A Message From Hell

Is he looking for unsatisfied voters? Here’s another entry in the long tradition of unsanctioned sign art.


Why are those ‘We buy souls’ posters all over LA?, by Paula Mejía, SFGate, February 15, 2025, h/t Richard Johnson.

The signs have become a ubiquitous sight on telephone poles across town

There’s hardly an inch of real estate, private or public, that isn’t occupied by advertisements in Los Angeles. You’ve got massive freeway billboards that crowd the sky, painted murals hawking dating apps and digital ads designed to catch your peripheral vision. It also happens on the street level, with bright signs plastered on telephone poles to hopefully attract drivers, pedestrians and bikers.

Yet amid the familiar blocky posters advertising concerts, offers to buy up junk cars, hair braiding and tattoo expos, another type of telephone pole advertising has become ubiquitous around LA for its sheer weirdness. The nondescript white sign features chunky red letters spelling out a cryptic and tantalizing message: “WE BUY SOULS!” A phone number accompanies the message, should interested parties want to call and learn more.

Read the whole article here.

A Sign of the Times

The writing’s on the wall and the bus stop…


The Street Artist Behind the Viral “Anti-Elon Musk” Ads, by Rhea Nayyar, Hyperallergic, February 24, 2025

Winston Tseng’s satirical ad falsely attributed to USAID at a bike dock in Washington, DC, elicited frenzied responses from Republican Senator Thom Tillis.

Street artist Winston Tseng was behind an anti-Elon Musk ad that led to a viral frenzy when it was installed in various sidewalk ad spaces within a mile of the White House two weeks ago. The ad, satirically attributed to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), read “Help Eliminate Elon” and featured a large red X crossing over an illustration of Musk doing the Nazi salute.

“In the spirit of transparency, I should disclose that USAID paid me $69M (in condoms) for this ad,” Tseng said in an email to Hyperallergic, riffing on Musk’s misunderstanding of the US’s provisions for international HIV prevention and treatment.

Read more here.

Where the Sun Don’t Shine

There are still places where the sun don’t shine, no matter what the sign says.


Prankster plants fake nudist sign at popular non-naked Chicago beach, by Katherine Donlevy, New York Post, September 5, 2023

This wasn’t the naked truth.

A prankster posted a fake sign on a popular Chicago beach over the holiday weekend warning that it was suddenly converted into a nudist park.

The counterfeit Parks District sign reading “Nude Beach Past This Sign” was seen wedged in the sand of Loyola Beach, which is less than a mile away from its eponymous Catholic university in the Rogers Park neighborhood.

City Alderwoman Maria Hadden posted a picture of the official-looking sign Monday, warning beachgoers not to bare it all for Labor Day.

“We’ve been notified that someone has installed this cheeky sign at Loyola Beach. Please note that this is not an official @ChicagoParks sign,” Hadden posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We’ve reported to Parks so they can remove it. As a reminder, at least some clothing is required at all of our beaches.” Read the rest of the story here.