MAGAZINES & PRESS - COMPLETED STREET PROJECTS - PUBLIC AD CAMPAIGN BLOG

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Who Dunnit?


The first photo is taken by Luna Park of a Weave It! piece I installed a while back. She contacted me after seeing this recent installation of pinwheels, wondering if it was my work. It is not and I would love to know who is responsible for this wonderful piece.

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Friday, February 19, 2010

How Many Billboards?, Los Angeles

According to Unurth this morning, the How Many Billboards Project has begun. Not all of the artworks have been put up but I expect more will follow shortly. We are super excited to see LA begin to consider the role of media in public space and its tendency to obliterate other forms of visual practices. I hope a project like this can spark the imagination of many and allow them to ponder alternative uses of our shared environment.

VIA
Unurth

Kerry Tribe

For several days this billboard has been pleasing, entertaining and intriguing me.
I've finally found out that it's part of 'How many billboards?', a project by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. It's like a glossier, more authorized version of the New York Street Advertising Takeover (NYSAT). (MORE HERE)

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Ritual Project Vs A Love Letter For You

I was recently made aware of a very interesting art/advertising collaboration called The Ritual Project. In it, Stella Artois contracted Sky High Media, or Colossal Media, to paint each frame of a billboard sized time lapse, depicting "the perfect pour". Colossal media is co-founded by Adrian Moeller, who also co-founded Mass Appeal magazine in 1996, and is also the company responsible for the Banksy murals in Soho that appeared late in 2008. The project is as much about the team of mural painters as it is the advertisement, highlighting the skill involved in this dying artform. Watching the herculean task of painting each frame of the time lapse only to see it buffed before the next frame is painted, really gives you an incredible sense of the work and dedication it takes to create such large scale works. In fact the "performance" aspect of this project was well understood by Stella Artois, as evidenced by this tag line from the website.

"Whether pouring the perfect Stella Artois, or recreating it as a massive piece of art, the magic lies in watching it come to life."

I couldn't agree more. If there is magic associated with this project, it surely isn't in the final product. As a resident walking by this project as it took place over the many days required to complete the time lapse, I would have been excited. I would have been less interested in the image being created of a Stella Artois glass, but while the painters were racing against time, I could have enjoyed watching them play with the side of a building in such a creative way. After all, unless you knew about the project before hand, watching painters paint, then buff, then paint a nearly identical image over and over again would have been odd and amusing to say the least. In this way the project would have kept my attention and provided me with an interesting interaction in public space, something we continue to think has a positive affect on our public environment.

photo courtesy of Steve Powers

Another recent project you might know about is Steve Powers' A Love Letter For You in Philadelphia. This immense mural undertaking, created over 30 murals along the Market-Frankford elevated line in Philly. The project depicts a series of "love letters" or pronouncements of love with heartfelt sentiments like, "If you were here, I'd be home" and "Your everafter is all I'm after." Although I was not in Philadelphia for the production of these murals, I can imagine the performance aspect of the project was in some way similar to The Ritual Project. As a resident one would watch these murals going up one after the other, unaware of the intention behind them as they seem almost out of place in their sincerity and eloquence. As with the Ritual Project, one could enjoy the mystery of it all while watching the streets you live on change before your eyes.

photo courtesy of Steve Powers

Both projects to me provide a wonderful moment for public curiosity that enlivens public space creating a sense of interest in the public environment where there might not have been any before. What is interesting to me, and illuminates some of the differences between using the public space for advertising VS artistic production, is what is left behind. In the case of The Ritual Project, we are left with an advertisement, an expected call for our attentions, and an expected outcome in an environment often used as a venue to sell goods and services, and a disposable image. In the Love Letter project we are left with something much less fleeting. The murals are unexpected moments of kindness and their permanence allows us to enjoy this feeling on a daily basis as they become landmarks which define the neighborhoods in which they exist.

photo courtesy of Steve Powers

And this might be on of the most important differences between advertising billboards and artistic mural productions, despite them both being painted by highly skilled artists. Endurance, permanence, and investment are all qualities of the Love Letter Project that the Ritual Project lacks. Both projects may have been interesting to watch but what Mr. Powers has created will last and continue to give to the city long after the actual production is over. Not only do these murals become ways in which the public can identify areas of the city, but they begin to define the city more broadly. No one would say, "Take a right at the Stella Artois advertisement", but they might say "Take a right at the, 'For you I got daycare money and carfare honey for now on.'" mural. This is in part because advertisement is fleeting and makes no real investment in the space it occupies, but also because the artwork does just that and therefore becomes a part of the space in which it exists and the lives of those who live there.

photo courtesy of Steve Powers

The difference between these two projects I feel exemplifies why advertisement, no matter how interesting, beautiful, or artistic, falls short of using our public space in a meaningful way which ultimately adds to the city fabric. Public space can be used or spent in the typical sense, or it can be altered in ways which increase its value for everyone that interacts with it.

