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Subway Artist Moustache Man: Accept No Imitators!
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 22, 2011
Modified Jun 22, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 22, 2011
Modified Jun 22, 2011
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You might not immediately recognize his moniker, but you certainly pass by his handiwork in the subways every day—Moustache Man has been the guy when it comes to drawing fake moustaches on movie posters for the past year. He may not be Poster Boy or Dickchicken, but he has been receiving an ample amount of publicity and recognition for his work. People really like him! But the time for polite conversations about cookie dusters has come to an end—Moustache Man has started fighting back against his imitators!
You can see the original work of Moustache Man, who also goes by Moustache Bandit and Madcap Moustache Man, all over the city—here are but a few examples. While he obviously doesn't have any kind of ownership over his signature, it seems that people (or one person) have been copying it—so the question is...how can we tell the real ones from the imitators? And why does he care so much?
What we do know is, Moustache Man does take his work seriously, even if it didn't start that way. In an interview with Subway Art Blog, he gave his ethos about what he does:
At it’s simplest level, it’s a quick joke meant to give commuters something to smile about while they’re waiting for the subway, coming off from a long day at work, or getting stabbed on the D train. And that’s certainly how it started. But for me it’s evolved into part of this broader movement of subverting advertisements. Especially in New York, where we’re bombarded with ads everywhere we go, it feels more and more like we’re part of a one-sided conversation. We’re getting these ridiculous images and dumb catchphrases shoved down our throats (“Good Afternoont!”), why shouldn’t we be able to talk back? So many ads are so laughably stupid that a cartoonish moustache just seems to fit. On another level, it’s a return to hand-written form in a technology driven age where we type so much that some of us have actually forgotten how to write cursive.
Also it’s about war or something.
For what it's worth, we still think this is the one true Moustache Man in New York City.
Tagged
art
imitators
moustache man
subway
subway art
subway fights
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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