Poster Boy

A number of you-- particularly you New Yorkers-- may have heard of Poster Boy, the anonymous guerilla artist who- using only a razor blade- rehashes self-adhesive subway advertisements such that the result is a satirical representation of 'political reality*'

For those of you who haven't, you should look into it. Using his 50¢ boxcutter, he cuts pieces from one** ad and collages them onto another so that a billboard that once promoted, say, the Star Wars DVD box set*** ends up something like this:

The reason that I bring it up today is that yesterday, my contributing author-- the lovely Mr. Nicholas P. Wing-- brought it to my attention that on March 2nd, Mark Batty Publisher will release a compilation book titled Poster Boy: The War of Art. As you might have guessed, it will feature some of the reclusive artist's best work. Further details are still sketchy, but here's the description offered by Amazon.com:

"The New York Times dubbed him an 'anti-consumerist Zorro with a razor blade, a sense of humor and a talent for collage'; the Guardian UK said of his work, it 'is witty, web-savvy and economical . . . and the only materials it requires are chutzpah, imagination and a 50 cent blade.' Poster Boy tweaks corporate copy, replacing it with incisive and playful puns and turns of phrase rich with innuendo and political punch. Beautiful models turn ghastly and iconic spokespeople become the mouthpieces for Poster Boy’s ideas. Poster Boy: The War of Art collects his best work yet"

Check out more of Poster Boy's pieces on his Flickr photostream. If you're stoked about that, you can pre-order the War of Art for under $13 at Amazon. And finally... if you find yourself liking Poster Boy's subway art, have a look at the Subway Art Blog and further broaden your urban art horizon.


* à la George Orwell's Animal Farm


** or two... or twelve...


** I guess it could also be a Star Wars marathon at some artsy NYC movie theatre. Either way, you get the idea.