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.
