…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
Submitted by Andrew Boyd of Agit-Pop.com:
In January, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend unlimited $$ in our elections. In July, Target gave $150,000 to the anti-gay, anti-worker candidate for Gov. of MN. Last week, a quarter million people pledged to boycott Target.
Yesterday . . .
Learn more — Take Action — Sign the Petition at www.targetboycott.org
John Callahan, Cartoonist, Dies at 59
by Bruce Weber
The New York Times
July 28, 2010
John Callahan, a quadriplegic, alcoholic cartoonist whose work in newspapers and magazines made irreverent, impolitic sport of both people with disabilities and diseases and those who would pity and condescend to them, died Saturday in Portland, Ore. He was 59 and lived in Portland.
The causes were complications of quadriplegia and respiratory problems, said his brother Tom.
Like his friend Gary Larson, the creator of “The Far Side,” Mr. Callahan made drawings with a gleeful appreciation of the macabre as it exists in everyday life. He was, however, a man who lived his whole life with disadvantages, some of them self-wrought, and he viewed the world through a dark and wicked lens.
“This is John, I”m a little too depressed to take your call today,” the message on his answering machine said. “Please leave your message at the gunshot.”
Bemused by the culture of confession and self-help fostered by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo Rivera and others, he was uninclined, in his work, to be outwardly sympathetic to the afflicted or to respect the boundaries of racial and ethnic stereotyping, and his cartoons were often polarizing: some found them outrageously funny, others outrageously offensive.
Submitted by Kate McCamy:
Why Russian Art Group Voina ‘Dicked” a St. Petersburg Bridge
AnimalNewYork.com
June 16, 2010:
… St Petersburg”s renegade art-group of political pranksters – Voina (War) – turned a historic bridge into one giant “Fuck You!” to the Russian federal agencies. Here”s how they pulled it off.
Over the years, Voina staged many actions: police station take-overs, anti-homophobic faux-lynchings in malls, stray cat throwing into swanky restaurants, anti-Medvedev public orgies and all kinds of ruckus. Their most recent target: the headquarters of FSB, the offices of Russia”s KGB incarnate Federal Security Service. Our source: Voina themselves. Continue reading “Flipping Off St. Petersburg”
From logomyway.com:
Help Redesign BP’s logo! They need a NEW Brand…
The design community and the general public will vote on the winner of the redesign of the new BP logo. Our design will be used on: Web, Print Media, Billboard & Sign, Television, Mugs & Tshirts
You can find BP’s current logo here. Visit logomyway.com more details and to see more entries.
designs:
#194 by dclose
#175 by JohnEkdahl
#16 by arm
Submitted by Larry Croft:
As seen on urbanvelo.org:
Mimosa Pale, an artist from Finland, invites her fellow citizens to climb into her vagina-themed bike taxi. Her intention is to protest the world”s fascination with phallic objects, and so three times a week she hits the streets of Helsinki.
Read the whole story at www.jalopnik.com
