The Poster Artist
Don't know who, don't know why. Shepard Fairy fan? It may even BE Shepard - LA's not a far hop, and maybe he misses those heady days of inexplicable, cognitive dissonance-inducing street art, and maybe he's cultivating a new style.
Probably not.
All I know is that for the ten years I've been commuting to Lake Forest for work, I've seen posters - well drawn, well composed posters, with no clear meaning or message - appear on the support posts of random freeway overpasses. They are always black and white line drawings. There is very little verbiage, and often none. They are often reminiscent of other things, but are not copies.
He (or she) disappears for years at a time. I always assume the worst - busted, fines, probation, can't put up any more posters now that the authorities know who it is - but then suddenly: another poster!
The truth is they're probably just putting their posters up elsewhere throughout the southland. The 133 overpass on the south 405 is where I see them the most, but I've also seen posters in the support structures and outside the drainage tunnel at the 55/405 interchange. I think I've also seen posters in Santa Ana at the 5/57 interchange, and I even think I spied one once in the distance on the 57 near Pomona.
And I think it's fucking awesome. Yeah, it's technically illegal, defacement of public property, our tax dollars pay some CalTrans workers to pull them down and slap paint on the damage cause by the adhesive. But they're awesome. It's not some kid tagging his territory, it's art well-designed and placed so that when those hapless commuters - ME, I mean ME, driving along, using only the most lizardly portions of my brain to navigate - driving on their same damn stretches of roadway every day, drive by it and... wait, what was THAT? I'm sure some folks have to drive by it for days in a row before they remember to be on the lookout and actually GET a good look at it.
Anyway, I hadn't seen any new work in more than a year - the last was something that looked like a Ray Pettibon rendering of a Speed Racer frame on a post supporting the 55 at the 55/Baker exit. There was some text, and I think there may have even been some red in the regular black and white. There was a lot of landscaping going on in that area, so it only lasted a few days before some worker tore it down.
BUT: here's the new one, back at the old 405/133 stomping grounds. It's been there for a couple weeks already:
There there is an owl, standing on a circle that says "ERGO." The grey background that you can barely see is an intricate B&W pattern. The square paint patch to the left is a repair from a previous installation.
Dear Mr/Ms The Poster Artist: I salute your awesome. You have, for very short bursts of time over the course of a decade, woken me out of my robotic tupor and given me cool art things to see and ponder (which I suppose is the intent!). May you continue your work; may your luck w/r/t the authorities never run out.
Probably not.
All I know is that for the ten years I've been commuting to Lake Forest for work, I've seen posters - well drawn, well composed posters, with no clear meaning or message - appear on the support posts of random freeway overpasses. They are always black and white line drawings. There is very little verbiage, and often none. They are often reminiscent of other things, but are not copies.
He (or she) disappears for years at a time. I always assume the worst - busted, fines, probation, can't put up any more posters now that the authorities know who it is - but then suddenly: another poster!
The truth is they're probably just putting their posters up elsewhere throughout the southland. The 133 overpass on the south 405 is where I see them the most, but I've also seen posters in the support structures and outside the drainage tunnel at the 55/405 interchange. I think I've also seen posters in Santa Ana at the 5/57 interchange, and I even think I spied one once in the distance on the 57 near Pomona.
And I think it's fucking awesome. Yeah, it's technically illegal, defacement of public property, our tax dollars pay some CalTrans workers to pull them down and slap paint on the damage cause by the adhesive. But they're awesome. It's not some kid tagging his territory, it's art well-designed and placed so that when those hapless commuters - ME, I mean ME, driving along, using only the most lizardly portions of my brain to navigate - driving on their same damn stretches of roadway every day, drive by it and... wait, what was THAT? I'm sure some folks have to drive by it for days in a row before they remember to be on the lookout and actually GET a good look at it.
Anyway, I hadn't seen any new work in more than a year - the last was something that looked like a Ray Pettibon rendering of a Speed Racer frame on a post supporting the 55 at the 55/Baker exit. There was some text, and I think there may have even been some red in the regular black and white. There was a lot of landscaping going on in that area, so it only lasted a few days before some worker tore it down.
BUT: here's the new one, back at the old 405/133 stomping grounds. It's been there for a couple weeks already:
There there is an owl, standing on a circle that says "ERGO." The grey background that you can barely see is an intricate B&W pattern. The square paint patch to the left is a repair from a previous installation.
Dear Mr/Ms The Poster Artist: I salute your awesome. You have, for very short bursts of time over the course of a decade, woken me out of my robotic tupor and given me cool art things to see and ponder (which I suppose is the intent!). May you continue your work; may your luck w/r/t the authorities never run out.