DOT DOT DOT in LA Goes for a Gentle Laugh

Norwegian street artist DOT DOT DOT is one of the artists from the mid 2000s who was quite influenced by the stencil work and sarcastic tone of Banksy and who faithfully stays true to the aesthetics and situational placement of his pieces, even though his roots are from the graffiti scene of Oslo. Not married to any one style, he looks for opportunity to be ironic, and perhaps cause the viewer to be puzzled, or to illicit an inside-joke smile.

DOT DOT DOT. “Chanel Dogs” Malibu, Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

Crisp, painstaking, and understated, the style of work from DOT DOT DOT sometimes comes across as benign even if the ultimate message is shocking. Take the dogs fighting over the Chanel purse in a chic neighborhood in Malibu, for example. You make first think the playful tug-of-war is cute before you ever realize it is an insult to status-hungry consumerism.

DOT DOT DOT. “Radioactive Sea” Venice Beach, Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

His signs posted on California beaches warning against radioactive material in the water in Japanese may be mistaken as genuine although his intent is to shake you out of your awe at the magestic ocean view. “Fukushima continues to contaminate over 400 tons of water daily, most of which is let out to sea,” says the artist. To this date the plant has produced over 500,000 tons, and they have already found radioactive contamination all along the California coast as well as Hawaii.” To drive the point home he leaves a stencil of men in hazmat suits spraying down a boy whose been playing at the beach.

Here we give you some images from DOT DOT DOT’s recent trip to the west coast of the US, and a few of his interventions.