Cyanide and Happiness

Cyanide and Happiness is a popular web comic by Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, Matt Melvin and Dave McElfatrick. Although four authors met only several times in real life, they call themselves the Explosm team.

Cyanide and Happiness first appeared on the website Explosm.net on the 9^th December 2004. Since 26^th of January 2005 it comes out daily. Also the authors sometimes produce short cartoons in the same style.

The style of this comic can be described as “late kinder-garden”: stick figures, only eyes and mouth on the face. The humour can be characterised as cynical, satirical and often offensive. The most popular themes are disability, incurable diseases, HIV, violence, death, sexual deviancy and nihilism.

For example, the few recurring characters include peculiarly-named superheroes such as:

Seizure Man - he apparently suffers from epilepsy, and was made into a man after being raped.

Ass Rape Man - who was seen approaching a boy and grinning.

SuperJerk - an extremely rude hero who charges for his acts of kindness.

LOL-FAG Man - a parody of Internet slang who insults everyone by saying "LOL!! FAG!!", which in turn causes various chaotic acts to occur. It is later shown that he is a hypocrite and seen to be given a blowjob while shouting "LOL FOILED!"

Rubber Arm Man - a hero with no apparent powers besides two limp, rubbery arms.

Firework Man - who can make himself explode like a firework, harming only himself.

Education Man - who teaches people about random subjects instead of helping them.

Invincible Man - whose only weakness is lead poisoning.

Paper Boy - a superhero that has only appeared in one of their animated movies, he has a "Paper Boy Mobile" which he uses to travel no less than a feet forward.

Nutrition Man - the newest superhero with the ability to shoot food out of his hand which apparently can bust through a man's skull.

Other recurring characters include:

Trelaf the Wise - a supposed sage who offers pointless advice.

Obese Maurice - a chubby man that usually adds an odd twist to an ostensibly food-related joke.

The Purple-Shirted Eye-Stabber - a villain who occasionally disguises himself to stab out the eyes of any who approach him.

The Inventor - A scientist made to look like Albert Einstein, who creates assorted scientific or magical inventions, only to attempt to copulate with them and in turn injure his penis.

The Pedophile - a green-shirted man wearing brown, square wire glasses.

The Time Traveler - A man who wears futuristic clothing and has the ability to travel to the past, present, or future.

Cyanide and Happiness is often called “the most cynical comic on the net” thought it is not the only one, which authors use provocative style (i.e. Sexy Losers, Nana's Everyday Life, CynicMansion etc). Its better not to click on those links if you do not want to be offended. I warned you! =) 

Cyanide and Happiness appears frequently on social networking sites (such as Myspace and LiveJournal), 4chan, web forums, and blogs as it openly allows and encourages fans to hotlink images. Because of its provocative style, the reaction of community differs from ecstasy to extreme indignation. Whether or no, this comic is quiet popular and it is translated to lot of world languages.

Paolo Ventura and military censorship

Paolo Ventura 

September 24, 2009—Paolo Ventura’s work is featured in the group show "Manipulating Reality" at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. 

Paolo Ventura’s sequence of photographs seem like all-too-familiar scenes of U.S. troops in action in Iraq, but against the background of the military censorship rules that apply to embedded reporters, they raise questions about the authencity of modern war reporting and how we have become inured to repetitive images, failing perhaps to look at them as closely as we should. These photographs, at first remarkably plausible, are all artfully constructed fictions put together by the Italian-born artist in his New York studio, using “action-man” style dummies and minutely modeled sets.

The work of Paolo Ventura focuses on the painful memory of the recent war in Iraq, reconstructing wartime scenarios using puppets and dummies dressed as soldiers. He uses ambiguity and the alteration of reality to comment on the real manipulation of “truth” in reports and pictures of the war carried in the media. 

Grandma After Funerals — «Crisis»

Ok guys, here I am. Your beloved spy, Russia. Haa, now I will start revealing the awful truth of art's background intrigues. It would be a story from my home country today. Yeah, lets learn more about Russia The Motherland. :D
"THE WALL" (rus: СТЕНКА) gallery is the first gallery of comtemporary art beyond the Arctic circle. On the evening of 25th March, 2009, in "THE WALL" held its first exhibition. The satirical exhibition called "Crisis" was presented by the art group 'Grandma After Funerals' (rus: Бабушка после похорон) and was devoted to the unrealizable consequences of the economical crisis. 

All in all, the group presented 5 art works aimed to criticize current situation in Russia and one wall was "signed" by artists, giving the audience the title and sources for future contacts with the group. 

Here it is, by the way:

GAF «Crisis» 25.03.2009

The text under each picture is basically a translation of the poster's text plus a brief explanation of what's on the picture in case you not really familiar with my country:) 

So, thats the first art work:

172 700 m2
FOR LEASE
Government House of the Russian Federation

Second one is a pretty rough one, isn't it?

Crisis lunch

Continue....

