Postering Techniques

Click here to download a PDF of Postering Techniques & Tips

 

 

1. Construction site walls are safest targets. Especially if they already have posters on them. But clean construction walls are OK. Don’t worry about POST NO BILLS signs (just post over them—then POOF!—they don’t exist.) Abandoned or empty buildings are cool. Just put up 2 or 3 posters at each site and move on. (On some occasions a “collage” or mural effect can be cool too. Especially on those new faux-billboard areas like on Melrose. *Be careful only to cover up lame-ass ads, like for Celine Dion CD’s or posters for Disney movies)…
2. DO NOT HIT: other graffiti artists’ work! Bad-Bad-Bad Guerrilla Etiquette! Our street culture is all about R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Respect other “piecers” original projects (whether or not you agree with their ‘tude, it’s Freedom of Expression, Dude!)—and respect the risks they take in getting up. Say you see one and it’s in a hot spot. Your surface lust kicks in and you just gotta get up on it. Carefully place our piece NEXT TO our comrade’s artistic endeavor. Sharing the street and the cred (they’s all we got, yo!)—that’s what I’m tawkin about . . . you know I ain’t lyin’. THAT”LL DO, PIG! (ahhh, but there’s more…) REMEMBER: Your production time for a designer masterpiece is limited in these areas. Work efficiently. Calm an cool is the way to go, yo!
3. If you have a team of 2—one carries the bucket & brush, glues the wall or traffic light switching box, whatever. The other rolls a poster in the car so we good to go, places and smoothes the poster on the glued area. “Gluer” then doubles back to secure the edges of each poster with glue brush. If you have a team of 3—driver stays in the car with the motor running as lookout and keeps the beats flowing so the gluer and posterer can get their groove on—not too loud, yo!
4. Don’t stay at one site more than 5 minutes.
5. Don’t poster in a straight line. Zigzag through your turf. Yu might discover a nook or cranny of Lalaland or wherever you never seen. There’s a smooth surface to service every lust in the city of night, ya dig! Even ours.
6. ACHTUNG, BABY! Never run anywhere. NO RUNNING! Chill…do your job, SMILE like you know something and leave.
7. DRIVE CAREFULLY. You do not want to be interrupted for a traffic violation.
8. If a particular situation makes you nervous, don’t hit it. Come back later, if you must. There are so many places to poster; you’ll find another tasty space just a few blocks away.

 

COOL WHIP!

FASHION TIPS from PATTI PARTY & CHOCOLATE SUNFLOWER:

 

Hi boys and girls! So it’s your big night, your chance to run through the streets, perpetrate on the Bully late—your adolescent hoodlum wet dream come true and you don’t have a thing to wear!

 

Practicality first: don’t wear anything you aren’t willing to sacrifice to the Glue Dollop Monster. (An avenging deity in our tight lil circle of Hell).

 

Glue gets everywhere:

 

It usually washes out (yeah, right!), but your threads’ll never feel the same again. Comfort is a must, so something loose is good, but not too loose. You don’t want excess fabric being caught on your car door, door handle, a random branch, rusty nail, someone else. Capiche?

 

Hats, baseball, beanies, scrunchies and other S&M gear will keep hair out of your face and glue out of your hair. Hide the dreads from the Feds and tuck the blondes in their beds. Look dope to keep you scope. So be functional and groovy—this EXCLUDES camo, gang wear and stomping boots… walk, don’t run. Everything mellow when you approach your chosen postering playground.

 

Snacking tips:

 

Everyone’s gotta eat, but…eating with hands that are covered in a thick layer of caked-on wallpaper adhesive is not very fun, tasty, sanitary or nutritional, so best to eat before postering. Preferable timing is perhaps when you meet the guerrilla tribe at some all night café, or before you leave your comfy hovel.

 

Remember:

 

Postering requires chunks of physical exertion—so eating is a good idea! A note about coffee: Coffee as most of us late-nighters know can push that initial excitement and anticipation into convulsing and frothing at the mouth—always a useful state for noir movie type activity. But caffeine goes through your system twice as fast as anything else and a full bladder can tend to cramp your style—unless of course you are a guy who has the etiquette of a baboon and, therefore, the luxury of just whipping it out….Oh, never mind! Coffee in moderation is key. So once you are done for the night, your glue bucket is empty and so is your stomach–remember Denny’s is “Always Open” or just memorize the shut down times of your favorite grunge loving’ noodle thumpin’ java joint. [“Toi” on Sunset at Gardner (open til 4am) or Wilshire at 11th in Santa Monica (open til 3am) are both a great late LA date. The atmosphere is post-psychedelic-sci-fi-fake-fur chic. The service is as slooow as the Thai noodles are goood. And on Sunset the TV’s are always playing weird movies to suit your post-postering surrealism. Maybe Jonathan Gold could make us a guerrilla counter intelligence guide—or we could cull late night guides from major cities: good spots for guerrilla gathering and post-postering refueling and debriefing. Most of the guerrilla irregulars enjoy swapping “war stories” after a raid—good for winding down easy and picking up tips about what to do (and not to do) in situations a perp might be yet to encounter. When Robbie swangs into his R-®ated postering adventure rants….you might as well listen cause it ain’t like it was in the Olden Days (he started in ’86…you don’t wanna know some of the sketchy scenes he squoze through because of, what he calls, “good karma”, but his veteran troops know to be just dumb luck).

