Poster Child's Blade Diary

Postronimos Rock On Shaolin Land

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:53:19 -0700

Tuesday — March 16th, 2010

Postronimos Rock On Shaolin Land

One more lil’ forgotten thing on Staten.

Find this, and you’re also probably spending the whole day walking around as much of the perimeter of Staten Island as you can.

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WCWC- Staten Island

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:53:21 -0700

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Monday — March 15th, 2010

WCWC- Staten Island

Here’s something I was fully intending to share with you, but then… um… forgot about.

It’s another Westminster Chime Wind Chime. WCWC! It has 4 pipes tuned to the 4 notes of the Westminster Chimes. The idea is that it is cosmically unlikely, but over a long enough timeline, inevitable, that the wind will play out the simple pattern of the Westminster chimes!

Because it is partially made with scrap found washed up along the beaches of Staten Island, it doesn’t have a regular chiming pattern and strongly favors some notes over others. I think for this reason it is especially unlikely to ever play the Westminster chimes!

Watch the video, and be calm and happy. Imagine yourself sitting crosslegged ontop the deck that this WCWC is installed under- sipping rum from the bottle and hearing the ethereal, unpredictable notes wafting up from underneath you. Look out at the lights of New Jersey and think about how you never imagined that it could ever look so pretty. Pull your hoodie up over your head, and take another swig to brace yourself from the deepening cold. There. You’re basically now right there with us as we installed this months ago:

WCWC- Staten Island from posterchild on Vimeo.

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Tags: New York, Windchimes | Comment

Where You At?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:32:13 -0800

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Friday — March 12th, 2010

Where You At?

Continuing this thread of showing you things I originally didn’t intend to: Here is an old sticker that I’m 99% sure I’ve never put on the site before. It is another image from a ‘POSTERCHILD’ image search.

HEY HEY I WAS GONNA WAIT TO TELL YOU THIS BUT I HAVE AN EXCITING SHIRT ALL PRINTED UP AND READY TO BE PUT ONTO YOUR BODIES!

If you buy one it will help me avoid abject poverty. FACT.

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Framed

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:29:56 -0800

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Thursday — March 11th, 2010

Framed

It’s been a long while since I had an update, and that stinks.

So here’s something that I wasn’t intending on posting, but I’ve decided to share because 1: Updates Rule, & 2: The work has just lasted SO LONG. Far exceeding my expectations.

Here’s the story- While cleaning up my shit (yet again) I found a bunch of perfectly good, high-quality, acid-free, archival, dark-magik resistant mat board that I had been hoarding for YEARS. This stuff has been hanging around for at least 4-5 years (NEVER AGING!) as I originally scrounged it up while I was still in University. I must have moved it to different homes at least 3 times! I figured that it was time to use it, but I didn’t have any frames, or materials with which to build frames lying around- so I decided that a flyer box was as good a frame as any, and here we are!

I put it in a box situated in a high foot-traffic area. I could have put it in a box that was off the beaten path- perhaps a derelict one that was stuffed full of garbage- and I would have known that it would run forever, or at least until somebody unusually involved messed with it or whenever the box was finally cleaned out… (would that ever happen?).

But I decided to put it in a high-traffic spot. It wouldn’t last as long, but It would get more eyes, and it would also act as a sort of experiment to see just how long it would last. My bet was a day or two. This is just outside one of the main entrances to the Ontario Government Buildings: a quartet of very large and major Government buildings here in Toronto. It is chock’a'block full of govie-types with good jobs, situated right downtown, and must see thousands of people walk pass daily.

I put this in over a Month ago, and it’s still there. I installed it on Feb 5th. In the first photo, you can see a little bit of the snow from our wimpy Toronto winter that just ended- one of the driest and warmest in recent records. You can also see that the other flyer boxes are headlining “Black History Month” and “Chinese New Year”. The second photo was taken just yesterday.

I really thought, that of all their boxes on our cities streets, EYE would maintain this one.

I suppose that you can never be too sure with these junky things which ones are actually maintained.

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Tags: newsbox, tagging | Comment

No Ooze Is Good News

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:29:02 -0800

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Friday — January 29th, 2010

No Ooze Is Good News

Hey hey- we made change happen AND we made da paper!

I’d like to thank my partner in SLIME, Jason Eppink, again, for maintaining the bridge, handling all the media requests, and being such a good ambassador for us while I’m out of NY!

What a guy!

Original article here.

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Tags: Astoria Scum River Bridge, collabos, Jason Eppink, New York | 3 Comments

Astoria Scum River Bridge

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:02:40 -0800

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Wednesday — January 27th, 2010

Astoria Scum River Bridge

Wow!

