The Anarchist Street Artists Taking on Corporate Ads
On the front lines with ‘subvertisers’ who are fighting an ongoing war with outdoor advertising
It’s 8 p.m. on a Saturday evening along a long, dark road pointing towards the imposing buildings of London’s banking district. A truck thunders past a fast food place with a solitary diner inside, eating a Turkish kebab from a small plate. The skyline glitters above; capitalism ever-present above the drab reality below.
I’m with some activist street artists who call themselves “subvertisers.” As part of an ongoing revolt against the outdoor advertising industry, they’re out to remove corporate ads and replace them with their own work. The group approaches a bus stop in their high-viz jackets, all branded with the logo of a well-known advertising agency. One artist approaches the ad board, next to a few oblivious people waiting for the number 100 bus. He pulls a tool out of his pocket and starts opening the case, removing an ad for Visa.
Four minutes later, two ads have been replaced with his artwork, a poster of hand-drawn, geometric psychedelia. “It’s a surrealist technique called the cut-up,” says the artist, who calls himself Illustre Feccia. “I printed the pieces 100 times and cut it plenty more times. It’s about repeating and randomly…
