We really dig these new collaged political cartoons that are on the street as quickly as the weeks news – each depicting one of the many rich white men who are impacting our minds and our bank accounts and our health and sense of security right now. Are we watching the White House or Good Fellas? The backstabbing, front stabbing, chicanery, and ongoing systemic tomfoolery makes you wonder who’s actually running things.
The news cycle is hourly it seems, with tweets and personnel changes and threats happening so fast that people are developing PTSD that is triggered by news alerts on the phone. We have to admire any Street Artist who tries to keep up with the developments and get their commentary on a wall.
Many young and old New Yorkers are wincing from high rent, high debts, crumbling infrastructure, and everyone is working longer hours, if they are lucky enough to work. Some just give up. Meanwhile the one plausible healthcare option that many have gained over the last handful of years? – the servants of the rich have been trying to stab it to death – but they couldn’t muster it this week. Even now – Trump says he’ll stand by and watch it die rather than improve it in any way. Have we ever had a leader who is so cynical?
Even Senator McCain – in our top image above – fresh off his tax-payer funded brain cancer surgery, waivered this week before providing the pivotal vote that saved healthcare for 20 million or so. Most GOP Senators ignored the majority of the US citizens who implored them to fix Obamacare not nix it. But their bank accounts proved far more important than our health. The rich and their corporations are flooding our entire political system and only after we get their money out would we be able to call the USA a democracy. Otherwise we are just fooling ourselves.
So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Bifido, El Sol 25, Jarus, London Kaye, Luna Park, Miss17, MSK, Myth, Otto Schade, Rime, SikaOne, Solus, Sonni, Spy33, and Wonderpuss Octopus.
Top image: Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sonni (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Solus for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sidka One (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Otto OSCH Schade “Taurus” in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Otto Osch Shade)
Otto OSCH Schade “Taurus” in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Otto Osch Shade)
Otto OSCH Schade paints a small Snoopy and Woodstock on a sunsent in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Otto Osch Shade)
London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Miss 17 with unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rime . MSK (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bifido for Oltremare Festival in San Cataldo, Italy. (photo © Bifido)
“In this area the government is building a gas pipeline and to do it they are cutting many olive trees. Part of the local economy is based on olive oil production, so people are fighting for preserve their lands and trees. I wanted to address this situation with my artwork.” -Bifido
Bifido for Oltremare Festival in San Cataldo, Italy. (photo © Bifido)
Bifido for Oltremare Festival in San Cataldo, Italy. (photo © Bifido)
Luna Park for #resistanceisfemale (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist. We want to attribute this to Mr. Toll but we don’t think this is his work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jarus for Art Untied Us in Kiev. Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)
“This mural depicts a woman sitting at the window sill and reaching outwards. Turning the wall into a window is a metaphor for opening your mind and heart towards new ideas and concepts. The woman is in a red dress because I felt it would compositionally fit into the area of the wall and surrounding buildings.”-Jarus