I sometimes hate reporting on things like this, after all I wouldn’t post about every new marker tag a writer puts up, but in the case of the Decapitator, I am loving his work enough to keep the readers informed of the new happenings in his portfolio. This series of pics show the mysterious head chopper taking on all of those Uniqlo tee shirt bills. Taking on a corporation has gotta be safer then the beef that can happen in the streets.
Following the below post on 11 Spring Street, I felt it was necessary to put up this photograph of the building located just down the street. Right on the corner of Spring and Bowery sits another canvas of street artist and graffiti writers. While this building never reached the notoriety of 11 Spring Street, it’s walls have still been graced with the works of REVS, Judith Supine, WK, Shepard Fairey, the IRAK crew and many, many more. Now the majority of the building is covered in memorial graffiti for Joey Semz. Props.
It has been over a year now since NYC, nay the World lost one of the most valuable street art canvases ever to exist. For years 11 Spring Street was the equivalent of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with the works of modern day Michaelangelo’s gracing every inch of it. 11 Spring Street amplified the difference between graffiti and street art (because yes, there is a HUGE difference) and the battle and embracing between these two cultures. The walls were constantly changing and telling the stories of those putting their mark on them and tales of the city. The reason I am writing about 11 Spring so long after it has been covered in construction tarps and scaffolding, in the interim of being whitewashed and becoming multi-million dollar condo’s, is simple, I walked passed the decomposed shell of a building that was once a gorgeous piece of art, life and NYC and just missed it. This is yet another example of old and true NYC being phased out into anywhere U.S.A.
By now you have probably seen the Supreme wheat paste posters featuring Kermit the Frog that are taking over a city near you. Apparently, The Decapitator also took notice of these ads and decided a little customization was needed. The question is, do you think Supreme (probably the coolest street wear and skate company out there) likes what was done? Also, what about Terry Richardson (all around weirdo and perv), who took the pic, does he like it? (Because I do)!
This is a YouTube video of the London based decapitator doing what he does best (cutting the heads off in advertisements)- this time David Beckham is the victim.
href=”http://www.asdlabs.com/blog/2008/01/17/london-decapitator-strikes/” target=”_blank”>this previous AS|D DROP post.
Renegade artist and head-hunter The Decapitator has been bombarding the streets of London with a signature style of graffiti tag - eerily removing the heads from major adverts around town, replacing them with ghastly, gory stumps.
Based on the images uploaded to his/her Flickr stream, “The East London Decapitator” as he/she has been dubbed, is largely striking mainstream advertisements, like this (my personal fav) High School Musical 2 poster.
The Decapitator’s culture jamming pieces are reminiscent of the style of popaganda artist Ron English, whose seminal work in billboard subvertising involved covering mainstream advertisements with his own art.
The mutation of art into other forms of art is always fascinating — even if the recipients aren’t always willing, as was in the case with New York-based graffiti defacer, known as the Splasher. Splasher became infamous this summer for tossing paint onto the work of well-known street artists like Shepard Fairy and Momo, citing controversial claims that their work was gentrified, banal and irreparably appropriated and commodified.
