I had plans for this one…

Once, when I was a kid, I was idly reflecting on superheroes. Actually I suppose I did this a lot.

What did it take to be a super hero? What made a super hero? First of all, I’d need to get the hell out of the country. Almost all superheroes came from the city, and even Clark left Smallville.

What else?

All of my favourites had violently lost one or both of their parents while they were young. Matt Murdock’s struggling single father was killed by gangsters, Peter Parker, who was raised by his aunt and uncle, could have prevented a thug from shooting his uncle Ben, and poor Bruce, he was witness to the slow, senseless deaths of both his parents.

They may have had great powers or great wealth that allowed them to become superheroes, but the deaths of their parents was the reason WHY they were superheroes. It violently separated them from their past and the pack. It gave them the drive.

For a moment, I thought, “If my parents were killed, I could be a superhero!”

And then I felt terrible.

But it did help me realize that drive didn’t have to come from an external source. You can just do something.

As Banksy says, “Most people never use their initiative because no one ever told them to.”

I would add “and the universe never gave them their “in”.”

Artists are always asked, “Why did you become an Artist?” It’s a loathed, lazy question, like “Where do you get your ideas?” but the common answers given piss me off as much as the question. So many artists answer something like “I’ve always loved art, I’ve loved it since I was a child. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember. My uncle introduced me to painting and I’ve been enthralled by the magic of it ever since. Blah, blah blah.” Bullshit. Everyone drew when they were little. Not everyone is an artist. At some point you made an adult decision to step it up, to dedicate yourself to it, to go pro. Or you may have just slid into it slowly… but chances are, at some point you simply made a choice and you found the drive. And that’s awesome. I think artists often search for the “Loved since womb-days” answer because it seems like a deeper, more authentic origin story- More significant that making an internal choice, unmarked by ceremony or celebration, on a day like any other.

Anyway, I remembered that childhood moment. I wanted to do something with it here.

I couldn’t come up with a succinct way to phrase “If only someone killed my Parents, I could be a superhero.”

Enter Joey Comeau, turner of phrases, specialist in dark eloquence.

He came up with “I don’t want anything bad to happen to my parents, but I need a good origin story.”

Solid gold bomb. But when I returned the morning after to write it in, someone had already penned “Duly Noted”. I love interaction…. So I’m happy with this…

…and the phrase may find a life as a softer world,

So it’s all gravy.

Love you Dad!

Love you Mom!

Spider Woman.

This is my 400th update!
400drth!
In celebration of this milestone I am posting a pic of the very first poster I ever wheatpasted!
Well, kinda. The first poster I pasted is of this same stencil -but- this particular print was staple gunned. I don’t have a photo of the poster I pasted because it was ripped off right away. By morning it was nothing but an ugly white smear. I learned on my very first mission that I’d need to take photos the night of- if I wanted to guarantee that I had documentation.
I also learned that some people would rather have an ugly white smear than allow someone’s image, no matter the content or the aesthetics, to run on their wall unpermitted. Good lesson to learn.
ALSO
I recently gave a talk (March 10th) at U of T’s JMB gallery.
Coincidently, in order to conceal my identity, I wore a Spiderman hoodie!
Peter Parker, eh?
Here is the video from the talk if you’re interested. It’s a bit long, but it is engineered to inspire you.

I hope you enjoy it.
Anyway,
To quote myself:
“Thanks for supporting my blade diary so far! I want to really rock your worlds with the next 100 stencils.”.

So many…

god-damned-gorgeous women….

in this city.

I see them on the streets, in the subways, and in my dreams.

This pretty lieutenant is dedicated to them.

She isn’t from Toronto though- she’s from the past. I’ll stencil some of the pretty ladies of Toronto once I muster up the courage to ask them for their photograph.

This stencil is sprayed in a location where I’ve been crossed out or had “toy” written on any stencil or tag that I’ve put up.

So I’ve put this stencil in a tricky place- right smack dab in the middle of the wall. It can’t be reached by leaning over the top and it’s hard to reach from the bottom.

I’d like to see someone cross this out!

Well, no, actually, I wouldn’t. But, I would at least know that they worked for it!

Did you know that Pac-Man was going to be called “Puck-Man”? It’s true! They changed it for North America, because they knew that vandals would scratch out part of the “P” on every cabinet, everywhere, making their game “Fuck-Man”.

Did you know that Posterchild was going to be called “Poster Girl”? It’s true! I changed it to the more enigmatic and gender-neutral Posterchild, but I was originally going to go with the feminized version- just to throw people off the track and to further distance my secret identity from myself!

I mean really, wouldn’t John Jonzz really keep people away from his secret (secret) identity if he transformed into a fishnet wearing, lipstick daubed, Martian Womanhunter? If Peter Parker had worn a stuffed bra under his spidey suit? If Wonder Woman had bulked up her suit with armoured, muscle-like padding?

Of course, this transgendered identity protection probably wouldn’t have flown under the comics code back then, but I think this could be a really interesting idea for a new superhero!

I love the placement of this poster. Love it, love it.

yes, yes, yes.

To hit this spot I had to climb up on the pipes. It wasn’t super high or difficult or anything, but while I was up there, a mother and child happened to walk by.

The mother asked her child: “Is he Spiderman?”

She then asked me if I was Spiderman. I confirmed that I was indeed Spiderman, and the mother said to her child:


“See? He’s Spiderman. Now you don’t have to see the movie!”

I liked being Spiderman.

You know,

The very first poster I ever wheatpasted up was of Spiderman swinging along, holding a rolled-up poster. I signed it: “Your Friendly Neighborhood Posterchild.” (BTW, the link doesn’t go to the particular poster in question, it got removed right away. All that was left the next morning was the telltale wheatpaste smears and ripped paper bits. [Which looked way better than my poster.] The link goes to another print of the same stencil that was just staple-gunned up.)

With great posters comes great visibility.

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