BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
Ever Get The Feeling You’ve Been Cheated?
Hi-jacking of billboards and signage is part of the grand legacy of Street Art and one that we consider part of the daily conversation on the street. From the Billboard Liberation Front to the Situationists to Jenny Holzer and John Fekner, the simple act of re-framing public/private space and the messages within it began at least forty or fifty years ago, and the critiques continue apace today with various forms of culture jamming and high-minded/low brow hijinks.
Stovington23. Bedford, England. March 2014. (photo © Stovington23)
It’s an ongoing struggle to claim what is called public space, physically as well as what advertisers claim as the real estate of our minds. These artists are thinking first, then hoping to short-circuit, questioning our learned acceptance of commercial ideas and views of the world. Some say that this activist form is successful only if it raises questions and awareness. If it falls short of those goals, it may be interpreted as a prank, a cryptic insider joke, or form of poetic conceptual art evoking feelings of ennui.
Stovington23. Feltham, England. April 2014. (photo © Stovington23)
The Street Art collective Stovington23 from the UK engages the spirit of détournement by employing the simplest of forms, the stencil letter, in some of the most banal pseudo public spaces like shopping centers. In black and white photos that they provide here it appears that they add a well placed rejoinder or slogan very near the names and slogans that greet you as you enter the store, or see from the highway as you drive by.
“We want to take advertising techniques – the crafted slogan, the well-chosen billboard spot – and turn them against the admen’s corporate paymasters,” they tell BSA when describing the motivations for this conception. As always, work like this is open to interpretation, and we would love to be in the parking lot with a sound recorder interviewing people about their impressions upon first seeing things like, “One Day This Will be a Bombsite,” or an earlier installment of the Johnny Rotten quote “Ever Get The Feeling You’ve Been Cheated?”
Stovington23. Leeds, England. March 2014. (photo © Stovington23)
Stovington23. Romford, England. April 2014. (photo © Stovington23)
Stovington23. Staines, England. May 2014. (photo © Stovington23)
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
238
138
45
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening : 1. “Rise and Fall" for Clorofilla with Andreco 2. Hitnes. The Image Hunter / Voodoo Duck...
They don’t call it World Pride for nothing, and many artists are creating new public artworks this month to commemorate the 5oth anniversary of the modern rights movement for LBGTQ+ people in many ci...
The Church of Santa Maria Novella, The Opera del Duomo Museum, the Uffizi Gallery. Florence is forever tied to Renaissance art history and shares its cultural riches with the world daily, including a...
Now that we have had our longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and Solstice has stirred libidos, plunging us into midnight runs through abandoned lots and local parks and naked splashing ...
Three decades since starting as an aerosol writer, Shok-1 may be more commonly referred to as a Street Artist today, even though graffiti is still in his bones. After experimenting with a number of s...
