Entry no.: 191
26 Jul 2007, 10:22 AM
Tags: Bucharest, Nikon 5700, Nikon D70, Oxford, zeitgeist
Comments: 2
Romania Cultural statements
Mona Lisa stencil graffiti, Oxford 2004.
Mona Lisa-Woody Woodpecker stencil graffiti in Roman Square, Bucharest 2007.
Oxford’s stencil statement renders a scholarly tongue-in-cheek play on representation medium — art paint in spray-pait, 4 years in 4 minutes etc. Street-level postmodernism.
Bucharest street artist chooses to morph renaissance magnum opus into screwball comedy (Woody Woodpecker plays Mona Lisa or vice-versa) with a deeper layers of meaning: during communism (our childhood) among the few American1 cartoon shows allowed on Romanian Public Television2 were Woody Woodpecker episodes.
I see classroom pundit witticism vs. street retro-anarchy. What do you see?
1 Read “capitalist imperialism,” as the communist propaganda machinery dubbed Western countries in general and America in special.
2 State-owned and then tightly controlled Romanian Public Television was the only television station in existence. Commercial TV station were unimaginable at the time.
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prieteni virtuali:
There are so many stencil graffiti in Bucharest, most of them with a funny cultural aspect. I like this type of graffiti more than the standard graffiti.