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Monday, February 15, 2010

Peter Fuss in Poland

Peter Fuss sent us his most recent ad takeover in Gdynia, Poland. Always excited to see more ad takeovers happening around the world, we are happy to see Peter Fuss continuing to take back the streets.

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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Weave It! NPA City Outdoor/PublicAdCampaign Collaboration-Los Angeles

The most recent Weave It! piece was put up while I was on a trip in Los Angeles and was installed at the corner of Sunset and Parkman street. I installed it around midnight on Friday, February 12th, and sadly it seems this is right around the time NPA puts up their illegal posters. When I came back on Saturday morning the piece had already been removed. Ill be heading back to Los Angeles a bit in the next few months and will make sure I don't go out on Fridays this time around.



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Monday, February 8, 2010

Los Angeles' Weather Doesn't Make the Problem Any Better

I just got out to LA for a bit of work, to catch up with some friends, and to check out the utterly horrendous outdoor advertising scene. Yes the digital billboards are out of control, the supergraphic on the side of my hotel is enormous and overwhelming, and yes the Metro Fuel ads, to which the Supreme court delivered a final blow recently, are still getting copy. Tomorrow it's off to see the Philip Lumbang mural that is causing such an uproar all for myself.

In the meantime I leave you with the How Many Billboards? Art in Stead project, presented by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture.
"Twenty-one works in the vein of California's conceptual art movement have been commissioned to critically respond to the medium of the billboard and interpret its role in the urban landscape. Investigating art as an idea as well as art as a media for critical intervention, the exhibition highlights the interaction of Pop, conceptualism and architecture in Los Angeles since the late 1960s."
Although I don't entirely agree with Kimberly, her statement does propose a more beneficent public space and one that begins to call into question advertising's role in the public environment.

Kimberli Meyer's statement:
"The philosophical proposition of the exhibition is simple: art should occupy a visible position in the cacophony of mediated images in the city, and it should do so without merely adding to the visual noise. How Many Billboards? Art In Stead proposes that art periodically displace advertisement in the urban environment.

Billboards are a dominant feature of the landscape in Los Angeles. Thousands line the city's thoroughfares, delivering high-end commercial messages to a repeat audience. Given outdoor advertising's strong presence in public space, it seems reasonable and exciting to set up the possibility for art to be present in this field. The sudden existence of artistic speech mixed in with commercial speech provides a refreshing change of pace. Commercial messaging tells you to buy; artistic messaging encourages you to look and to think." [More Here]

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Friday, February 5, 2010

Weave It! NPA City Outdoor/PublicAdCampaign Collaboration


The most recent Weave It! piece at Crosby and Grand has been removed. I installed it around 5pm on Wednesday in front of a Dutch news channel. The ad that was there before was for Alexander Wang, a young fashion designer whose look book I worked on a few years back when he was up and coming. I left the one image because I had gotten rid of the reference to advertising and liked the way she was swooning over the pattern.

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Mr. Dimaggio Ad Takeover in Milan

VIA Streetsy

Our sources in Rome tell us they are pretty positive this piece by Mr. Dimaggio, was put up over a framed advertising location in Milan. The source tells us that normally similar locations to this are used for political campaign posters in Italy. If the spaces are anything like the Affichage Libre in France, they are often co-opted by mainstream commercial ads for private use. In France the Debunkers Collective battles this type of illegal commercial usage monthly.

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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Aesthetics Police

Seems like even Fox News agrees with us, and the residents of LA, on the recent proposal to remove Phil Lumbang's simply adorable street mural.

VIA John Stossel's Take

Phil Lumbang is an artist who creates charming drawings of bears, raccoons and other happy creatures; his work appealed to Amy Seidenwurm and Russell Bates. They commissioned Lumbang to paint a mural on the wall in front of their home. Everyone seems to love the mural; people stop to take pictures in front of it. Everyone was cool with it, it seems, except one neighbor who complained the mural made the street “seem ghetto.” [MORE HERE]

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

New Mediacy Gatescapes Hit The Streets 01-19-10

Rendering courtesy of Mediacy Inc.

