no smirking - red

It was about 1999, after reading No Logo by Naomi Klein, in particular the bit about Ron English changing billboards with paint alterations, it occurred to me that I could do something similar. I cut the letters "Su" from one billboard and placed them over another. The ad that had read "Suddenly everything clicks" had been subverted to say "Suddenly everything Sucks". Just for the record some boards are anagrams of the available letters, some are just stupid, some are trying to draw your attention to an issue, hopefully they're all more amusing and less mind numbing than being constantly sold crap that you don't really need. The billboards are usually real cut n paste not Photoshop as has been the understandable accusation of those who haven't seen them in the flesh. Obviously if you're making posters from scratch, as some are here too, then you're going to use a stencil or turn to your computer, but you still have to get them up and I've yet to find the 'Control Alt Complete' command on mine... dr.d The below came through on the email from Anna, this is what makes it all worthwhile. "Your adding of the word 'crap' to the Mike Skinner billboard Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas. Screen printing is also a stencil method of print making in which a design is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh onto the printing surface. It is also known as silkscreen, seriography, and serigraph.