Graffiti artist Deadboy does interview, wears Gay Pride mask

This interview with derided Toronto stencil artist Deadboy got me thinking. See, that's the problem. We should consume street art the way we consume each other's Facebook news feeds. With blind hunger.

Deadboy, wearing a silver-coloured skull mask used to reach the angsty age 12-18 middle-class suburbia demographic, explains to his interviewer that the reason he got into stencilling was because UK artist Banksy inspired him.

Banksy is the Martha Stewart of the street art world. And stencilling is the graffiti equivalent of Tea Party politics. According to one reliable source, Deadboy began his stencilling career after watching Exit Through the Gift Shop. Yes, I know.

Look, Deadboy is obviously a talented bro with an agenda against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. He went to the Cardinal Carter Arts Academy and realised that to make it as an artist he had to be discovered. To be discovered he has to be cool. To be cool he has to become part of a buzz movement, which is temporarily street art. So he put on a Gay Pride mask, or something, and stencilled a wall during daylight for this video while talking about how other artists are hating on him.

And now he's being written about by some loser Australian blogger - with a name equivalent to that f-cked up mask - who criticises other bros for their actual/minor/negligible successes.

Ah, what do I know. Watch the f-cking video.

You might like:

■ Meggs and Beastman videos
■ Anthony Lister Bogan Paradise
■ German hotties Herakut

Exhibition: Anthony Lister

Anthony Lister dropped me an email recently about the opening of his exhibition The Beauty of Failure at Show and Tell Gallery in Toronto.

The show featured a mix of paint-on-canvas and sculptures, like Shit Yourself (pictured below).

As his art often does, Lister's new works comment on conceptions of heroism, role models and childhood fantasy.

The sarcasm behind the trophies is simultaneously farcical and hilarious.

Some of those who attended the opening enjoyed its playfulness. They laughed. Others were caught up in the existential crisis caused by doing a shit.

What does the beauty of failure mean? Are runner-up trophies more about cushioning self-esteem than awarding effort?

See the entire body of work here.

In other Lister news, his work will be part of the Disorder Disorder exhibition at Penrith Regional Gallery (Sydney) from August 14.

It will feature street-inspired works from a pool of international artists.