A while back we were sent Mediacy's press release for their new advertising venture called Gatescapes. These eyesores, we assumed would be illegal like the Streetscape advertisements pushed by InWindow, Blue Outdoor, and others. Mr. Gitter, Mediacy's CEO, contacted us after we made this clear on our site and this began a series of conversations. Mainly we talked about our differing opinions on how this would alter the NYC landscape. We argued that 15 foot tall ads for The Real Housewives of wherever would be intrusions into our community that would treat residents as "impressions" to be used for commercial interests, they argued that these vinyl ads would counteract graffiti and enliven our city streets. Along with this, conversations on how art could benefit from this new media venture were had. It was proposed by Mr. Gitter that we become a part of this process of curating these artworks. I was worried that artists would be used to legitimate what might be an illegal advertising business and that the offering of space to artists was not an altruistic act by the company but a ploy to deflect attention from the potentially illegal advertising business. I explained that my involvement would require that at least 51% of the gates owned by the company be used for art because this was the only way I could see the advertising serving the art and not the other way around. Obviously this did not fly and Mediacy and PublicAdCampaign are no longer in talks. According to their website, 25% of the Gatescape spaces will be used for artwork and will be curated by Julia Lazarus.

Mediacy has gone ahead with their business in NYC, and we were happy to see them officially registering as an Outdoor Advertising Company on January 14th, 2010. This registration is necessary for a business to offer outdoor advertising services in New York and is the first step in bringing advertising to the streets legally. I am still unsure if Mediacy is trying to do this knowing we will be watching, or because it is the right thing to do, but either way we commend them for it. In fact they make specific mention of their legal aspirations on their website in their explanation of the great opportunity that are Gatescapes.
That's right-- it's so good that's it available for a limited time only. NYC has passed a law banning solid metal roll-down storefront gates. That means there's only 16 more years to advertise on one of the largest format, most visible, legally permitted outdoor media available anywhere! Don't miss your chance. Call Mediacy Outdoor while there's still time!
January 19th, Mediacy launched its first non commercial Gatescape at 323 west 42nd street with an installation for Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's research fund. Checking into the DOB website, there is no permit for outdoor advertising signage at 323 west 42nd street. This isn't a problem with the current content as the DOB does not issue violations for non-commercial signs but if this sign were to change to an ad for Coca-Cola it would be an entirely different story.

Rendering courtesy of Mediacy Inc.

As of now we are anxiously awaiting Julia Lazarus's contribution to our city in the form of curated artwork on the plethora of rolldown gates in our city. We are also interested to see Mediacy's commercial content hit the streets and whether or not there will be permitting along with these signs. Despite our disapproval for this type of signage in general, going about advertising legally in our city allows the DOB to make sure that this signage will not get out of hand and will remain in properly zoned areas. We ask our readers to keep their eyes on the streets for these new Gatescapes in an effort to hold Mediacy true to their word on keeping things legal.

Rendering courtesy of Mediacy Inc.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Putting Together The NYSAT Website Makes Me Mad

I put these two pieces up last night in an effort to continue working on the street as much as possible in 2010. As I mentioned two posts ago, I have been wanting to break the frame and begin collapsing the space between the advertisement and the outdoor environment. I hope to eventually be able to visually get rid of the advertisement as well as the frame that retains it. This piece begins to do that but practice on the street will make a big difference. Each of these takes about 15 minutes to install and I am not used to working at one spot for that long. I was hoping to continue the weave off the frame on the far side but not only was there a puddle to wade through but a parked NYC tow truck driver, staring me down with his headlights, made me very nervous. Ill do more of these and see if I can get them to work.

Washington between 13th and 14th street south side 01-20-10

27th street and 8th avenue SEC 01-20-10

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Saturday, January 2, 2010

Situationist Methodology Still Sits Well With Me

Someone left a copy of Overspray Magazine at my studio the other day and as I thumbed through it I came across this small blip on Urban Pranksterism. There were some fun quotes I thought were relevant as we redefine some of the motivations for our work to help guide us forward in this new year.

