A previously canceled exhibition of work of Poster Boy, the semi-anonymous street art provocateur known for slicing up and reconfiguring advertisements in New York subway stations, is back on. The show, titled “Street Alchemy,” had been scheduled to go on view at Trinity College in September, but was abruptly canceled when the dubious legality of his work came to light.
At the eleventh hour, Trinity got cold feet regarding Poster Boy’s practice of using materials stolen from public advertisements. The Connecticut-born artist, nee Henry Matyjewicz, quickly claimed censorship: “They don’t know where the billboards come from, and I’m not going to incriminate myself,” a representative for the artist said in an interview with the BBC.
Luckily for Poster Boy and his gang of merry culture-jamming pranksters, the good people at Real Art Ways, an alternative, multidisciplinary arts organization in Hartford, Connecticut, were undeterred by the unorthodox provenance of his materials. When Trinity put the kibosh on the show, Real Art Ways approached the artist. Executive Director Will K. Wilkins commented, “the decision to cancel the show brought Poster Boy’s work to our attention… we don’t ask artists where they got their materials. They don’t have to pass a test.” The deployment of appropriated material, Wilkins says, is intrinsic to the work: “the implication that they are stolen is part and parcel of the artistic expression.”
The show is especially salient given the current resurgence of antiwar and anticapitalist protest of fomented by the Occupy Wall Street initiative. “I think that Poster Boy’s work is especially important in the current climate of criticizing cooperate power head on … and I think that vital issues and being raised by his work and by the way that he makes it. I want that work be displayed to have a public discussion.” The show, entitled “Street Alchemy 2.0,” will run through January 30, 2012.
— Chloe Wyma
