From "Ememem, The Mozaic [sic] Street Artist Filling Europe’s Potholes" (Forbes).
Lots of images at his Instagram account.
I'm interested in street art and pseudonymity, but notice also this other topic: Acting like you're doing something official and thereby getting away with doing something wrong in the plain view of others. That's more specific than my big tag "seen and unseen" — which is one of my 3 favorite tags (the others being "big and small" and "light and shade")— but I can't immediately think of a phrase to express what's so delightful about it. And what are some other examples of that?
I thought of the Gogol play "The Inspector General," but that's really exactly the opposite phenomenon, where someone who is not the official is believed to be the incognito official they are expecting. Maybe I need a tag to cover confusion over whether something is official. And isn't it interesting how readily obeisant we are to things understood to be official? And then what is it that makes us delight in some misappropriations/misattributions of officialdom? Some. Of course, not all!
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23 comments:
Someone has to do government's job.
It's a common idea that you can go anywhere with a clipboard, a hardhat, and confidence. It shows up in a lot of caper movies and books on social hacking, but offhand I can't think of a real-world example of a criminal using it to commit a crime in broad daylight.
The yellow vest - modern sumptuary law. It’s gone way beyond safety, to the point that it’s just a signifier of prole status.
Put on a high-visibility yellow vest and you become invisible.
JSM
Ememem, not Eminem? Could this be a trend? Will we be reading about East Coast versus West Coast pothole filler wars, and aspiring young pothole fillers being cut down just as they are trying to turn their lives around?
Sweet! It says "I'm Alive and the World is Beautiful"
A strong Alhambra (not the LA suburb) feel to it. Although nice tile work made by Spanish people in LA is quite common.
Beats the heck out of almost everything else that people call "street art" these days!
The Captain of Koepenick comes to mind.
Acting like you're doing something official and thereby getting away with doing something wrong in the plain view of others.
FBI
Perhaps the phrase you're looking for is "in plain sight."
A lot of things work in movies because of "Plot Armor."
I think he is being left alone here for another reason: "Rich Person Privilege."
He may also have artistic talent. Many "Street artists" are just bad artists. Most people don't mess with the good ones.
Does he rap?
I get at least a couple of phone calls every day from people who sound like they might be in Mumbai, but who tell me that they're with "the Department of Medicare." And I pretend to be Canadian and tell them I don't have Medicare. And they pretend to believe me.
The Surfing Madonna. She has her own wikipedia page.
I used to live in rural AZ and get up to various legally dubious things. I found that if I wore Wrangler jeans and a cowboy hat while carrying a clipboard it was essentially an all access pass / invisibility field. Cops would wave at me, and sketchy characters would steer clear.
Let me clarify a bit. I was NOT a thief! I was often a trespasser on mine owned property (a lot of the land is owned by the mines). OK, I suppose I did steal rocks and mineral specimens... Somehow that doesn't seem the same as a "regular" thief. I thought of myself as more of an unauthorized (undocumented?) rockhound.
Another very good prop is a surveyors tape measure.
The Trickster. The illusionist. In nature, the non-poisonous snake with poisonous markings. The sociopath. The Devil. The Wolf in Sheep's clothing. Entertaining Angels unawares. Hiding in plain site. Camouflage.
An ex-colleague used to go to professional meetings with our mutual boss, the Dean.
My friend is a 6'2" strapping former paratrooper, and the Dean was a diminutive soft-spoken African-American woman. Guess who was assumed to be the senior?
It's delightful work that immediately transforms decay into something surprising and charming. I just wonder how durable it is. One good truck tire rolling over it could break the piece apart very easily making things even worse.
- Krumhorn
That's more specific than my big tag "seen and unseen" — which is one of my 3 favorite tags
All these years reading you and I didn't know you were a fan of Bastiat, Ann.
That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen Full text here http://bastiat.org/en/twisatwins.html
Frédéric Bastiat, 1850
Table of Contents
Introduction
I. THE BROKEN WINDOW
II. THE DISBANDING OF TROOPS
III. TAXES
IV. THEATRES AND FINE ARTS
V. PUBLIC WORKS
VI. INTERMEDIATES
VII. RESTRICTIONS
VIII. MACHINERY
IX. CREDIT
X. ALGERIA
XI. FRUGALITY AND LUXURY
XII. HAVING A RIGHT TO WORK, HAVING A RIGHT TO PROFIT
Bastiat is perhaps most famous for his book "The Law" which looks at the question of why it is morally OK for someone to take your possessions at gunpoint if they are from a "government" (They usually call them taxes) but morally wrong for an a private group or person to do the same thing.
The book is here https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/44800
Bastiat is appropros here. It sounds like there would be no objection to the government filling in the potholes (morally right) but doing it privately is sketchy (morally wrong?)
We could ask whether he is filling them in an inappropriate manner compared to the approved government manner. Does this create a safety hazard to drivers? At least one that would not be created by the govt going it.
But then we would have to ask the question whether Ememenem creates a greater hazard than the unfilled pothole or a lesser hazard?
another possibility is that it is morally wrong because Ememenem is not a member of the appropriate roadworker's union. He is LITERALLY taking food out of the mouth of govt employees family.
John Stop Fascism Vote Republican Henry
I used to work with a guy who claimed that a man in suit with a briefcase can go anywhere and do almost anything.
The Milgram experiments.
If Eminem wants to deal with potholes he can hie his rear hither to Michigan and do some cold patching. Lord knows I did that as a summer city worker back in the day.
That is an awesome story. I wish our potholes were repaired like that but, knowing Vancouver, some city worker would dig them up and either leave them unfilled or fill them with something very uninspiring.
I frequently cycle around Vancouver and have been recording my rides and posting them on You Tube for a couple years. I recorded a dragon someone painted on the obscured side of an overpass. It was beautiful and remained there for about 6 months before the City came along and returned the overpass to a "beautiful" concrete grey color (sarc). You can see it (if you want) at 2:34 point of this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ0Oe8l1JJs&t=164s or search YT for Ride 153. I was (and remain) shocked that the City would spend actual tax dollars to paint over that work of art.
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