"...it's about hitting people with something visceral that will force them to confront an unlicensed alternative to the current monopoly on visual space held by our local governments and their corporate sponsors."
"Part of defining a public space is decorating it, inhabiting it and playing with new uses for it. Just because we weren't consulted on the design process of our cities doesn't make them any less ours, and shouldn't mean that we have to sit out when our idea of how the space can be put to use doesn't mesh with the official stance."
"Turning a public space into a vehicle for any kind of art is a politicized act in itself, whether or not the project has overtly political content."
"The power of street art doesn't necessarily even have to lie within the content of the pieces themselves, but rather in the knowledge that no permission was sought, that someone is still working outside the systems that dictate who is allowed to use public visual space."

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Monday, December 21, 2009

Brown Student Gets Up In New York City Phone Booths

Ariel Hudes, a Brown University student, contacted PublicAdCampaign about a month ago with a request. In her first email she wrote..
I'm taking a class at Brown called Radical Media ( http://tiny.cc/QYZ5F). I came across you and the Public Ad Campaign in that Times article a few weeks and have been a daily blog-reader since. I'm totally enthralled. I love what you're doing. And here comes the request...

For our first assignment "create and distribute a radical poster" I made this: https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/mcm1700p/-mission
And for our final assignment "a final project that goes beyond the Brown campus"... my dream is to get it blown up... and go to ny and put it in a phone booth.
Obviously we helped her out. She came down on the 13th and off we went with two posters in hand. I put up the first one just so she could see it happen, and then it was her turn. After her first phone booth install she had a grin from ear to ear and a sense of accomplishment that was palpable. Here at PublicAdCampaign we always enjoy facilitating peoples interaction with their public environment. We are also continually impressed with how empowered it makes people feel and how it changes their entire relationship to the streets around them. Congrats Ariel!

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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Gaia No Longer Empty Public Mural

Photo by Keith Schweitzer


Keith Schwietzer of No Longer Empty asked PublicAdCampaign for some suggestions of artists for the roll down gate mural project they are working on in New York City. We immediately suggested a few of our favorites including Gaia whose installation video is shown above. This project is a wonderful use of the rolldown gates in New York and a fantastic answer to Mr. Vallone's assumption that they breed ugly graffiti.

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Mésarchitectures

VIA Dezeen

Architect Didier Fiuza Faustino of Paris studio Mésarchitectures has installed a pair of swing seats on a billboard frame as part of the Shenzhen & Hong Kong bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in China this week.

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Street Artists Doom Billboard Ads to Violent Fate

Via Animal New York

Some big tributes to Doom, the infamously violent early-90s video game, have been taking over billboards in Berlin. Turning commercial propaganda into potential blood baths, street artists Mr Talion, Epoxy, Baveux and Kone pasted unsuspecting ads with the display from the first person shooter favored by the Columbine High School killers. [More Images Here]

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Turn a Roll-Down Gate Into a Thing of Beauty

This follow up article to the most recent NY times article on the new rolldown gate law proposes another use for these New York institutions, murals.

VIA NY Times City Room

Image Courtesy of Tats Cru www.tatscru.com

When the City Council voted this week to ban the roll-down metal security gates used to protect storefronts after hours, it was promised that one effect would be a “beautifying of our city’s landscape.” [MORE]

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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Less Billboards, More Art! Please Support This Cause

Toronto is a city filled with illegal outdoor signage and antiquated sign laws. Rami Tabello of illegalsigns.ca has been fighting to change these laws and it looks as if they will make headway this morning morning at 9:30 am when the debate over the Signs By-Law and Billboard Tax will take place. The post below via the View on Canadian Art blog briefly describes how these new taxes and Sign By-law might further the arts agenda in Toronto and bring public content to the forefront of public space.

This just in from the Department of Culture, a community of artists and arts professionals who organized themselves in the wake of the Harper Government’s brutal cuts to the arts in the past year, in order to ensure “the social and cultural health and prosperity of our nation in the face of a Federal Government that is aggressively undermining the values that define Canada.” [MORE HERE]

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Monday, November 30, 2009

PosterChild Suggests A More Prudent Use Of Pay Phones In NYC

PosterChild is wrapping up his stay in NY very soon, but not before he gets out there and does a few more projects to make you think about the advertising that surrounds us and how it is altering our lives for better, or worse. His most recent project aims at making the viewer aware of the fact that the ubiquity of outdoor advertising does not have to be an entirely bad thing. In fact the millions of dollars that OOH advertisers are making off the space they are occupying in each and every one of our brains can be put to a better use than simply lining the pockets of media conglomerates. He writes...

