Mystery Obama/Joker Poster Appears in L.A.

Wow..... Turns out it wasn't a fat, old, rich, white, KKK, conservative as all the libs wanted to believe.  Instead it was a Palestinian non-conservative.   The socialism reference means people think Obama is a socialist.  See you can take money away form people and give it to others, then call it free market capitalism......but it's not..  And if the author thinks socialism is good....why is he offened?   I get the feeling the editor doesn't want anyone with a different opinion on this forum.

I don't know about the original creators, but reguarding the spread of the poster, I've seen chatter about it on /b/ as early as two weeks ago, with anons claiming to have posted many posters and encouraging others to do the same.

Some there seem into it as an irreverent joke, others have discussed it as a prank to taunt liberal commentors into accusations of racism.

This reminds me of the scientology protests that were also discussed and popularized via /b/. A lot of mainstream media covered the protests as being a specifically anti-scientology movement, while amongst themselves many anons treated it as a joke, and were really just using scientology as an excuse to express their proudly cultivated and indiscriminate social ire.

Anons are media scientists. They are constantly testing and experementing with different combinations, trying to figure out which items will spread well. Many of the most effective ones, like this poster, are deliberately vague. 

Associate Press writes;

They claim that the original artist was “Edward Przydzial” a KISS fan, tattoo artist, and jewelry designer. 

edwardprzydzial.livejournal.com/2043.html

This is just so rich with irony. Over last eight years we were exposed to the very worst and most tactless posters, effigies and various other media attacking Bush, Palin and a host of others on the right, ranging from portrayals of them as Hitler, the Devil, monkeys, etcetera. We even saw fantasies of assassination and effigies burned or hanged in public. While all of this rampant hatred festered on the left, we never saw any outcry against it, in fact, the very people who are now wringing their collective hands over this artistically striking and cerebrally sublime poster are the very ones who celebrated the monstrous and violent depictions I’ve mentioned above. But the left have condemned the image, calling it “mean-spirited and dangerous.” Dangerous to whom I ask, the left? Did the last eight years never occur? I've started posting these around my area as well, nothing like watching a bunch of hypocrites get their panties in a bunch.

I wholeheartedly agree with the bulk of these comments. What is good for the goose is good for the gander! It's high time the veil of infallability is breached.

I love the poster and I don't think it's racist... it's the Joker for cryin' out loud! ...and the joker always has a white face! And, after all the mudslinging that Bush-- who I am NO fan of-- endured, Obama, like any politician, is fair game.

I love the poster for a few reasons. I find it to be a very creative adaptation of a common photo. The imagery is very dark and sinister and perhaps exposes the darker side of this man so blindly loved and adored by millions. It raises concern for what little we know about his darker side-- who is he REALLY? What REALLY motivates him? IS he socialist? IS he the greatest con to have attained the presidency? What destruction to our great country will he leave in his wake? Is he the ANTICHRIST?!?

What disturbs me as an artist about this poster is the pressure of abridged freedom of expression that the artist must feel that would have compelled her or him to post these in the dark of night. I am terribly afraid that our freedom of expression as artists is being quietly but firmly subdued. This, I believe, is evidence of that smothering of those freedoms that a person, whether an artist or a person simply expressing political opinions/dissent, should be fearful of voicing their opinions.

I say, "Way to go Joker Poster poster!"

Newsbusters.org and the Drudge report started covering this story Aug 1.  Maybe thats the reason for sudden interest.  Also today several conservative talk show hosts spoke of the posters for a short period but nothing like haha...  They sometimes get there stories from the Drudge which is a media "hub", and  knew the media and libs were going to loose there minds over it.  This poster has nothing to do with Jim Crow's style and you know it!    And shame on you for saying  that.  THe  artist is saying he is an "Evil Clown".   In an interveiw with Hi Fructose magazine awhile back,  Mark Ryden refered to GB as the "Evil Clown"...  People endured 8 years of artists going after Bush if he even blew his nose.  Did he deserve it?.. Maybe, but so does our supreme leader now.  As Stepehen Colbert puts it, "vomit, come on up."  Thats my take on your article. 

