- - - POST NO HATE - - - 2020 - 2023
POST NO HATE is an artistic exploration of life beyond the pandemic’s shadow. The imagined street scenes evoke a sense of familiarity, yet they are suspended in time—caught between the pre-virus world and the uncertain landscape of the post-pandemic era.
This series of large-scale canvases and handcrafted books draws inspiration from the subversive energy of urban graffiti and the ephemeral nature of sticker art. It embodies a world in lockdown, where fleeting voices in public spaces carry a deeper resonance.
Unlike traditional graffiti—which often takes hours to execute, demanding not just physical effort but planning and patience—stickers offer something entirely different. They’re immediate, low-effort, and nearly risk-free, perfectly aligning with a culture accustomed to instant results. As Carrie Fisher famously quipped, “Instant gratification takes too long,” capturing the irony of our impatient era.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey Deitch observed of conventional graffiti that “Graffiti doesn’t exist unless someone got a photo, because it’s gone immediately,” underscoring both its transient nature and the painstaking process to create something lasting even in memory
This contrast reinforces how these stickers tap into the generational demand for speed: a bold, instant act of presence that mirrors how this generation communicates, consumes, and even resists—with immediacy as its essence.
At the core of this new work are the artist’s own photographs—captured before the pandemic—of street signs, graffiti, and pop culture stickers. These photographs serve as the foundation, transforming familiar urban landscapes into a commentary on the impermanence of the world we inhabit.
In this context, stickers become more than just a form of expression; they are a visual punctuation—bold, direct, and temporary. Meant to exist in the moment, they challenge notions of permanence, drawing attention to the beauty found in the transient, the overlooked, and the forgotten.
Each sticker acts as a brushstroke in an evolving, dynamic mural, a small act of rebellion or connection in the urban sprawl, hoping to take root in someone's heart—even if only for a fleeting second.
The process of digitally deconstructing the photographs in Photoshop—removing color and simplifying forms—adds a layer of abstraction, reimagining these urban scenes in a way that captures both nostalgia and disquiet. The resulting collages merge the past and the present, creating new street narratives that speak to a world forever altered.
From pop culture, comedian Kristen Schaal humorously captured the urge behind such marks:
“Everybody’s trying to leave their mark on the world. That’s why there’s graffiti and babies.”
