All posts tagged: Culture Jamming

“The Wack Donald’s Project” and Mr OneTeas

“The Wack Donald’s Project” and Mr OneTeas

The actual street and the digital version of it are now intrinsically linked and often if you see new occurrences of street art it takes just a bit of searching online to find out more about the artist and what they are up to. This week we were surprised to find these posters that incorporate Ronald McDonald into their messaging, and to find out how they appear to be marketed just as thoroughly through social media online.

It’s all about the subtleties of course, and many street artists leave a breadcrumb of clues digitally to lead you to their work on the street or in the gallery or on a t-shirt.  And everyone is familiar with large “urban” brands that traverse the transgressive vibe through adroit social messaging that invariably leads to a product you may purchase. Nonetheless, sometimes it gets very confusing.

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Mr. OneTeas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A French illustrator/painter/graphic designer from Nice who also has had shows in galleries in Monaco, Mr OneTeas is known to some as a graffiti artist who samples pop culture on his canvasses and appropriates commonly recognizable images of Hollywood names like Liz Taylor, Princess Grace, and Alfred Hitchcock. He also presents 80s television culture ironically (spotlighting Gary Coleman, Alf, Mr. T), inverts meanings with global brand logos, critiques consumerist culture, and interprets his subjects using the visual language of street art and the commercial finesse of artists such as Mr. Brainwash, for example.

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Mr. OneTeas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

That said, some people on the street here have been intrigued by these posters with the Mr OneTeas name on them which have popped up on street walls around Brooklyn appearing to skewer the fast food giant and consumerism – both because it has been a little while since we’ve seen a satirical bashing of a world brand on the street and because mroneteas appears to be so publicly documenting it on his Instagram and Facebook page.

If you consider the artist name as a brand (for the sake of argument), this is culture-jamming that is being re-jammed; a guerilla-advertising campaign-style series of postering that attacks a huge brand and is critical of consumerism which then employs common social media advertising techniques of promotion to get its message out. Is this still détournement?

In a brief email interview with the artist we learned that “The Wack Donald’s Project” began in 2011 when he first merged the Mona Lisa with Ronald McDonald. Influenced by the documentary “Supersize Me,” Mr OneTeas says that his illustrations began to equate the ubiquity of the friendly clown in the minds of children as something far more sinister than he originally thought.

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Mr. OneTeas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“McDonald’s use Ronald the clown and they made him so friendly and attractive for the children customers,” he says. Describing the piece entitled, “Ronald’s Daughter / My Father Is A Terrorist,” the artist says, “Today we all are scared about terrorism, suspecting everybody around us, but no one is suspecting McDonalds to hurt us. We’ve been conditioned by it because we have grown up with it, and now if you’re looking at the Mc D restaurant world map, you will be surprised that they are everywhere.”

He says he started his campaign last month in Prague and this month he was in New York with five more posters. But the New York campaign was just a small one. “100 different Wack Donald’s characters are waiting to pop up, each one chosen for special reasons for different countries.” You can expect the social campaign will also follow the postering campaign closely because Mr OneTeas considers the fast food to be on par with tobacco. “On the cigarette packs in France you can read ‘Smoking Kills’. My thoughts are that I would like to make people realize that eating junk food can kill as well,” he says.

Guess we’ll just have to follow his Instagram to see how the campaign progresses.

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Mr. OneTeas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Check out more on the artists Instagram page, which says “Mr OneTeas (ARTIST) Graffiti, Street Art, Recycler The Wack Donald’s Project… Oneteas@gmail.com http://www.facebook.com/Mr.OneTeas”

 

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post.

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Happy New Year! BSA Highlights of 2010

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As we start a new year, we say thank you for the last one.

And Thank You to the artists who shared their 11 Wishes for 2011 with Brooklyn Street Art; Conor Harrington, Eli Cook, Indigo, Gilf, Todd Mazer, Vasco Mucci, Kimberly Brooks, Rusty Rehl, Tip Toe, Samson, and Ludo. You each contributed a very cool gift to the BSA family, and we’re grateful.

We looked over the last year to take in all the great projects we were in and fascinating people we had the pleasure to work with. It was a helluva year, and please take a look at the highlights to get an idea what a rich cultural explosion we are all a part of at this moment.

The new year already has some amazing new opportunities to celebrate Street Art and artists. We are looking forward to meeting you and playing with you and working with you in 2011.

Specter does “Gentrification Series” © Jaime Rojo
NohJ Coley and Gaia © Jaime Rojo
Jef Aerosol’s tribute to Basquiat © Jaime Rojo
***

January

Imminent Disaster © Steven P. Harrington
Fauxreel (photo courtesy the artist)
Chris Stain at Brooklyn Bowl © Jaime Rojo

February

Various & Gould © Jaime Rojo
Anthony Lister on the street © Jaime Rojo
Trusto Corp was lovin it.

March

Martha Cooper, Shepard Fairey © Jaime Rojo
BSA’s Auction for Free Arts NYC
Crotched objects began appearing on the street this year. © Jaime Rojo

April

BSA gets some walls for ROA © Jaime Rojo
Dolk at Brooklynite © Steven P. Harrington
BSA gets Ludo some action “Pretty Malevolence” © Jaime Rojo

May

The Crest Hardware Art Show © Jaime Rojo
NohJ Coley © Jaime Rojo
The Phun Phactory Reboot in Williamsburg © Steven P. Harrington

June

Sarah Palin by Billi Kid
Nick Walker with BSA in Brooklyn © Jaime Rojo
Judith Supine at “Shred” © Jaime Rojo

July

Interview with legend Futura © Jaime Rojo
Os Gemeos and Martha Cooper © Jaime Rojo
Skewville at Electric Windows © Jaime Rojo

August

Specter Spot-Jocks Shepard Fairey © Jaime Rojo
“Bienvenidos” campaign
Faile studio visit © Jaime Rojo

September

BSA participates and sponsors New York’s first “Nuit Blanche” © Jaime Rojo
JC2 © Jaime Rojo
How, Nosm, R. Robots © Jaime Rojo

October

Faile “Bedtime Stories” © Jaime Rojo
Judith Supine © Jaime Rojo
Photo © Roswitha Guillemin courtesy Galerie Itinerrance

November

H. Veng Smith © Jaime Rojo
Sure. Photo courtesy Faust
Kid Zoom © Jaime Rojo

December

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