In several of the works at the Moustache Man’s debut solo show at New York’s Krause Gallery, the street artist/comedian who once wrote the word “moustache” on subway ads around the city takes cheeky aim at his peers. To lambast Mr. Brainwash–whom Moustache Man, like most reasonable people, holds in low regard–the artist dipped his scrotum in marker ink, then printed it on the back of a Brainwash canvas.
Ink on the balls isn’t all fun and games, either; the man born Patrick Waldo says doing the deed caused him a considerable amount of pain. “Let me tell you, there are certain inks that testicles just should not be submerged in,” Waldo told ANIMAL. “I used this bottle of ink meant for these huge Pilot Super Color markers and after like 30 seconds my balls started burning so bad…I thought I was gonna have to go to the emergency room. My balls were black for a long time after that. So kids, don’t dip your balls in ink.”
To skewer Shepard Fairey, another prominent street artist, Waldo emblazoned an Andre the Giant print with his trademark “moustache” tag, then signed his own name next to Fairey’s. “I respect [Fairey’s] contributions to the scene and honestly don’t mean any disrespect by it. In fact I hope he’d appreciate the joke,” the artist said. “Brainwash, on the other hand, I mean total disrespect by that one.”
Not every piece in the show finds Waldo defacing or otherwise updating other artists’ work, but they’ll all be familiar to anyone who enjoyed his 2010-2011 vandalism spree. “Moustaches are how I got this show in the first place, so I’m not gonna abandon them and do some kind of relational aesthetics thing,” he said. “Go with what you know, right? I know moustaches.”
“I have no idea what my place in the art world is. I think the art world decides that for you whether you want it or not,” he added by way of conclusion. “I’m just gonna make pieces I like and if people like them, awesome. If not, they can suck my black balls.”
“Moustache Man,” Patrick Waldo, February, 21-25, Krause Gallery, New York