Jason Says:

“Walking to the train this morning, I heard construction noises and half joked that maybe Amtrak was fixing Astoria Scum River. Turns out they were!

The guys were really friendly and very complimentary of our bridge. Awesome!”

As of this morning, The Astoria Scum River, that long dreaded crossing, is dead!!! (or dying, anyway!)

All photos courtesy of Jason Eppink.

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Tags: Astoria Scum River Bridge, collabos, Jason Eppink, New York | 5 Comments

Astoria Scum River Bridge

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:20:04 -0800

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Tuesday — January 26th, 2010

Astoria Scum River Bridge

The bridge has been tagged!

While I would have preferred a tag with a bit more… aesthetic appeal… I must say that I’m actually not at all upset by this- in fact, I’m happy to see it. Personally, I think it legitimizes the bridge in a way. Every other bridge in New York is tagged, now this one is too! It’s like christening a boat. Now this is truly a New York bridge, no?

Like people crossing the bridge, It can also be seen as a sign of incorporation, acceptance and use by the community. Here’s another: The other day Jason and I both received a very nice email:

Hello,

Thanks for making the bridge for residents. Our office had a meeting with Amtrak and discussed some solutions beginning with cleaning out the existing drop inlets that are filled with debris. A timeline for alleviating the problem will be developed shortly.

Thanks,

Jonathan A. Szott
Constituent Liaison
NYC Council Member Peter F. Vallone Jr.

We were very happy to get such news; here is Jason’s reply:

Hi Jonathan, thanks for the note.

Posterchild (cc-ed) and I are thrilled that the community has taken such
a liking to the Astoria Scum River Bridge. Besides just using the
bridge to walk over the “river”, our neighbors have been snapping
photographs and even writing songs about it!

But your note is especially affirming. As artists working in public
spaces, our intentions and actions are sometimes misinterpreted,
particularly by city officials.

We saw a problem and took the most direct and creative action we could
to fix it. It’s a minor improvement, certainly, but we’re both adament
about the importance of direct action and personal responsibility in
caring for our shared spaces.

So it’s very gratifying to receive a positive response from you and to
learn that your office is working to create a long-term solution. This
outcome is the best we could have hoped for!

Knowing that you’re a busy guy and that your office has a lot more
pressing matters to attend to, I’d love if you could keep us posted on
this project as it progresses.

cheers,
-jason

I’m very excited to see any positive developments that may come out of this!

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Tags: collabos, Jason Eppink, New York | Comment

Astoria Scum River Bridge

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:11:57 -0800

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Monday — January 25th, 2010

Astoria Scum River Bridge

Ah, yes, yes y’all.

Another sweet ol’ collabo from Jason Eppink and myself.

As the inimitable Eppink explains:
“For years, a leaking pipe on 33rd Street beneath the Hell Gate Bridge viaduct approach has submerged more than a hundred square feet of a heavily-trafficked sidewalk in a festering cesspool of standing water. In the winter, Astoria Scum River, as it’s called, ices over and becomes particularly hazardous to cross. Posterchild and I constructed this bridge as a gift to the pedestrians of Astoria.”

Some very interesting things have developed since the bridge was installed, the least of which was the dedication plaque slowly developing its full-blown patina!

Je parle la porte

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:37:37 -0800

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Friday — January 22nd, 2010

Je parle la porte

Here is one I got up on my recent visit to Montreal.

It’s beside a rather dogged native French-Canadian gate sticker.

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Tags: gate stickers, I AM, Montreal, stickers | Comment

Toronto Gates!

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:26:28 -0800

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Thursday — January 21st, 2010

Toronto Gates!

Here’s a couple gates and sticks in my beloved Toronto!

POSTERCHILD-I AM International Gates & Fencing.

Speaking of Toronto, If you are in it tonight, you should come out to this!

My buddies Sean and Eric are a part of it!

You could also come out to this!

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Tags: AT.AW, gate stickers, I AM, Sean Martindale, stickers | Comment

Gate Stick- Spazmat/Skullphone

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:26:36 -0800

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Wednesday — January 20th, 2010

Gate Stick- Spazmat/Skullphone

while working on this project I AM and I were thinking ourselves rather clever and original, and imagined we were doing something for the first time!

As is so often the case, it turned out that we were not the first at the party. The knowledgeable and talented Luna Park relieved us of that notion!

Regardless, I loved this stick as soon as I saw it; sneaky. We had decided to ape the colours and culture of gate stickers in order to allow our art to get through customs unmolested, (Tags get stopped and deported, graff stickers are removed from the airport, but, for some reason, gate stickers are often allowed to ride first class, why?) Spazmat takes this one step further by completely copying the whole sticker, and just making a little addition. What I didn’t consider when I first saw it, but is really interesting in light of I AM’s encounter with Gates ‘R’ Us, is how this method keeps the phone numbers the same! I wonder if Spazmat knew that he was making a peace treaty with NYC gates by doing so!

