Artist Talks Subway Etiquette Signs

This isn't art, this is being a pain in the ass and not having the guts to do it in person.

I wrote about this today, myself - along w/ a few of my own signs. enjoy:

http://p2pideology.com/?p=238

HE SHOULD MAKE A SIGN THAT SAYS KILL ALL PEOPLE THAT BREATHE WRONG

its called culture jamming, its been done for decades, its also called subvertising.

the only differece is now media hungry "artists" dont print up posters sign & number them then put a few up on the subway while mass mailing every art blog for a scoop.

This poster artist is taking away union printing jobs.

I like the signs, but maybe they're a bit elitist, like an inside joke for the folks who already comply, assuaging the anger of those wanting to call other riders on their rude subway behavior. Hasn't the MTA already tried such campaigns to little effect? To those who would eat greasy fries on the train, stand in front of the doors blocking exiting passengers, take up two seats, and play their MP3 players way too loud, I expect they're not reading the signs.

yea i know what MTA signs your talking about but no one wants to listen to the MTA. So when you have an outsider doing its like holy hell someone is actually saying what the people that actually ride the trains are thinking. Plus those MTA signs aren't nearly has enteraining.

Unnecessary apostrophe in “straphangers.”

whitecastlerock - "racist" because they're only in english. that's quite an accusation. go do something with your life. your dad should have pulled out early.

Yawn-your comments are as fucking lame as your "attempts to make society better" Go back to the New School and brush up on your photoshop skills clown

i make no attempts to make society better and never claimed to. nor do i trash other peoples work on blogs. calling someone racist is a pretty harsh call don't you think. what is photoshop? and what's a clown? i don't understand your comments. what is the new school? i prefer old school.

It was SARCASM-stop being so fucking uptight.... I could give two shits about your work

ozik - you lost me at having no respect for other peoples work. suck it.

The gesture is nice, the guys other artwork is awful. Just inept illustrations. If you are loaded enough to live in the West Village, then any failure in the work is pure, unmitigated failure - no excuses about money and materials and the like.

And learn to use the reply button.

sorry for not hitting reply. yeah, the west village is pretty pricey. he must be doing something right. art is very personal, i happen to like his work and i am a friend of a friend so i was trying to defend him a bit. but it's good either way that people are discussing it. he's certainly not a failure in any way, nor did he say he was at any point, nor were any excuses for anything ever made. you seem angry. smoke a joint and watch Life in HD. relax homeboy.

Does he paint on Sundays only, or is he the sort of rich that doesn't have a day job? I like that you say it's personal and money making at the same time. As a friend of a friend, does this person pay for their West Village lifestyle through showing art in bars?

NYC has a hideously messed up art world(s), mostly it's broken by folks with money looking for a hobby or an excuse to play counter culture. I'd've politely nodded and just admired the subway posters if it wasn't for "West Village artist" part - that makes the whole thing smell bad.

And apologies for hollering about the reply button, but so many people here ignore it.

Actually, that's unnecessarily harsh and I apologize. The posters are awesome, though.

hey chris "I don't know if I hate this guy more for being passive aggressive or just jumping on other people's work."

well said. it's nice for you to hate strangers who are trying to do something good for society.

i'll bet you have done lots to contribute to making the world a better place, such as, commenting on blogs and sitting on your thumb.

damn you haters

Mordichai - first off, nice photo. secondly, you'd like them as advertisements because that wouldn't be litter. do you think before you write these things. again, nice photo.

fuckin' love it

There's something suspiciously Canadian about those signs. Here's the real deal:

Don't Shit On The Train.

Don't Piss On The Train.

Don't Eat On The Train.

Don't Grope On The Train.

Don't Block People On The Train.

And include pictures for people who Don't Read On The Train.

False. No Canadian would refer to the U.S. as "this great country".

that's a low blow Boogie. especially since you're posting from this wonderful land of mystery and love and ponies and such.

Oh, I didn't really mean it that way. I just meant that Canadians don't tend to say such dramatic things as "this great country", especially when it's not their own country. They're a little less theatrical when it comes to patriotism. Probably too high to make the effort, or some such thing.

I knew my comment would smoke one of them out!

More useful than 'giant foam penis guy'.

I applaud him. Rather than just bi#ching about unpleasant behavior, he's doing something concrete. MTA should pay him for it!

