a psychological imbalance rather than a sign of a healthy, mature mind.
And that concludes the conceptual explanation.
For the visual of the different skullzombie designs, opposing archetypes where adapted as antagonistic dichotomies, conforming a metaphysic of human relationships thanks to a particular number of contemporary psychologic profiles:
_the existential conscious
_the candid goodist
_the self-pleasant ignorant
V.S.
_the unrecognized addict
_the indolent hedonist
_the integrated psychopath
The medium chosen to disseminate the concept was countercultural. When the project began, back in 2016, little known was the world of street stickers which always accompanied the world of street art in one of its minimal expressions. In the case of skullzombie, the number of designs was very varied from the beginning because rather than wanting to plague or bombard with a single design, it wanted to reflect on the message presented by the skull zombie stickers. Today I see this project as isolated or poorly understood because the medium of stickers did not contemplate, despite being a countercultural medium, messages in the style of artistic reflections. A message with a certain depth needed a design with a certain volume, hence the cubic three-dimensionality of the designs, squared, boxed, that protrude from the surfaces, since it was not a superficial matter that the designs evoke. In more advanced designs, shadows cast by the stickers were represented, as if floating on the surface.
However, the design was more than enough, as it was easy for him to adopt the paste-up medium to make more elaborate designs than the basic stickers. This was an element that the artist used as a recognizable element that began to mark a style in his general work. (Cf alter ego)
by Papaboule