"You know what I’d like to see? If they’re going to maintain, and even grow, the network of payphones as an advertising-revenue generating platform, then they should make all local calls free. That is the old “Contract” of advertising, after all: We shouldn’t have to be exposed to your damn ads if you’re not going to give us something back in return." More [HERE]

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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Building Community, American Eagle VS JR

Today American Eagle Outfitters announced its plan to put your face on a 25 story digital billboard in Times Square, provided you buy something of course. Especially because this is in Times Square, I'm not all that opposed to this marketing ploy. After all it does present residents (tourists) with an opportunity to imagine a world where their faces and ideas become a part of the visual landscape, an alternative to outdoor advertising we at PublicAdCampaign champion.

I couldn't help but think of JR's work in Brazil as a similar and yet incomparably different version of this recent American Eagle stunt. JR is known for going into communities and photographing the residents, blowing those images up to incredible dimensions and then applying them to the city structure.

Both projects present the public back to itself but there are many differences between the two. The monetary incentives, nature of the subjects, location of project, are three of the more obvious, but I think there is one difference that is less noticeable, and yet incredibly important. This is the relationships that the people who interact with these two different projects develop. The American Eagle project leaves the participant and the producer separate, isolated and disjointed. You get 15 seconds of fame, American Eagle capitalizes on all the friends you have that will talk about American Eagle through your appearance. There is no lasting relationship developed in an exchange where the two parties intend to take something away from the interaction.

JR's work is exactly the opposite. No one takes anything concrete away from the interactions between artist and subject in JR's large scale projects except a lasting connection and real relationship. The images, taken by JR, are returned to the community in the form of artwork. The initial gift by the subject, allowing themselves to be pictured by the artist, is returned to the subject as a lasting image of themselves in their community which announces their humanity and presence in the world. An exchange of this nature actually builds, gives life to new community.

The difference between the two then is not so much monetary, but in their ability to alter the community positively by causing real social interaction which turns into lasting relationships. You can be sure both JR, and the lives of his subjects were significantly altered by these projects and that a continued mutual respect will pervade any further interactions. You can also be sure American Eagle, and the consumers using their purchase to buy time on a big screen have developed nothing, and in fact stolen from each other for personal gain. Each participant in this case moving away from the point of interaction with no sense of community and no lasting attachment to one another. Such is the difference between commercial interactions and community interactions in a public environment.

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Friday, October 30, 2009

Brick Of Gold Makes Contact With PublicAdCampaign


Brick of Gold just sent me these images after seeing the most recent NYSAT project. We love and ad takeover and just had to post it.

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Thom Flynn-Doing God's Work In Washington DC Since '99

Photo by Allison Shelley

I came across your website and I'm impressed with your campaign. I've been on a similar mission in Washington DC since '99. I'm reclaiming the wheatpasted walls by peeling away and/or prying off the posters. It's not an easy process, sometimes necessitating a crowbar, but I've always embraced the questionable legality. People ask what I'm doing (including the cops), but after saying it's a community service they normally leave me alone... others just assume I work for the billboard company. The posters are recycled into my art, taking the form of large abstract "paintings". Attached are a couple images just to give you an idea of what I'm up to. Perhaps we could collaborate in the future? In the meantime, keep up the good work!

Peace,
Thom Flynn

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Vihls Makes Contact With PublicAdCampaign And We Love His Work

Artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vihls, just contacted us from London to talk about the last NYSAT project. He included a piece we hadn't seen before and just had to post it.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

NY Post-Painters in Brush With Law

VIA The New York Post

By AMBER SUTHERLAND and LEONARD GREENE

Posted: 4:03 AM, October 26, 2009

Five people were arrested yesterday for defacing billboards in an effort to replace ads with art.

The five were among dozens armed with paint and brushes who spread out over lower Manhattan and whitewashed billboards to "reclaim" public space as part of a protest organized by the Public Ad Campaign.

Three of the artists were charged with criminal mischief and making graffiti. The other two were still being processed last night.

Adda Birnir, 24, and her boyfriend were painting flowers on a whitewashed billboard on Mulberry Street when cops hauled them off.

"They were being completely peaceful," said Birnir's father, Bjorn, 56, who was visiting from California.

About 80 members attacked advertisements throughout Manhattan with white paint and roller brushes, and filled the new blank canvasses with their own creations.

