New York Dumb - Not-so-clever graffiti on New York advertising posters

New York Dumb showcases more than a hundred examples of rude, crude and not-so-clever poster defacements found in the underground world of the New York City subway system. A dim-witted gallery of mustaches, zombie eyes, broken teeth, smart-alecky remarks, and anatomically absurd doodles­­­ — NYD is the collected works of a fed-up crowd sending a counter message to the powerhouses of popular communication. It’s New York attitude meets New York advertising savvy, with dumb and disrespectful results.

-- More than a hundred examples of classic poster modifications; mustaches, zombie eyes, knocked out teeth, doodled ding-dongs and very rude comments
-- Zoom in on comment defacements for a closer, weirder look
-- Expandable thumbnails of the posters present the comments in their original pop-cultural context
-- Captions with each poster recap the headline (often as weird and unclever as the the comments)
-- Nine of the most critical defacement types are gathered in special galleries for quick comparison
-- Swipe through the screens one by one or scan for favorites in thumbnail or contents views
-- An introductory essay gives a brief explanation of the New York subway’s advertising environment and New Yorker’s perverse relationship to it; part idiotic, part confrontational, all disrespectful.

Galen Smith is the author, photographer and designer of New York Dumb, he is also the author of the acclaimed book New York D!©k published by Mark Batty Publisher. He is Principal/Creative Director of Hardscrabble Projects, designers and developers of digital and printed books, and a dedicated documenter of poster defacements.

For more information on New York Dumb please vist www.newyorkdick.org (it’s not just dickish, it’s dumb too!)