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Tags: collabos, gate stickers, I AM, New York, SPAZMAT, stickers | Comment

Gate Stickers

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:23:35 -0800

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Tuesday — January 19th, 2010

Gate Stickers

Of all the companies getting up on gates in New York, only a few crews are truly all-city. Some focus on a borough, some, their neighbourhood- just a handful hit gates all over NYC.

Here are three, sharing a gate, and a bit of black paint from a tag: Gates ‘R’ Us & Iron Works, NYC Gates & Iron Works, and these upstarts; POSTERCHILD – I AM International Gates & Fencing- who haven’t yet gone all city, but have put up well over a thousand stickers in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, (in that order of saturation) just a couple in the Bronx, and none (to my knowledge) in Staten Island yet.

A thousand plus stickers is a lot of stickering. It took us a couple days of dedicated walking, I AM on one side of the street, myself on the other, to hit all those gates up- plus whatever few we would hit up casually on our travels around the city- but the bulk was done as hours and hours of continuous walking. Sore feet and sticker paper. A great way to see the city! It was a lot of stickering, but, I think, not all that much stickers- especially compared to the big boys who have been steadily bombing the city for years. Still, enough to get noticed!

That’s where this gets interesting.

I AM had a really interesting talk with one of the other crews, who have indeed, noticed. He relays the story in this email he sent me, below. There’s not much more I can say on it, as I AM does such a good job- so I’ll just say “You should really read it”;

“I had a fascinating (if not absurd) conversation with a gate repair guy.

On my walk to work, I noticed a guy peeling stickers off the side of a
gate, and then I noticed a van parked at that intersection that had the
Gates ‘R Us logo on it. It looked like the guy was peeling off
competitors’ stickers. This was an opportunity to learn more about the
Gates ‘R Us stickers! (So I thought.)

I told the guy I’d noticed his stickers before and that I was really curious
about them: how many the company puts up, how often, how many
people they employee to do it, stuff like that. He was immediately wary
(perhaps I approached it wrong?) and said he didn’t have anything to do
with the stickers. Pressed further, he referred me to a co-worker.

A side note: both of these guys were large (the “well-built” but “not fit”
definition) guys in sweatshirts. Working class. Maybe a little
thug-looking.

I asked him the same thing. I was curious about how that part of their
business works. He asked why I wanted to know, and I told him I had
noticed the stickers everywhere – it wasn’t any sort of law enforcement
thing – and that I and a friend were doing a project inspired by/a spoof
of all the gate stickers that we see. One of the stickers we’d put up was
nearby, so I showed him.

The Gates ‘R Us guy had seen our stickers. He was aware of them, and the
first thing he said is, “Oh the one with the phone number that doesn’t
work.” I explained to him that it wasn’t a full phone number (it has a
fraction!) and it was not intended to be something anyone would call. I
explained how the gate stickers are a pervasive part of the urban
environment and the similarities and variations are really interesting.

He was really stuck on the phone number and was upset that it wasn’t real.
Clearly he’d tried to call.

“If you’re going to put a number on it, why don’t you put our number on
it?” he asked. I explained that I couldn’t favor one company; it wasn’t
an ad. The idea was to spoof all of the stickers.

He seemed to think this non-working phone number would hurt his business.
He was concerned someone would call the fake number and then not get through
to anyone and then…I don’t know! I couldn’t pull it out of him. “Then
they would just try a different number from a different sticker, right?” I
asked. I thought it worked more in his favor that the phone number DIDN’T
work. That didn’t assuage his fears.

He asked why we would spend money on this, and I told him it was an art
project. He claimed the project was just like graffiti, like “drawing on a
sticker and sticking it up”. “Well that’s exactly what you’re doing,
right?” “No, we’re a legitimate business.” But neither of us have
permission to put them up!

He said our project cluttered the gates. “This is bad enough,” he said,
pointing to a bunch of stickers from actual gate companies. “But your
stickers are cluttering the gates, too. You guys were here before we
were. We were inspired by yours!” “But we’re a legitimate business.”

He said he was getting really heated, and he was clearly getting upset.
“Look, we’re out here busting our asses. You’re hurting our business.
Why would you do that to us?” “We’re going to have to agree to disagree
on that. I don’t see how we’re hurting your business, but I’m sorry
you’re so upset. That was never our intention. It’s not like we’re
covering up any of your stickers.” (He admitted that he knew we weren’t,
so at least he noticed our courtesy there.)

