SYDNEY: Hipster poster advertisements **UPDATED**

(Devonshire St, Surry Hills, Sydney)

There is a poster plague propagating in Sydney and it's beginning to shit me. These posters depict shirtless hipsters with confused facial expressions.

The only other 'message' they send are phone numbers and email addresses below the images.

Traditional advertising asks consumers/cattle to do things, to try things, to believe they are 'worthless' unless they do something they otherwise wouldn't (buy a new fucking car you piece of shit).

But these posters employ brandless marketing to hold your attention through 'cognitive jamming'.

Has brandless marketing reached a new low?

Who knows/gives a $2 toss. All I know is that this sexxi hipster made me want to find out more. Maybe I 'bought into' the brand too easily since escaping the beef factory.

(Acid Midget is a street art blog made with an iPhone)

Omar, channelling the Acid Midget, sent these texts to the number listed on the poster.

He expected a swift response asking him to either visit a website selling herpes cream, or to pose another meta-narrative to him.

There was no response.

(Abercrombie and Meagher Sts, Chippendale, Sydney)

I was hurt. The lack of reply spurred me on to find another poster.

If I found another one, I thought, an answer would appear.

But all I found in a different part of Sydney was another hipster whore with a vandalised head.

Maybe the street art movement has peaked. Maybe the street art 'brand' has rebelled all it can. It has become accepted into the socio-political narrative after fighting for more than 30 years.

Perhaps the creative lefties who I call brothers and sisters have already moved to other methods of questioning social failings and I just haven't caught up.

They became criminal defence lawyers.

**UPDATE**

Acid Midget reader Mattae Cooper published these posters on our Facebook fanpage. These were defaced by Catface.

Sculptor Will Coles' new plaque

(Bourke St, Surry Hills, Sydney)

Sydney sculptor Will Coles recently got up in Fred Miller Park, a strange site street artists like to bomb. I don't understand why because there is only grass, swings and little pedestrian traffic.

The plaque commemorates Coles' gluing of it to the wall, which is funny considering it doesn't look like a remote control. But he has celebrated the act of expression. He is not selling a brand or instructing anyone to do something.

Coles has worked on top of the pointy 'Squiggle Man' drawings which are all over Bourke St. Those were first published on Acid Midget in 2009 during the pre-Exit Through North Korea era.

Mysterious Street Art Tart doesn't look at the plaque. She prefers Coles' sculptures on a conceptual level, so ignores them. She believes the physical state of his ideas are 'restricted by variables of human error' and 'sold short in their interpretation'.

She also likes cupcakes.

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Dead Animal Wheatpaste

Lipton Ice Green Tea art mural

(Via Wooster Collective)

This clip depicts several 'street artists' painting a wall in Surry Hills, Sydney, to popularise the Lipton Ice Green Tea brand.

Lipton provided the paint and 'grass' for the mural with money they made from creating sugar cavities in human mouths. The mural features a lady/tranny with long tranny hair blowing green marijuana leaves across Transylvania via the Blue Mountains.

Do you feel connected to the Lipton Meth Green Weed brand after watching this?

 (Image source)

Green helmet pussy cat: "Have you tried real green tea? Like, even just the shit available in Japanese vending machines?"

You: "Er, no."

Cat: "Lipton's doesn't taste like that. It tastes like extremely sweet water infused with chemicals which remind brain receptors of green tea."

(Image source)

Liption has dubbed this 'urban arts initiative' Project Green. The word 'initiative', however, is a falsification of what this project is. Take out the PR spin. It's a marketing campaign which uses a buzz trend to reach a target market - under-35 urbanites.

Would the target market be reached more effectively with a campaign called 'Project Weed'?

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Street art themed Mazda CX-7 commercial

Who is Sydney artist Phil James?

(Devonshire St, Surry Hills, Sydney)

Phil James is a street artist who movement figureheads are calling 'the next Warhol'.

Trouble is, no one knows who the fuck he is. Once his identity is revealed, fans and bloggers will be able to criticise everything he does.

They will crucify Phil James as a way to project their own selfish, unattainable expectations.

This recent wheatpaste of his was appropriated by an anonymous vandal.

Now it reads: "Phil James is a cunt."

Do you think he is?

Visit his Flickr page here.


PREVIOUS POST:

SYDNEY: Phil James art cunt poster

Sexy lady stencil in Sydney

(Collins St, Surry Hills, Sydney)

Here's a new take on the Redheads matches lady. What is she so worried about? Is she heartbroken?

Whatever it is, she needs to lighten up. Get it? Huh.

SYDNEY: Phil James art cunt poster

 (Images: Devonshire and Crown Sts, Surry Hills, Sydney)

Found this wheatpaste as I was walking home from Central Station.

I'd been missing a street art FACE SLAP; so many artists doing quirky, hipster-centric stencils and paste-ups aimed at the granny sector.

