Merry Christmas 2009

A few weeks ago, I tracked down  A Frightening Prospect, the creators of this powerful street poster that I saw on Houston Street last fall during the weeks surrounding the US Presidential elections.  Unfortunately I was driving too fast in rush hour traffic to stop or even take a picture of it.  These posters were really difficult to find on the streets, undoubtedly b/c they were such a hot item.  The artists kindly donated one to me, however, and I offered to have SLU buy another one for the Permanent Collection.

Shepard Fairey

The NY Times ran this article in March 2009 about Shepard Fairey, which provides a useful bio and overview of this ne’er-do-well’s career.

B.N.E.

Check out this story about B.N.E in the NY Times today, forwarded by the tallest ninja in the sticker posse, Grant Cornwell.

From the article: “Peter F. Vallone Jr., of Queens, chairman of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, condemned the show. ‘This isn’t even someone who’s decided to go legitimate,’ he said. ‘This is an unrepentant criminal who has cost honest taxpayers a lot of money, and he’s profited from it’.”  Sorry, Pete!!

B.N.E. uses a “serious-looking Helvetica Neue Condensed.”  I just watched the film Helvetica a few days ago, which describes the way the font was developed 50 years ago and how it has been used in a variety of social contexts.  One person said, “Helvetica is the perfume of the city.”  I guess B.N.E. is having  love affair with the urban environment.

Obay

I just typed in obay for a Google search and came across this Wikipedia entry:

“Obay is a fictional mind control medication at the centre of a viral marketing campaign begun in February 2008 by Colleges Ontario, the advocacy group for colleges and institutes of applied arts and technology in the province of Ontario, Canada, and developed by the Smith Roberts advertising agency. The campaign seeks to eliminate what the group calls “academic snobbery”^[1] on the part of parents, who often see colleges as inferior to universities,^[2][3] and who may push their children towards the latter option against their wishes.”

Also:

As a result speculation immediately arose as to whether the campaign was a form of viral marketing, anti-commercial culture jamming (potentially linked to the “Obey Giant” street art campaign), or possibly anti-pharmaceutical activism by the Church of Scientology.

BRILLIANT!  ANTI-COMMERCIALISM.  CULTURE JAMMING.  Stickerkitty hearts culture jamming.

oBey eBay

More of the same on eBay.  Resistance meets capitalism = capitalism.