Jim Kiernan

He’s So Hot Right Now

“He is like Superman,” said art student Chris Beatty. “He’s legendary.”

An ad hoc gallery curator, Garrison Buxton, compared him to the Borg, or a race of cyber kinetic creatures from “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” resistance against whom is popularly considered futile.

The young men were referring to renegade street artist Poster Boy, whose first solo show, “Adbooster,” opened on Friday night at Bushwick’s month-and-a-half-old Eastern District exhibition space, attracting a large crowd all sporting name tags that read “Hello, my name is POSTER BOY.”

For the past year Poster Boy, whose identity remains a mystery due to the illicit nature of his work, captured New York City’s imagination as he sliced and re-pasted advertisements in and around subway stations, trains and streets, to create political and otherwise poignant messages condemning war, consumerism and the establishment.

Not surprisingly, the show includes a huge Dunkin’ Donuts advertisement, allegedly procured from a highway billboard, and reworked by Poster Boy’s famous razorblade to feature sloppy negative silhouettes from Picasso’s war-time painting “Guernica” and President Obama with the slogan “You did it Picasso” written across the middle. The piece is hastily pasted across two adjacent walls of the gallery, its black underside exposed in some places where it began to peel off. It is unclear whether the poster is actually supposed to be peeling off, since Poster Boy does not give interviews and those involved in the exhibition don’t know. On the opposite wall is an image of Obama with the word “Hype” above it and a black crowd beneath. Matisse-esque nudes hold a purple ribbon. Outside is a two-sided standing billboard that reads “Native American Idol” and features an image of a Native American with braids and a tomahawk. On the other side is a spoof of a Snickers commercial that says, “Animal Tested Poster Boy Improved.” There are also several prints of his previous work being sold for between $75-$100.

“He’s the freshest voice to come along in contemporary street art,” said Jim Kiernan, who photographs Poster Boy’s work when he chances upon it around the city. He made and donated the prints sold at the show. He compared Poster Boy to iconic artists like Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat. He did not comment on the work featured in “Adbooster.” In fact, with the exception of an art student wondering about the material Poster Boy used for the “You did it Picasso” piece and an artist who called the work “college-level,” most of the people at the crowded opening spoke only of Poster Boy, omitting any mention of the art on the walls.

“He’s wild, fearless and a bit of an enigma,” said Poster Boy’s friend and animalnewyork.com blogger Bucky Turco. “I’m wearing this sticker because we’re all Poster Boy,” said Buxton.

Somehow the exhibit brings to mind a scene from the 2001 comedy film “Zoolander,” in which model agent Maury Ballstein talks about a popular fashion designer. He says, “Mugatu is so hot right now. He could take a crap, wrap it in tinfoil, put a couple fish hooks on it and sell it to Queen Elizabeth as earrings.”

While Poster Boy’s show is certainly not crap in tinfoil, the sloppy “Guernica” silhouettes and the peeling poster allude to Mugatu’s earrings.

Eastern District Director Jesse Lee Denning said that part of the reason why the art space gave Poster Boy a solo show is because people love to talk about him. Jordan Seiler of publicadcampaign.com, who curated the exhibit, called Poster Boy’s work “incredibly life affirming and fulfilling and an important use of public space.” Yet he admitted that Poster Boy’s fame, rather than the actual quality of the work, prompted him to curate the show. He said he hopes Poster Boy will use his fame to bring more attention to advertisers’ infringement on public spaces.

“I hope that Poster Boy is able to harness the media he’s gathered around his project to promote the ideas that are at the heart of his work,” said Seiler.

Presumably, those ideas have something to do with the struggle between the individual and the system. When asked about what those ideas are, Seiler apologized and said he can’t answer that question because it would be like putting words into Poster Boy’s mouth. Poster Boy could not be reached for comment.