BTW nice website and magazine.  Glad I found you.  I'm an artist and enjoy reading anything art related.  
 Update.  Here is a painting of George Bush as the joker.. Where is the public outcry

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/07/bush-as-joker.html

I believe this poster has nothing to do with racism. Equal opportunity means that everyone including political leaders regardless of their gender, race, sexuality or religion are equal in receiving compliments, criticism, political satire and political art movements depicting them as something less then complimentary. So the majority voted in the first black president - that is awesome. But just like Bush he deserves every right not to be liked. Based not on the color of his skin but based on how "we the people" translate his decisions. Like him or hate him - he's a politician, a whole other species.

We've now found an image at a flickr site that may be the source for the poster.  The image was apparently posted in January, 2009.   However, The identity of whoever adapted it as a poster and added the legend "socialism" remains a mystery. 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/khateeb88/

 the poster is painted over an October 23rd 2006 time cover

We received this via e-mail and the author makes an excellent point, worth posting and considering:

If art is a dialogue between the creator and the viewer, these posters succeed very well. Also, in the name of political cartooning and campaigns, these are mild! As for the criticism of racism - someone out there has taken offense. If art fears people taking offense, than it becomes interior decorating. Offense can never be given - someone has to choose to take offense. There is a whole population of victims that wish to take offense on any and everything - can't help ya there.

BTW this was my first exposure the Bedlam Magazine. Pretty cool.

After more then three months, this article has suddenly attracted wide interest.  For the record, the posters first appeared here in L.A. in mid-April, when the bail-out debate was in full sway.  Our interest, as publishers of an art mag, is in the perceptions created by the image and in the nature of the dialog inspired by Shepard Fairey's original poster and the images it inspired, both critical of Obama and supportive, that seem to have given new life to the editorial cartoon and, in conjunction with the emerging artists and political critics who have taken their visual statements to the streets to make their arguments, have added a new dimension to political discourse on urban walls.  We find this an interesting phenomenon.

The prose accompanying this image is as ridiculous as the poster is spot-on.

No doubt the author is some talentless dilettante hack artist who is praying for more Obama majic so that more crap art will be funded by taxes grabbed from the paycheck of honest working people.

What part of "Socialism" are you having a difficult time seeing here?

Thank God people are beginning to wake up and realize the big lie they've voted into office.  

Maybe, just maybe - there's real hope for us yet.

 I am LOVING the new Obie/Jokester Socialist poster!!

WAAAY better then that "Hope" Communist Propaganda style crap that all the lemmings attached themselves to.

I am looking for an ORIGINAL from the artist to frame!  If anyone knows where to get one please pass it on to me!

It is about time an artist puts a little truth to the image of "The One"!  

Glad to see some artist types have FINALLY awoke from the haze of the "HopeChange" fog!  It is about fucking time. (And I still have not gotten any of that free money that we were promised from those Evil Rich people yet either.)

AND who wrote the little story?  Oh YES!  THE JOKESTER POSTER MUST CERTAINLY BE FROM A RACIST!!  fucking idiot!    Ummm, Batman movie anyone??   All the rage,   Joker had a white face.  Obie is a Joke!    Get it???    Joker. . . joke. . . Joker . . . joke . . .   Ohhhh,   Obie is a half black so called "Liberal"/ socialist,  so Any criticism is a "racist" thing.  That is way different.

I am thinking the writer is a racist now!  And the Idiot that made the commie "Hope" poster is most definitely a Commie.  Simpleton connections are fun!

Of course the poster is racist! It depicts a half-black man with a white face... All the JOKEs aside, this is nothing more than the media trying to stick up for a failure president who's doing nothing beneficial, and instead running this great country into the ground. But I must give thanks for this site, because now I'm going to the local copy shop and printing off as many of these posters as money allows... So thanks very much BEDLAM!

You really are a socialist tool. He's about to socialize your very life after banking, transportation, and the media- and you still don't get it? Wow. A Douglas Adams quote comes to mind:

"a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes."

Keep playing stupid. You're bigotry won't save you.

i sorry but why is this racist? in the end that is the sad part about hypersensitive liberals and criticism of obama. instead of defending his policies they fall back on the racism charge and expect people to scatter. it is pathetic what the writer of this article and the obamabots have to do to defend this man. sounds brown shirtish to me. BHO will be the ruin of this country.