I_knew this girl who would paint curvy mustaches on her and walk around all day with that thing on her face. I have to admit she looked kindda hot.
Frida Kahlo is the ultimate mustache girl, I think.
I had a girlfriend once with a little mustache shadow. I can't remember how I managed to ask her to wax it off without offending her, but I did it. It was one of my great moments in diplomacy.
Four random pics I just happen to love. And here are a few notes about the techniques used, in case you're curious:
•"Ashlee Simpson and kid drinking water" The kid was on the top poster, Ashlee's face was hidden in the old one underneath. She appeared when a chunk got removed from the front b&w image.
•"Leatherheads" (Clooney and the other dude). Their faces were cut out/taken from another poster and pasted on top of the ones with the women.
•"Gourgeous Smile" I guess the art gallery description of the technique, would be 'mixed media'. I just find it plain ol'funny.
This is Cate Blanchett. The ridiculously gorgeous actress, Cate Blanchett. And this is proof of the Indestructibility of her beauty. No matter what you do to this woman, literally, she still looks amazing.
So your strength isn't painting or etching your way with a knife, but you still have something to say about one of these posters. Go ahead, this is an open art form. Use whatever means you can to express your opinion.
Maybe there's not much humor here, but I love these. And I'm pretty sure most of them weren't done by a single 'artist'. I say this, mainly because I saw these evolve over a period of days. Someone started them by cutting out a small piece of the poster. Then other people would walk by and rip another little piece off, exposing the older posters hidden underneath. This is the result after several days of that.
It would be nice to document the progress, if only I knew beforehand which posters are going to end up this way.
Ok, so check this out. This is a poster for the World Wrestling Federation or something like that. They are promoting their upcoming TV season. Its a big campaign, you can find these posters literally EVERYWHERE in the subway system. Now, my problem is that I have not been able to find ONE SINGLE defacing of these posters. Not one!!!
In a previous post I wrote about how some celebrities with 'street cred' were safe from getting defaced. But come on... these guys get immunity!!!????? Is this some kind of indication of who our anonymous artists really are? So our defacers are "WW Smack Down" fans!!??? I have to say I'm a little disappointed. No, ...not really. Actually, I just find it hard to believe that UMAGA, has "street cred".
UMAGA is the silly looking guy in the middle, with the painted face, in case you can't read his name in the photo.
If someone finds one these posters defaced, please send me a picture.
This idea is one of my personal favorites. They cut out a chunk from a poster and then stick that piece onto another poster beside it. Not only it's really funny, but I think it's very creative and beautiful.
I have another example of this technique, in a picture that was sent to me by a friend and fan of this blog. I'm planning on saving contributions from friends and posting them together. So if you live in NYC and find one of these cool works of ephemeral art, go ahead and pull out a camera, even a cell phone camera, take a picture and email it to me. I'll give you the proper credit.
I wanted to dedicated this post to defending New York Marathon champion Paula Radcliffe, who won her third title today. I also want to thank her for lending her image to beautify the NYC subway system and inspire our beloved anonymous artists, who in turn beautify this blog.
Devilish. I've always loved this cheesy word, ever since Michael Jackson used it to publicly insult music industry heavyweight Tommy Mottola, a few years ago.
I figured this was an appropriate subject, since I'm posting this a day before Halloween. The devilish part, not Michael Jackson.
My apologies for the lack of postings this past few weeks. My work sometimes pulls me away from everything else in my life.
Just check out these hot babes.
By the way, notice that one of those was actually done inside a train, not at the station like most of the others. These are rare. Posters inside the train are hardly ever messed with. Artists can be so shy sometimes....
...well, it is New York City.
By the way, can you see where her nose ended up? It's on the other girl, next to her. That is actually an evolution of that 'cutting' technique I showed before. They cut out elements from one place and stick it back somewhere else. In a later posting I'll show you some great examples of this method.
It's such a childish thing to giggle at drawings of penises but, "what the hell" I say, "go ahead and giggle, dammit!!" There's a lot of shit to worry about in life, so if a stupid doodle of male genitalia makes me laugh, so be it! I'll take a good reason to smile anytime.
deface |diˈfās| verb [ trans. ] ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French desfacier, from des- (expressing removal) + face ‘face.’
Tools: blade, exacto knife, box cutter, house keys.
I began to notice this technique about a year ago. I can't say it's "new", but it has certainly become trendy these days. At first I only saw simple ideas, like the cutouts shown here. But the concept has evolved.
It's wonderful because many times it exposes pieces of the old poster that was hidden underneath. To me, the holes seem like a sort of time portal (active imagination required), or a kind of guessing game: "Can you recognize the old poster from this little cutout?".
I do feel them to be a bit more aggressive than a mustache or a blackened tooth. You're stripping away that person's face. It makes for a stronger statement, I think.
George Mallory was a mountaineer who died in 1924, while trying to reach the top of Mount Everest. He's famous for an answer he gave to a reporter after being asked "Why do you want to climb Mt. Everest?". He said, "Because it's there".
So think about it. If you had a Sharpie or any ol' pen in your pocket and you came across one of these smiles, could you resist not interacting with it? Even if it is some cool, famous ball player that you might admire and respect, ...I mean, the guy is just giving you that big smile... how can you resist the temptation!!??
And then the next important question: Why is it funny? What exactly is this reaction us humans have, laughter, what the hell is that?? What is the origin of such a primal, uncontrollable reaction our body has to a simple silly thing like this? To me, that question is right up there with the meaning of love and life.
