No Love For Poster Child?
Image courtesy of Poster Child
Renegade street artist Poster Child has been doing installations on the subway vents in front of Nathan Phillips Square in the last few weeks. For his third piece he created a big inflated doll and invited the folks at Dear Toronto to film the event. Let's just say that not everyone was feeling it:
Video courtesy of Dear Toronto
Poster Child also asks in his blog if the doll was "a security risk" big enough for such a speedy takedown. His last two installations lasted more than 24 hours in public view. The guards at Nathan Phillips are catching on quicker. What did you think of it? And will we expect more art on the grates from Poster Child after this one?
Comments (30)
I'll admit it. I'm not really feeling it either and I'm kindof glad the guards do their job pomptly and effectively.
Sorry hipsters. Thems the breaks.
What the fuck is that?
I don't get this whole hipster inside joke thing, but the guards were right to take this down. What in the blue fuck was that suppose to be?
That wasn't fun. That was stupid. Bring back the light graffiti. Now that was good.
I wouldn't look too deep into this guys, re: hipster inside jokes. I think it was mainly supposed to be a kooky air sculpture, not a deep political satire or anything to far above the layman's mental capacity. It's also unfortunate that the guards aren't the only douches in the city, apparently.
If it wasn't attached to the grate then chances are it was going to get blown off in one direction or another eventually, and there's a fairly busy road on one side.
Those animal plastic bag things were smaller, lighter, and attached to the grate. This was basically a large windsock and a wooden frame just waiting for a chance to smash through some schmuck's windshield.
You don't like/get it, so security was right to take it away?
It wasn't a security risk, wasn't going to fall over (all the weight was at the base), wasn't in anyone's way, and didn't interfere with the function of the grate.
Meh - the animal guy (Joshua Allen Harris) isn't the first to use vents to inflate things and call it art.
I am outraged that I can't leave my junk all over the city unattended without some layman douche who just doesn't get it, removing it.
Outraged! This is why Toronto is such a not-new-york city, it's because not everyone thinks I'm a genius!
I'm taking my wooly scarf and my wacky inflatable arm man elsewhere.
You Douches!
"...not a deep political satire or anything to far above the layman's mental capacity." Ahh yes, the cry of the Hipster - utter contempt for the intelligence of the 'average' person.
As in life, you can get away with more shit if you're small & cute. THAT is one big ugly f-er. No wonder it didn't stand a chance.
Lol! Those who know me will get a chuckle out of me being called a hipster.
Anyways, the vents are back to their usual dull, uncovered selves today. Enjoy the view!
if the lameasses who replied have their way, Toronto will become the cultural equivalent of ketchup.
oh please forgive the charlatan artist for interrupting your enjoyment of the Kelly Clarkson remix on your iPod as you schlep to your part-time gig as the assistant fry guy at McDonald's.
I'm sure Poster Child has been properly admonished and can now squash his hopes of becoming a bigger artist than that white dude with the 'fro who painted landscapes on PBS.
T-Dot's getting more bland by the day.
"if the lameasses who replied have their way, Toronto will become the cultural equivalent of ketchup." Yes! The OTHER cry of the Hipster - if you don't like something, it cant be because it is stupid/lame/unoriginal, it must be because you aren't smart/sucessful/cool enough to get it. Now if we can only get someone to say how much cooler it is in Montreal/Vancouver, we can get the trifecta in this one thread.
RBeezy, you philistine. His name is Bob Ross and evidently you dont understand the irony of assuming then mocking other people's tastes while trying to champion the cultural merit of this shallow attempt at self-enduced artistic victimhood at the hands of 'the man'.
nah Dave, I'm not a hipster, I'm just someone who, whether I like it or not; appreciates the release of creative energy in unexpected forms. it helps to make life more interesting.
you know what happens when you leave everything pent up Dave? you become a sallow, bitter, Boo Radley-complexioned type who can only find satisfaction by shitting on everything in random public forums...like on a blog for example.
Rajio, you and Bob Ross can kiss my ass.
if you consider him a visionary for anything other than his infamy as a pop culture footnote than I'd love to trade my etchings for your velvet Elvis paintings.
RBeezy, my god, you're right! I see now that it is great example of streetart....by the way, which do you prefer: the inflatable Kong they put on top of car dealerships or the inflatable Godzilla? I like the Godzilla myself, it brings a certain eastern-influenced whimsy to the work. The artist's use of such a bright green makes one really take notice, and the enormous size speaks to the power of the imagination over reality. Art truly is anywhere you want to find it I guess.
"You don't like/get it, so security was right to take it away?"
No, security was right to take it away because when it comes down to it somebody dumped some crap on their property, essentially defacing it. Surely you'd not suggest that property owners have no right to paint over graffiti left on their buildings?
Even if you think it is "art", Poster Child doesn't really have the slightest right to put it there.
I used to stand in front of A/C vents and let my tshirt puff out to simulate the look of a fat person but then a security guard punched me in the stomach. I empathize.
I know the artist/hipsters love a good "rebel against the mainstream establishment" drama but as people have already said:
Some guy left a inflatable arm guy on a grate. Security whose job it is to look after the square walked over, had a look and threw it away.
Why is this worth posting? No one got hurt, or in fact no one even got yelled at. The "art" wasn't all that interesting or very good (subjective I know, but this won't go down in Toronto's art history).
BlogTO, I'd rather have 2-3 quality post's a day then lot's of crap. This is turning into a local TV newscast. Fill up space regardless of whether it's worth doing a story on it.
@acer: It's a blog, that means that things are posted that might not be interesting to you. They're posted though because they're interesting to the poster. BlogTO has posted stuff from Dear Toronto before so this isn't exactly a shockingly offtopic post.
@Ian: I'm pretty sure Poster Child knows that he doesn't have the right to put it there and even acknowledges in his post on his site that he realises that they were just doing their jobs.
@Everyone saying that the security guards are why Toronto is going down the gutter: Get over yourselves, there will be plenty more street art and Poster Child isn't going to close up shop because something of his got taken down.
@Everyone saying that this is stupid and are glad it was taken down: Sure they had the right to take it down, but someone standing there waiving their arms probably posed more risk than this.
WACKY WAVING INFLATABLE ARM FLAILING TUBE MEN EMPORIUM AND WAREHOUSE. Yeah, whatever.
Hello!
I like Bob Ross.
http://www.bladediary.com/bobross.jpg
We might all learn something from his chilled-out attitude.
I guess the secret to having public art tolerated is for it to be sponsored by a bank and limited to one night ONLY.
It's not that Toronto hates fun, it just likes it's fun highly regulated and structured.
"It's not that Toronto hates fun, it just likes it's fun highly regulated and structured."
peace, order and good government, bitches!
Haha!
Sponsored by a bank, limited to one night only, highly regulated and structured, AND with a half-hour line up!
I like the original better:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=L-a607j2dOo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ir0U3VNYg_w
This version lacked imagination and sincerity, I thought.
The pattern is not so nice and too busy to make a statement.
It didn't say 'toronto'.
Joshua Allen Harris' sculptures had 'New York' written all over them - their subway grates were ubiquitious and the sculptures hid in plain sight - it just looked like garbage until the passing subway car 'activated' them.
Pure simple ingenuity.
Sorry PosterChild.
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