But this faux pop-art poster depicts Homer Simpson's hard penis at the moment before insertion into Mrs Krabappel's butthole.

So many creative plains on which to deconstruct this work. Such a rich, generous piece of art.

This is by some dude called Phil James. No one knows who he is.

Judging by the poster's placement, across the road from the Ray Hughes Gallery, he's probably a struggling artist sending a message to the cunts who won't exhibit his incredible work.

See some more blogs that don't know who the fuck Phil James is:

Darlinghurst Nights said: "I've no idea who this Phil James guy is."

Ray Hughes Gallery said: "Content coming soon."

Photo a Day said: "Will the real Phil James please stand up?"

Is Phil James the new Warhol?

SYDNEY: Dead animal wheatpaste

(Fred Miller Park, Surry Hills, Sydney)

Found another animal wheatpaste just when I thought it was over.

The artist has illustrated a badger that is either roadkill or has died of cocaine toxicity.

It is now decomposing, just like Charlie Sheen.

Does Sheen make you horny?

(Image source)

Does he make you thirsty?

(Image source)

Is this wheatpaste an ironic juxtaposition of what urban environments do to animals? Is this a metaphor for what cities do to humanity?

If you know who made this please comment/email.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Sydney laneway poster art

Sydney roundabout says 'Play Dead'

 (Corner of Waterloo and Kippax Streets, Surry Hills, Sydney)

Would you call this street art?

Maybe a driver was pissed at pedestrians and bicycle riders and wrote a love letter for them.

Perhaps a white supremacist did a little doodle to 'send a death threat' to indigenous people who planned on crossing the road expecting to get to the other side alive.

This was submitted to Acid Midget by photographer MK.

He drove past it and: "decided to see if I could get access to an overhead shot by canvassing the building block on the corner – level five peeps let me in to do a shot".

Level five peeps, we owe you a beer.

RELATED COVERAGE:

Ronald McDonald kills Mickey Mouse (photo by MK)

Astro Boy stencil

(Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, Sydney)

Saw this sweet stencil of Astro Boy as I walked from Central Station yesterday.

It's simple but makes a statement instantly.

The flames shooting from Astro Boys' boots look hot. His facial expression looks so Manga. His man breasts look so supple.

 

(Kyoto, Japan)

Reminds me of the Astro Boy sculpture mounted outside Kyoto train station.

I didn't ask the Japanese Minister for Anime when I saw it, but this is almost definitely a state-sponsored Astro Boy.

Could you imagine Gumby waving to you outside your local train station?

Morning coffee; check.

Morning bagel (sesame seed, extra cream cheese please); check.

Morning newspaper; check.

Morning Gumby; SHIT YEAH.

URBAN ADVENTURE: An abandoned building in Sydney

(All images; Kippax St, Surry Hills, Sydney)

So I zipped around the News Limited building at the corner of Kippax and Holt Streets yesterday.

I couldn't find the place. "Shit," I thought.

Then I spotted a massive JUMBO poster on a wall a little further down and knew I'd found it.

It was the holy grail; the abandoned building which was "graffiti fucking heaven".

Problem. There was no obvious entry. The lift looked dead. The floor was unsteady. There was little evidence of where to giz-o. 

Seems someone felt the same, so they wrote it in red marker. "How do you get in?"

Fucking magnets - how do they work?

Love this job. Being a blogger should be restricted to the top fifth percentile of humanity. What would be the criteria of restrictions on that one? I think Perez Hilton and Carles should be the ones to set them.

I LOVE YOU TOO x.

I was in Japan in August. Yes, Hello Kitty is like a virus over there. Grown fucking women were decked out in merch (was kinda sexy though).

However, this is the baddest-ass version of Hello Pussie I've ever seen. She's riding around Tokyo with bayonets and bazookas. Damn.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Ronald McDonald kills Mickey Mouse

Gerald the Dog is back in Sydney

(Esther Lane, Surry Hills)

Remember Gerald the Dog? That poor pup poured his life away after meeting some hipster dogs. Last we heard there weren't any new Gerald bombs popping up in Sydney.

Then I found this where the last one was, behind the Ray Hughes Gallery.

**UPDATE**

Colin left a comment saying these pieces were by Slug. Obviously if slug were to pick a name for this character, it would be Gerald the Dog.

Seems Gerald lost his shit even more than last time. Previously he was a drug addict, having gone stray after partying too hard.

Now he has used condoms poking through his eye sockets like ghosts of lovers past who are back to haunt him. Semen seeps down his face, his lashing tongue and gnashing jaw unable to hide the agony.

(Fitzroy St, Surry Hills)

Here he is again, in the same style on the Hopetoun Hotel. This is a fitting bomb for the Hoey - it has all of us feeling a bit blue.

Will the Hopetoun ever reopen? Is anyone friends with Justin Hemmes on Facebook?

This was also at the right of the frame:

It's the lips flower we've spotted around town. So many delicate pink petals, so snatch-like, so fragrant.