Jordan Seiler, director of the Public Ad Campaign, said his group identified about 5,000 illegal billboards in the city.

"New York is a beautiful, wonderful city," Seiler said "When you fill it with commercial messages, you turn it into a commercial space rather than a public space."

Representatives from National Promotions and Advertising, which posts many of the ads, were monitoring the protest, and, in some cases, called police. A spokesman for the organization could not be reached for comment.

In April, a similar protest resulted in four arrests.

Kaylina Holman, 18, a high-school senior from Brooklyn, managed to paint green and orange abstract shapes on an Eldridge Street billboard without getting arrested.

"I don't think the public needs to constantly have corporate agendas shoved down their throats," Holman said.

Jonathan Askin, a Public Ad Campaign lawyer, said there is a double standard when it comes to billboards and art.

"The city has lost several millions of dollars by not combating unlawfully posted commercial billboards," Askin said. "The enforcement is arbitrary."

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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Something Happened Yesterday That We Cannot Qualify

This is what it looked like at 13th St. and Washington for a moment after Mrs. Beth had her say in the meat packing industry. The before image below is what it looked like prior to her intervention.

Her incredible takeover was a part of something much larger and something we will report on as information comes in.

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The NY Times Has Something To Say

An artist called Gaia was part of a group that removed advertising posters in Lower Manhattan.

By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: October 25, 2009

It was a bizarre cat-and-mouse game, played on Sunday across scores of makeshift billboards in New York.

One group of artists and activists spread across Lower Manhattan, transforming innumerous wheat-pasted posters — the ones that readily sprout over scaffolding — into their own canvas.

They would whitewash the posters and then create their own work, or allow anti-advertising advocates to spread their own messages.

But just as quickly as they whitewashed and put up art, workers arrived to put up new posters where the artists had obscured the old ones.

And so it went, back and forth, with drama, confrontation and even a few arrests by day’s end.

The takeover efforts were organized by an artist, Jordan Seiler, who founded a group called the Public Ad Campaign to question and challenge the use of outdoor ads in public areas.

Shortly after 9 a.m. on Sunday, Mr. Seiler and about a dozen other participants met in his Chelsea studio, where they went over lists of targets: 114 street-level billboards that Mr. Seiler said were operated by companies that he believed were putting up ads without proper permission from the city.

A spokeswoman for the City Department of Buildings, Ryan Fitzgibbon, said on Sunday that it was difficult to immediately address Mr. Seiler’s claims.

“If outdoor advertisement is allowed, a permit from D.O.B. must be obtained in order to post an advertisement or a sign,” she said. “Advertisements are not allowed on construction fences.”

It is no secret, however, that such advertisements abound, and on Sunday morning Mr. Seiler pointed to a construction fence near his studio that was covered with dozens of pasted posters.

“We’re bombarded by ads every day,” he said. “Advertising frames the public environment as being for sale but public space is not inherently commercial.”

At 10:30, Mr. Seiler and his confederates broke up into pairs, bringing along five-gallon buckets of white paint and long-handled rollers to use to spread the paint over ads.

There were ads for drinks (Bulldog Gin, Hendrick’s Gin and Dr Pepper), movies (a comedy called “Black Dynamite,” along with a documentary about President Obama called “By the People”) and albums (“World Painted Blood” by Slayer was pasted next to “Soulbook” by Rod Stewart).

Some passers-by liked the commandolike cover-ups; an artist named Jane Gennaro, who was not connected to the project, approved of the men painting over an ad for the video game Grand Theft Auto, saying, “We need to get rid of all the visual noise.”

But on West 25th Street, a man chased two of the whitewashers, shouting, “I will sue you.”

In any event, the newly painted-over spots were not to remain blank for long. Within hours, men driving pickup trucks with New Jersey license plates put up new ads where the artists had obscured the old ones.

One of those men, on West 25th Street, refused to identify himself or the company he was working for, instead responding to an inquiry from a reporter with an epithet, and the directive, “Take a walk.”

Over the next hour or so, control of the billboards changed hands several times, with the pickup truck drivers pasting up ads for movies and parties, as — sometimes separated by only a block or so — groups of artists pasted their own images over the ads.

Meanwhile, Mr. Seiler said, five people taking part in the project were arrested on unspecified charges.