If you can't deal with these inconveniences, then don't live in a densely populated multi cultural city whose residents rely on mass transit. These signs are racist as they are in one language-for shame

That official MTA sign on the right doesn't look multilingual to me.

Racist? Seriously? Racist? O come on. Now we are just pulling at straws here. If you don't like his work fine. If don't agree with what he's doing. Fine. But to call it racist...and to basically call him a racist. Not cool. Come on there is NOTHING racist about it. And if he did do them in different languages I'm sure you would have found a language he didn't use and still call him a racist. OR you would have said that it was racist for him using those languages. Come on lets get real here.

Sorry to ruffle your feathers-but I found it ironic that these signs were only in English-hence my sarcastic reply. So yeah big fucking deal. Get over it and tell your non English speaking friends to stop throwing their fucking chicken carcasses all over the train. Comprende?

Yeah, everyone knows the people who speak Swahili are the biggest offenders! Racist!

Maybe they're reverse-racist; only offering etiquette instructions to those who read English suggests that those who read English are the offenders.

learn English. It's the most widely spoken language on this planet. It'll help you get a job one day.

Sorry my attempt at sarcasm failed-my apologies to all, the artist included, who didn't get that. I will attempt to grow up now. Thank you and good night.

Incorrect: English isn't the most spoken language on the planet, not by a long shot. Mandarin wins by roughly 600 million people, or 950 million to English's 350 million.

Also, if we're going by people who use the language natively, Spanish also beats English by some estimates.

Someone tried to do something like this recently and got smacked down:

http://consumerist.com/2010/03/mta-doesnt-lol-at-wtf-poster.html

I guess this guy isn't criticizing the MTA directly, so he's not getting in trouble.

I like his signs. The MTA should give this guy a job; instead they'll probably start cracking down to prevent copycats.

spending millions to do it.

Bloody Lame.

You lost me at "West Village artist".

If he took his name off the flyers there would be no opportunity to fine him. which I'm assuming they will do at some point.

haha

Yes.

with a name like Shelowitz, at least you know he's not a transplant.

i find them...sluggish.

I'm sort of annoyed that the posters are essentially litter...I would be on board with them as advertisements, though.

I really wish he would've done one for spitting, whether it be in the train or in the station. It's so f'ing gross!

AGREED!!!! Just thinking about it makes me gag!

I think he's aiming for stuff that's not already covered. We already have "no spitting" signs up, for all the good they do. I've never understood the practice myself. It's in your mouth already. Just swallow. It's not like spitting it out will keep you from tasting it.

Yeah I see dudes spitting all the time; on sidewalks, out car windows, in parking lots. Where does all this extra spit come from? I never have to spit in public.

People have done this before. I'm pretty sure you've also written about it. I don't know if I hate this guy more for being passive aggressive or just jumping on other people's work.

I don't believe what he's doing is passive aggressive at all. He is directing it at the people who have terrible habits and manners. I would never say "hey turn down your music bc it's to loud" to someone esp knowing how many crazy ppl there are out there in this world. I don't feel like being stabbed to death bc I told someone to take their nail clipping some where else. So instead I'm passive aggresive about it and sit there and be annoyed like I was this morning when a woman sitting next to me was bitting her nails and a "ex crack head" came on the train to preach about God. And surely I would never want to get in arguement with someone on the train that is preaching about how Jesus saved his life and the only way to heaven is to believe in Jesus. Really, me and everyone else on the train who sit there and get annoyed are the passive aggressive ones. This guy is the opposite. He is having people talking and thinking about their own and others subway manners.

It's not passive-agressive. It's the opposite; very direct and well-stated and he's not even keeping his identity a secret. I don't think that phrase means what you think it means, Vizzini.

Yes, thank you for saying that. I get exasperated with the countless misunderstandings of what constitutes 'passive aggressive' behavior.

Agreed. It seems that many people think that "passive aggressive" is anything not said face-to-face.

here here.

It's not passive-agressive. It's the opposite; very direct and well-stated and he's not even keeping his identity a secret. I don't think that phrase means what you think it means, Vizzini.

Sure people have done this before but it was mostly aimed at MTA and their incompetence. These are aimed at your fellow inconsiderate commuters.

I have thought of this before, but really did not have the time. I embrace his design/copywriting efforts as what I can imagine is/was a dry spell for him and applaud it, well done!