Public, For the People -WeakHand

Part of a bi-weekly series on Public Art in Vancouver.

OK, I opened this series with an piece from an entrenched institution, perhaps not in Vancouver, but certainly the Sculpture Biennale has firmly established roots internationally. This week I am going to turn to something that I am a little more passionate about, which is Vanouver's street/graffiti artists. We are lucky in this city to have a number of talented artists out there working diligently to pretty it up. Today I'm going to introduce you to -weakhand.

By way of introduction, here is a quote from his flickr set:
"weakhand" is about being underhanded. An attempt to undermine society, status quo's, ideals, religion, City Hall, Corporate Ads, laws, stereotypes, as well as you and your friends through imagery and text.

Because all of us have been weakhanded, and thats what this is about.

That's just fucking awesome.

But it gets better.
Monochromatic paste-ups appear in alleys around the city, on the side of abandoned buildings, and right on busy streetcorners like the nurse pictured above. They are the best kind of public art because (unless you are specifically going in search of them, obviously), they pop out at you from when and where you least expect it. Art has too much attitude around it and there is some great art happening in galleries, but there is also a lot of attitude and expectation there. Here, there is just art posted for whoever happens to enjoy it. I love that. However, sometimes it doesn't last long. The friendly nurse got torn down a few days later.

Check out his set for some beautiful pieces, or just go take a walk around the city.

Thanks to -weakhand for the photos.