Near the end of the afternoon, one of the artists, who gave his name as Gaia, donned a disguise consisting of a black eye mask and a plastic bag that he pulled over his head like a hood. He then pasted up an image he had made of a snarling grizzly bear.

“Hopefully, this gets a chance to engage in some dialogue with the viewers,” said the artist. “In two hours it’s going to be gone.”

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The Streets Were Alive Today In NYC

The streets were alive today in NYC. Cronicas Barbaras caught a bit of the action. Look her up cause she has been privy to all of the best.

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Friday, October 23, 2009

How To Break Into Bus Shelter Ads In Berlin

KEYTIME_part 3 from nothingbutprinting on Vimeo.

This video was sent to us by Luna Park of the Street Spot. It's a behind the scenes for the recent bus shelter takeover in Berlin. Thanks Luna.

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tilt Bus Stop Piece

A friend of mine just sent me this image of a Tilt bus stop takeover. I'm not sure when or where this is from but any public ad takeover is a good photo to us.

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Monday, October 19, 2009

New PosterBoy Interview From UK Street Art

I haven't heard much from PosterBoy recently so it is good to see him still preaching the gospel. In his defense, I think he is working hard on an upcoming book that we anxiously await.

VIA UK Street Art

Up-close and personal with Poster Boy: The definitive interview

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We’re big fans of Poster Boy here at UKSA, and although he’s not technically from the UK scene, we’d like to make an exception and introduce you all to this sterling talent!

Clever, Creative and seriously cool, Poster Boy is the masked crusader waging war on advertising billboards across NYC will only a razor blade as his weapon of choice. Interview by Helen Soteriou. All photos from Poster Boy’s Flickr, which you can check out here

Who is the guy behind the mask? Can you tell me about yourself and your background?

No ones behind the mask. There’s only the mask.

Do many people know your real identity? Do you parents know?

Only the people who need to know, including mummy and pop-pop.

How did Poster Boy come about? Why did you start cutting-up posters and did you ever think it would turn into the phenomenon it is?

I’m constantly torn between wanting to be an activist and an artist. I’m not the greatest artist nor am I the greatest activist, but I’m a pretty good Poster Boy and that requires being little of both.

New York is inundated with advertisements. So why spend money on materials when posters and billboards are ripe for the picking? Stealing and vandalising ads is illegal, but littering the public’s visual space with images and messages that are motivated by profit is wrong. There’s a lot of potential in working with your environment, especially if the motives are well place. Besides, the traditional mediums have never satisfied my ambitions.

I always hoped this would catch on. I couldn’t have been the only one with these sentiments floating around.

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What are your views on advertising?

Advertising is bizarro art. Both are cut from the same cloth, but what sets them apart is intent. Art is driven, at least in theory, by the desire to express oneself. Advertising is driven by the desire to promote a product or service. Often times the two overlap making it hard to tell the difference. As long as there’s money to be made there’ll be advertising. I can’t deny that. With development of technology and the market comes increasingly elaborate ad campaigns. Sometimes the campaigns are funny. Sometimes they’re artful. But one thing I’ll never accept is public advertising no matter how clever the campaign is.

Do you think that people are more wary about believing the images / messages that are printed because of the worldwide economic downturn?

The economic pinch continues to breed skepticism. However, people have been wary of the media lies for a while now.

I remember our first conversation and the email you sent me:
Have you ever read something and said to yourself, “Christ, where have I been the last few years of my life?” Well, your email just did that to me. These type of requests and acknowledgements have always humbled me. …

Why do you think people are so taken by your work?

I think people relate to the work mostly because of the commentary. There’s a lot going on in the world financially, politically, culturally, and environmentally. The work touches on some of these topics. Often times with humor, which is very important in serious situations.

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The other reason is the medium. I mean really, with the exception of the people profiting, who doesn’t hate public advertising?

We talked about some of your future plans and what Poster Boy intends to do next. You strike me as someone who has a strong passion and desire to follow his dreams – to continue to grow and be creative in the way you want.

I should hope so. My dreams are pretty much all I have right now.

To me you are sending out a clear message to people that they should not give-up on their desires -to listen to their hearts and pursue the path that they want without being afraid to voice their opinions. Do you think this is a fair statement?

I believe it’s a fair statement. As long as your path doesn’t involve the destruction of life I say follow it. The worst that can come from following your heart is knowledge and wisdom.

