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From the wacky wilds of Rhode Island come the very entertaining folks at Alternate Graphics, who have done more exhaustive work promoting the considerable charms of obey giant than, perhaps, even the World Wrestling Foundation. These situationist pranksters produce a daunting variety of stickers, skateboards, t-shirt and patches, all of which feature the liknessof the above-mentioned mutant. The really amazing thing is that when the Giant folks were here in San Diego for the 432F fashion trade show, stenciled images of Andre popped up all over downtown, purely by coincidence, I’m sure. Send away for their entertaining catalog, and bring Andre’s smiling face to your hometown ..all over your hometown!
Last issue, we told you about Alternate Graphics’ amazing obey giant sticker campaign after they sent us an envelope bulging with said materials. In response to our blurb in Things, they sent us a whole case of fetching Giant t-shirts. Do these people know how to work us, or what? We also received from helen Stickler (see photo) her incredible 17-minute color videotape documentary of the Andre phenomenon (over 400,000 stickers are out there!) which, by now, has spread beyond Rhode Island and circled the globe, much to the amusement and gratification of those involved. Don’t be put off by the short running time, because Ms. Stickler’s video is one of the best documentations of this type of activity I have ever seen. Meet the skateboarders who started it all, and see the silk-screen studio where the stickers originate! You are there as they make a field trip to Cambridge, Mass. and selflessly endow Harvard Square with Andreness! You’ll also laugh at their impressive billboard modifications. It’s all very funny and thought provoking, and if any video can convince you that it’s not impossible to exercise some kind of control over the environment that has been foisted off on you, this one.is it. Stickler’s video work is outstanding–miles beyond what you might expect from a no-budget video. The climax of the tape features a dizzying flesh frame montage sequence of images while a professional sounding voice-over explains the psycho-political implications of obey giant Has a Posse. I can’t thank these people enough for restoring my faith in guerrilla art.