This image - don't ask me why - reminds me of the models featured in Robert Palmer's track Addicted to Love. I remember being very young and very confused about the overtly sexual imagery in the video clip. It drew me in and I didn't understand why.

Now it's happening all over again.

(Image source)

To jog your memory about the lips flower here's a piece from the previous post:

(Grafton Street, Chippendale, Sydney)

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Gerald the Dog

Denham Lane, Surry Hills

Denham Lane is a no hope refuge in a narrow corner of Sydney.

It’s in a quiet residential section of Surry Hills and often empty. The only objects there are stencils, longnecks, half-suckled goonbags and the odd dirty shot glass. All evidence of dead end lives lived in a dead end alley.

This disfigured poem looks like a bible phrase pastiche. It calls with painful urgency to “harvest, teach, intwine (sic), seed, time, learn”. Its incoherence could represent a struggle for unification; a struggle which is failing.

The NT intervention, implemented under the Howard Government, received criticism from indigenous communities for making problems worse.

This stencil could be an attack on the “no alcohol/pornography” signs posted around the NT.

From what I understand, Tjawa is a shortened form of Tjawa Tjawa, an area in the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia. It’s anglicised name is Point Moody. It's one of the most isolated desert settlements in Australia and is also a hub of Indigenous art.

 

What do you get when you cross horses and spiders?

Who knows.

At one point we were in the Northern Territory, reading a bible on horseback, trying to escape spiders.

Now we're in a Columbian coke fight.

Shit. Wouldn't want to get blown away now.

This could just be me, but does this stencil look like Ronald Reagan? Not sure why anyone would make a Reagan stencil.

Practice?

Love the bottom-right skull. Love love.

This trail of turtles leads to the end of the lane. They symbolically walk with us as we find a gutter seat, pop open a 40 oz. and piss our pain away.

For more on Denham Ln check out Darlinghurst Nights.

more street art at the hopetoun, surry hills

(Fitzroy St, Surry Hills)

Found this poster on a board at the Hopetoun Hotel. Yes. The hotel is still closed. Unlike the Tote in Melbourne, which was saved recently by new owner Seventh Tipple, according to Crikey (link).

Not sure what this boy stands for.

Is he David, facing Goliath with a mean-ass rock at his feet?
Was the rock thrown at him and now he's mad pissed?
Did he own a popular Sydney pub that 'went down the shitter' but doesn't have the balls to fight financial hardship?
Is he the underdog, at the climax of battle?
Is he a little chub, hinting that children eat too many burgers these days?
Does he feel guilty for littering, or is it council's job to clean up after us because we for pay its salaries/luxury business trips?
Have you ever faced your demons, but hesitated with a look of 'i shat my undies' on your face?

artist: zap

(Fitzroy St, Surry Hills)

It's been raining consistently in Sydney for the past couple of weeks. I had to stand in the drizzle to get a snap of this poster. I like it. As a psychedelic comic piece it's average, but the overall meaning isn't clear from a few metres away.

A 1950s rear-engine race car is caught by a giant hand, in a forest somewhere. What, the fuck, is going on here? Let's read the speech bub-bub-bubble:

So someone, probably the driver, is telling Zap to 'abort' the journey they're on. They are ants in a world of giants. They're fighting overwhelming odds. They must escape. They will lose.

Is this a metaphor for the corporate clutch holding the art industry by the balls/car?

Does the public need to escape coercion by the agenda-setting elite classes?

Is it referencing an episode of Speed Racer that i missed?

Luv u Zap.

the hopetoun hotel: miss u hoey pt. 2

(wall beside the Hopetoun on Bourke St, Surry Hills)

The Hopetoun Hotel is still closed after months of patience, blog comments and binge drinkers pissing on at other pubs.

But even with the likelihood it will by bought out/demolished at some point, the Hoey's MySpace page says the venue currently provides "live music seven nights a week" and its mood is "accomplished".

Seems the owners can't even be "fucked" to update their profile.

Not sure what this I Love Hades poster is meant to reference. Is it meaningless? Does the "Greek god of the underworld" signify an evil spirit behind everything that happens to the Hoey?

(blackboard on the Hopetoun)

In a recent news story the unresolved questions on the venue's future were still unanswered.

In the meantime, street artists continue to enshrine the building with allusions to a community of artists trudging on, oblivious to the financial failings of its members.

heart you so bad

(Olivia Ln, Surry Hills)

Haven't seen one of these since i chased bees around the playground.

Remember the childhood/adolescent crush? Those intense feelings for someone you barely knew? Daydreams about revealing your love while staring at the blackboard? The pain of seeing your crush with someone else?

Acid Midget ♥ Syd

Acid Midget ♥ Prince

Acid Midget ♥ U

Have you ever been in love?

Is love 'real'?

Does heartbreak 'hurt'?

Is 'no-strings sex' better than love?

Do you feel 'emancipated' by confessing your crush on a wall?