I believe that the whole point of street art is that it is on the street for everyone to see– you are not stifled creatively and not drawn by the $$$. Nobody tells you whether you are good enough. It is art for the people, not the selective few.

Street art is for anyone to experience. It works both ways. The streets serve as a venue for artists who wish to forego gallery-world hierarchies.

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I’m not stifled or drawn by the money. Doesn’t mean the pressure doesn’t affect me. I’ve turned down some very lucrative deals in order to make a statement. I’ll be honest, when rent is late or I can’t manage three squares a day I feel a little gypped, but when those feelings start bubbling I just remind myself of why I started this. All my life I wanted someone or something to believe in. Except for a few inspirations here and there I never found it. So I set out to be the that thing I always yearned for. So what if PB&J has been the menu for weeks or the lies to my landlord are getting better, life could always be worse. Besides, poverty tends to be quite the motivator these days.

I think the popularity of street art has exploded over the last couple of years and I feel that it is good and bad. Great street artists are enjoying the success they deserve and some are just riding on their coat-tails.

Actually, I don’t believe bad street art exists. I say cover every Goddam inch of concrete and steel! What bothers me are the people who try to mask gallery art as street art and vice versa. I’m not one for strict labels or definitions of anything, but there’s a fundamental difference. At the same time I understand certain situations call for compromise. I know I’m not the purest street artist or activist. There have been Poster boy shows with prints being sold, and I’m not even sure if I should feel guilty for it. I’ve always tried to bring something different to a show and I’ve never sold an actual Poster Boy piece. The point being that the street art persona should be critiqued and presented differently than the gallery art persona. Once street, graf, or whatever art, is brought into a controlled environment it ceases to be street art, period.

With the phenomenal costs prints and original works are going for it has become de rigueur to like street art. Yesterday, I went to opening night of an exhibition on Brick Lane in London , and it was dominated by the young and trendy. Like a few of the street artists who were present, I felt awkward and out of place. My question to you is how do you feel about how street art has evolved and do you feel proud to be labelled a street artist. Do you always see the streets as your playground?

Let me guess, some guy in a Basquiat shirt, skinny jeans, and an ironic mustache gave you the, “where the fuck is your Murakami bag” look? Don’t worry, we’ve got that too. It happens whenever something is in vogue. Next time just make a scene. Tell everyone you’re Banksy or that your dad owns the Tate.

I’m proud to be a street artist in the literal sense. I find comfort in the uncertainty of the streets.

How does it feel to have a platform? You have the attention of all the major media players in New York who are raving about the statements that you put out?

It feels really weird, ’cause I’m not that cool.

Who influenced you growing-up – people and / or other artists?

This one’s hard. You’d expect me to say Keith Haring or something. Not that he hasn’t, but I’ve been inspired by many characters in my short life. I can honestly say that Bugs Bunny inspired me as much as Fredrick Douglas.

How do you work – do you come-up with ideas on the spot or do you see posters and then think about how you can create images from them?

The work is always impromptu. It has to be, the ads are always changing. Even the gallery work relies on materials in the immediate environment.

Are there any other comments that you would like to make?

God Save the Obama.

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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Princess Hijab Hits Paris Again!

This newest piece from Princess Hijab was recently photographed by Christophe Meiries in Paris. The image shows a level of detail and sophistication I haven't seen in the Princess's work thus far. I like it a lot and I hope to see more soon.

As I have no contact with the artist, I may make assumptions here that aren't true. Please forgive me. As I understand it, this project isn't ultimately about the companies behind the advertisements, so much as it is about the proliferation of a cultural minority in media more generally. Despite this I still wish the logos were removed along with the "hijabizing," as the artist calls it. Without the company logo, the image refers only to the artist, whereas with the logo the image is somehow still a bastardized ad for Arena, but an ad nonetheless. I understand the artist might want the viewer to associate the new media content with the company, but that's just my thought on the matter.

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    WORTH READING

    Eduardo Moises Penalver & Sonia Kaytal
    Property Outlaws: How Squatters, Pirates, and Protesters Improve the Law of Ownership

    Barbara Ehrenreich
    Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy

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    The Gift, Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World

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    Spent: Sex, Evolution, & Consumer Behavior

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    The Cultures of Cities

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    Branding New York

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    Culture Jam

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    Captains of Consciousness

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    All Consuming Images

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    Crimes of Style

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    Tearing Down the Streets

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    Ways of Seeing

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    Evictions art + spatial politics

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    Death+Life of American Cities