 

Tune tips:

 

Tunes set the mood and the energy of your ultimate postering escapade. Be prepared with your homemade iPod mixes and CD’s,or just your favorite factory jams. Volume is a concern—it’s entirely up to you, but be aware that you’re putting yourself at risk of cop curiosity and, perhaps, deafness. Nah-nah-nah, jus playin witcha! We mean you might not hear somethin-somethin on the street, Yo—like, if you’re cruising down the Bully with the sound cranked and your car bumpin’ to whatever you’re down with. But if you want a boomin’, bumpin’ bass thang happenin’—Dowhatchalike kid! Patty Party’s Choice Cuts For the daring only: Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Burning Spear, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Beasties, Lauryn Hill or Snoop Dogg-P-P-Pump it up! [We could include a cd with the Postering Guide, “Guerrillas’ Greatest Get up Street Hits.”]

 

TECHNICAL NANA’S AND ADDITIONAL TIPS

 

Vehicle Tips:

 

Find a vehicle. Just about any vehicle will do. Except in LA. You need a car that works—no “maybe”, Baby! Motorcycles and Bicycles can be tricky (unless you’ve had a paper route recently)—so try to stick to the four-wheel thing.

 

Your vehicle should:

1. Run
2. Have a full tank of gas—(or at least out of the red!)
3. Radio, Tape or CD player.
4. NO outstanding warrants or tickets
5. Current registration and insurance.
6. A driver with a current Driver’s License.
7. Intact blinkers and working lights, unholy muffler, smog Certificate.

*If you ’re borrowing Mom’s car or your pal’s car, be sure to have all of your bureaucratic vehicle stuff in order and transferred to that car. If you do have to run in with the donut eating monsters in the blue suits, remember what Robbie sez: “They’re just doing their job.” You don’t want to give them any reasons to harass, arrest, beat, maim, mutilate or kill you. Also if the owner of the vehicle is slightly anal and concerned with the upkeep of a tidy interior—cover the floor with a tarp or plastic garbage bags. Also a designated postering towel not shy of the glue funk is good to have handy for your messy paws. [How and where to buy what: glue, brushes, rollers, etc could be another useful section]

 

CREW TIPS:

 

Like De La Soul says, “Three is magic number” One-person drives, one glues, one sticks posters. Two works, so does four: Go with people you groove on, pull the top down and floor it, nights like these only come so often. Check out that MOON! Be careful, aware, and intune with what you are doing. Make like the grasshopper in KungFu….This is for a good cause; work fast and with a grin.

 

DEEPER TECHNIQUES:

 

Glue is a something, which at first may be a little trying to get the hang of, however it’s all in the mix. Whether you’ve got Stash’s live slip and drip mix or Robbie’s heavy duty oatmeal-thick-your fork stands up-in-it soup that makes a meal, mix-it’s all your call on how much you want on that brush. So try it out, dip it, stick it, don’t lick it and see how far it goes. Observe your first couple of tries and figure it out. The glue adhesive stuff is usually pretty intense; you don’t need as much as you think. You most likely will run out of glue before you run out of posters, so conserve. It thins best with warm water. Pack a spare gallon of HOT water and some old ass rags before you take off from su casa, to relieve cold-glopped up hands and clothes.

 

As soon as you get your glue, take the lid off and ditch it in a trash receptacle. Lids serve no purpose and tend only to get in the way, and waste time. So now that you’re lidless-how do you stop glue from spilling all over your car? Wedge the can between your knees or feet-or gets someone else to hold it! While postering you will most definitely come across walls laden with rusty nails, staples and other various obstacles. Just be careful, kids, those are the only fingers you will ever have. *In case of injury, parking or traffic fine send bill to Robbie (Just kidding Robbie) Be careful and watch your back!

 

ADDITIONAL/REMINDER TIPS:

1. Be inconspicuous. Blend in without looking like a thug…try whistling a happy tune to create a real ‘nonchalant’ attitude.
2. If the PoPo stop you to ‘chat’, reply with a sincere smile—not a grin, a calm little smile (as opposed to twistin up your ‘tude), “It’s just an Art Project, dude,” (your subtext really being: “It’s a reaction to social issues concerning the American public and we are free too say what we like-under the 1st Amendment—BABY!”) Better leave off the ‘dude’ and ‘chill’ stuff just in case they’re not feeling too friendly…Never run from the PoPo, remember it didn’t work for Rodney King. You gotta stand there and make nice. Be PoPo-lite. It’s Guerrilla Etiquette, baby! Of course a spare dzn-o-donuts stashed in the car might help this sticky situation.
3. Bus Benches, Bus Shelters, Public phone booths are great spots to hit up too…but you didn’t hear it from me. 

HAVE A BLAST!!

Peace.