He asked how many we’d put up, I told him, and then when I asked how many
stickers they had put up, he said it was none of my business. And then he
proceeded to say the project was retarded, and that I’m a retard and a
reject. That’s when I decided to leave!

I understand the class conflict here, and why our project might be so
mystifying to the guy. Those stickers are the man’s livelihood, and he
can’t separate the aesthetics of the sticker from his day-to-day business
like we can. He probably doesn’t spend much time thinking about any sort
of aesthetics anyway, and he may even have thought we were making fun of
him.

But I was being really friendly, curious, open, and generous about myself,
and nothing I did could calm him down or open him up. And I just don’t
think there is any excuse for someone behaving like that, class difference
or not.

I didn’t necessarily expect the gate repair guys to pat our backs for the
project, but I never expected them to have such animosity towards it! The
guy acted really entitled about the whole thing. I suspect the gate
repair business is a mafia-like controlled market.

I was afraid I drew more attention to the project and these guys would be
more active in taking down our stickers, but I haven’t noticed many more
removed than usual.

–i am”

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Tags: collabos, gate stickers, I AM, New York, stickers | 2 Comments

Gate Stickers

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:59:27 -0800

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Monday — January 18th, 2010

Gate Stickers

In New York, there are a lot of roll down security gates.

They have become kinda a thing. Taggers love them, and so, those that hate tagging hate them: it was recently announced that in an effort to beautify the city and curb graffiti, gates are going to be gradually banned from the streets of New York, with a total ban in 2026. In a story about the ban, The New York Times poetically described the impact of New Yorks gates : “New York City’s storefront gates, like its fire escapes and stoops, are there but not quite there: the unnoticed wallpaper of New York at night. They have been battered by vandals and defaced by graffiti taggers. They have secured diamonds, handmade tortellini and other valuable commodities. They have provided the clattering soundtrack of dawn and dusk, the steel canvas of struggling artists, the most compelling evidence that the city does, indeed, sleep.”

“the clattering soundtrack of dawn and dusk”: Can’t you just hear it? Picture the noise rising out as you walk along Brooklyn, the morning chill in the air, the early sun rising, and a warm cup of coffee and greasy egg sandwich thing in hand- from a bodega that just a few hours earlier rolled up their own shutter.

Romantic notions aside, not many will miss these big imposing gates- but writers will. An artist I greatly admire, ESPO, or, as he backronymed during the course of this project: Exterior Surface Painting Outreach, famously made use of these gates, going over all the tags and turning each gate into giant letters, forming his name.

But while taggers have been running around trying to get ups on these gates, another type of crew has been more quietly getting up like mad: gate companies.

I started to notice all these stickers after I AM pointed a few out to me. There were so many types, I began to keep my eyes on the gates, and eventually starting collecting them! Here’s a pic of my final collection. It actually could be alot bigger- I had to stop because I ran out of room! Click for a larger view!

If you look closely, you can see the one that I AM and I designed together. It took us awhile, but we had alot of fun (way too much, really!) looking at the styles and conventions of gate stickers and taking them to the absurd!

So todays update: An absurd gate we found in Brooklyn. An absurd gate sticker for an absurd gate!

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Tags: collabos, ESPO, gate stickers, I AM, New York, stickers | Comment

Follow Up Friday- Silver Buff

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:36:07 -0800

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Friday — January 8th, 2010

Follow Up Friday- Silver Buff

Here is an older, so-so sticker that I put up in NY and someone buffed by simply spraying the bottom part of the phone kiosk silver!

A solid plan, but something kinda funny happened: the absorbent sticker paper contrasted nicely with the non-absorbent ink I printed with, so the image didn’t really get buffed, it just got a shiny new monotoned colour scheme!

Also funny: the payphone kiosk will certainly outlast the sticker, and when it goes, as all stickers will, there will be a much longer-lasting little square of contrasting silver tones remaining- preserving in hard-wearing enamel paint the evidence of my stickers presence, and by extension, my presence.

Kinda judoesque. My enemies energy turned against them and used to further my own goals.

Also kinda Goldsworthyesque. Reminds me of my favorite scene from Rivers and Tides: We see Andy having a eccentric “Andy Moment”, lying in a rural street, peaceful, seemingly enjoying the summer rain on his face. Then he stands up, and you realize that he’s also been using the rain to print a temporary silhouette of himself onto the street. A basic self-portrait that will begin to fade the moment he stops making it. Magic.

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Tags: Andy Goldsworthy, buff, New York, stickers | 1 Comment

Magnet Truck

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:56:13 -0800

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Thursday — January 7th, 2010

Magnet Truck

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Tags: Magnets, New York, Trucks | Comment