"Available desk!" McDonalds
(on the pic.: 'Sieg Heil!', traditional Nazi salute)

80% SALE 80% SALE 80% SALE
Clearance sale of winter collection!
(on the pic.: the entrance to the Winter Palace and the Hermitage Museum) 

The Hermitage Museum is the largest art gallery in Russia and is among the largest and most respected art museums in the world.

And the last, killing one:

Will work for food
(on the pic.: Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister)

Chapter II: “Dialogue of cultures”

The art group was pleased to know that their initiative was supported by the local police. On March 30, 2009 people in grey opened in the gallery "THE WALL" the second exhibition later called “Dialogue of cultures”. The Murmansk police creatively rethought the content of the original exhibition and continued the discussion about the economical crisis in their own way.

Banksy again.

Alrighty, kiddies, this post doesnt require nearly as much reading or brainwork. Lucky you.

Still on the subject of Banksy, i figured i'd share with you just a few of my favourite works by the infamous artist.

All of these pictures can be found here, along with some brilliant quotes and all that.

Ok, enough of my babbling, on with the show:

Many of these originals have been painted over by councils, but at least we still have these pictures.

For even more Banksy art, check this out.

So... what do you guys think? Should councils be getting rid of Banksy's art? Share your opinions with the world.

Banksy

"Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place. “- Banksy, Wall and Piece, 2005

So, who is he?

Let’s do a basic intro to Banksy, shall we? The facts:

Banksy (born in 1974) is a graffiti artist from Bristol in the UK. Yay, British. His artwork is now famous worldwide, not only in the UK.

Despite not calling himself an artist, he is considered as extremely talented in that respect; and indeed as one of the greatest graffiti artists of our times. He uses his original street art form, often in combination with a distinctive stencilling technique, to promote alternative aspects of politics from those promoted by the mainstream media. Banksy's stencils usually show humorous or shocking images, sometimes coupled with witty slogans. The messages behind his stencils are usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment.

Oh, and by the way, he likes to stay anonymous, so no one really knows who he is.

Past and beginnings

This isn't such a history lesson, so relax guys.

So, the story goes that Banksy started out as a freehand graffiti artist in the early 90s, way back when. He was reportedly part of the DryBreadZ Crew (a.k.a DBZ) From the 2000s, he had turned to stencilling, as he realised it took much less time to complete a 'piece', yet the artwork was still visually striking. Banksy himself claims he turned to stencilling after seeing the stencilled serial number under a train while hiding from the police. This technique soon became his trademark, an allowed him to become more widely noticed around Bristol and London, and ultimately worldwide.

And that leads us to today: Banksy has become one of the most widely recognised and innovative graffiti artists in the world

Influence

Ok, so it would be naive to think that Banksy hasn't influenced other artists and just people in general just coz he does graffiti. Let’s have a bit of open mindedness here.

Banksy has pretty much outshined basically all his contemporaries when it comes to doing something a little bit different and showing true versatility. While other artists are definitely influenced by him, none have really been able to match him either. Banksy produces groundbreaking art with spectacular image sand colours, as well as providing a strong social message.

"The Banksy Effect" was coined by Max Foster to illustrate how Banksy's influence on street art provided other street artists with the tools to be able to create pieces and gain recognition. In 2007, the owners of a house with a Banksy Mural on the side of it tried to sell the house, but the offers fell through coz the buyers wanted to get rid of the mural. It’s now listed as a mural with a house attached. Pretty rad.

It’s nice to have some influence, hey.

Controversy and Censorship.

Banksy’s career has been rife with controversy. It seems people are divided as to whether his work should be considered art or vandalism. Spokespeople for the organisation “Keep Britain Tidy” have asserted that Banksy’s works are “simple vandalism” and have gone as far as to say, "We are concerned that Banksy's street art glorifies what is essentially vandalism” Yeah.

Organisations and officals have even resorted to censoring his works, painting over some great pieces, claiming that his graffiti was not to be tolerated. In 2007, Transport for London painted over Banksy's now iconic image of a scene from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns. Transport for London got rid of the image, claiming the "graffiti" created "a general atmosphere of neglect and social decay which in turn encourages crime" and futher commented that their staff are "professional cleaners not professional art critics”. Banksy later tagged the same site again, however this time the actors were portrayed as holding real guns, but were dressed in banana costumes (look to the side, kiddies)

In another brilliant example, the Westmister City council stated in October 2008 that the work “One Nation Under CCTV” (look below) would be painted over coz it consituted graffiti. They stated that anything considered graffiti would be removed despite the reputation of its creator. Then they said that Banksy had no more right to paint graffiti than a child. Yeah, you read that right. I think some people need to broaden their view of art, but whatever. Anyways, the image was painted over in April this year.

These are but a few examples of Banksy’s works being censored and destroyed. Honestly, there are many, many more instances, even here in Australia. What a shame, really. I mean, you wouldn’t go into an art gallery and paint over something in a frame just coz you didn’t like the content, now would you? Its not like he’s going around mindlessly tagging every second wall he sees.

Ahh, end rant.