Colin McEnroe Show: Poster Boy Subverts Advertising, One Slice At A Time

You're about to meet Poster Boy, an artist who defaces and rearranges advertising posters so that new messages appear. His work is up at Real Art Ways and we recorded this interview late last week.

You may detect in me a little frustration over the fact that he wanted to appear only under his nomme de guerre, even though his real name is now easily traceable. That choice deprived us of the chance to discuss how growing up in Hartford may have shaped his sensibilities.

Poster Boy redeemed himself a little after the interview ended, when he told me about being approached by Showtime, which wanted him to make posters for two of its series. He says he said no, even though the money was great and even though Shepard Fairey said yes the year before. He hung up, went to the subways, found posters for the two series, vandalized them in his unique way, put photos of it up on Flickr, contacted Showtime and gave them the link. I kind of liked him for that.

Special thanks to Patrick Raycraft from The Hartford Courant for images of Poster Boy in New York City. You can read more about Patrick's experience with Poster Boy on Eye Contact.

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