#25: Le Mustache II

Will the real defacer please stand up, please stand up.

Last week, a friend emailed me about these funny mustaches that she had seen in the 49th St station on the N train.  The defacer wrote the word "mustache" with the drawing itself.

A couple of days later, two different friends sent me photos of those mustaches that they found somewhere.

And then this weekend I found them in two different stations by the Lower East Side area.

Is this the work of a single defacer??  Or are some of these the work of copycats repeating his/her design around town?? hmm…  If we had security cameras in the subway like they do in London, we could find out.  But... if they did have cameras we probably wouldn't have any of this wonderful art!! …like in London!!  

This post marks the first time I include photos that are not mine.  I've always made the point of posting my photography only.  Thank you Emily for the email, thank you Monica and Lou for the photos.

#24: D'oH!!

Hehe… hehehe….. he….. hehehe   …. hihi……   Who ever said NYC is not a happy place!!???

#23: Damage Control

Wow!  This girl has either a very devoted fan or she has relatives living in the neighborhood.  A few days ago i took the photo of this New Jersey based reality TV show star, with a nice piece of artwork painted on her mouth.  And then a couple of days later I came across the same poster... and the piece was gone!!!  Someone actually took the time to carefully remove the offending material without damaging the poster!

I have to say that the clean up work was even more skillfully done than the original drawing.  One could say it's a sample of "restorative art" if there is such a thing.   (And actually, there is.  But if you google that term, you find things related to 'fixing up' dead people for their funeral.  Weird.)

#22: One of My Favorites!

A couple of weeks ago I found this poster for Toni Collette's TV show "United States of Tara".  It made me very happy to find it.

And about 3 days later I passed by the same poster again and….

….  it was just perfect.  If I had any negative thoughts about the problems of my life while walking down that train station, when I found this poster, they were all gone in an instant.  That's one of the things I love about these works of art.  

And it reminded me of an earlier post in this blog "#4: A Genetic Urge".  Those faces in those posters are just there, like a canvas begging to be bathed with the ink of our artistic outbursts.  

#21: Le Paris Metropolitain!

Let's make this clear, this blog is about the New York City Subway.  But!… I had the chance to ride the Paris Metro this Xmas!  The one in France, that is.  And of course I just had to explore their poster defacings, because… well… because they were there!!

They don't seem as common as in NYC, but you do find them often.  However, even though I spent several days in the city, it was really hard to find something that matched the level of the great work I've found here, some of which is represented in this blog.  I didn't find much humor in them either, but then again, the french aren't exactly known for being funny.

So here's a sample of the ones I liked the most.

You know, I did spend a few days in London too, but I have to report that this kind of art is almost nonexistent there.  At least I couldn't find any.  It's probably related to the fact that London is blanketed with security cameras.  I saw cameras everywhere in the Tube stations.  Damn you Big Brother!!

#20: I'm Dreaming of a Ripped Poster

On behalf of all the defaced posters of the New York City Subway System, today's blog host, Mr Elvis Andrea Costello Bocelli would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful, more productive and less desctructive New Decade!

#19: Welcome Back!

 

Hello Again!!!  :)

There's nothing like a nice smile, green snot, a vacant stare, anal probing and some ninja ass to welcome you back and make you feel right at home.

2009 was a very silent year for this blog, but I didn't stop taking pictures in the subway, so I have a lot of new stuff to choose from.  And I want to thank you for all the fan support I've received this year.  It means a lot to me to hear you guys are having fun with this project.  I hope to make it up to you in 2010.

By the way, the "Ninja Ass" photo is from a subway artist mod of the poster for the film "Ninja Assassin".  It made laugh when I saw it and I thought, "shit, I 'have' to post this!".  So I want to also thank the artist who did it for pushing me to go back to this blog.