Odd drawing hanging on pole
I snapped the above photos this morning in a Palo Alto, CA train station parking lot. There was no stickers, fliers, or any other material hanging on any of the other poles in the area. I know that taping up a paper drawing isn't as "permanent" as traditional graffiti, but I like the idea of hanging art in unusual public places. I also dig the drawing. I hope nobody takes it though so that others can enjoy it. Click on the images to see them larger.
UPDATE: In the comments, JAMES and an anonymous commenter inform us that this is a sketch of a suspect wanted in connection with attacks in the area. Odd without any context or information on the poster. See here.
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Thats a composite of a suspect wanted in connection with a string of attacks at the Palo Alto Caltrain Station.
Looks like a police artist's sketch...
@#1: I thought the same thing.
I'd be way too tempted to turn this into a prank. Write "LOST" across the top, or "WANTED" or something.
Although those could probably cause someone some sort of mental anguish or something. Maybe something more obviously pranky, like "WARNING: Do not give this man your bacon!"
Somehow it reminds me of the "THIS MAN SHIT IN MY KITCHEN" poster I saw on thefunniest.info once.
You should check out this guy posterchild. http://www.bladediary.com/ The link is for the most recent, so depending on the day you'll have to go back a bit, but hes all about installations. The one of october 15th is actually just this, three portraits hung up on the street.
Another on I'm a big fan of is this one: http://www.bladediary.com/index.pl?stencil=455
Reminds me of an Art & Tech class project (about getting art out of the gallery and into the public spaces), a classmate of mine printed a hundred pages of a cat framed with bold Gotham font reading "NOT MISSING." The bottom of the page was cut for those individual tabs that one would rip off to get a contact number, instead it read "Don't Bother." She then posted them within six blocks of the downtown campus.
A few weeks later the results of her social experiment/public performance piece had very few disturbed pages (some were taken down), though curiously, the fliers posted near the library had multiple tabs removed.
#1 is right.
Accoring to a report on KTVU a couple days ago, this is a sketch of a man who is wanted for knocking down and robbing a woman at a Palo Alto train station.
Report here:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/17717456/detail.html
(Sketch comes in about 3/4 through the video)
Oh forgot to say. . . watch your back at the train stations. One of the guys who was robbed got clubbed from behind while preoccupied on his phone or similar device.
When it comes to street art, it can get even better...
http://www.640x480.net/album.php?posn=11_07_06_02_45_44pm&size=large
#8: Situational awareness is one of the first things any "self defense" course should teach you, if it's actually about keeping your ass out of trouble instead of, say, teaching you how to murder someone with a knife.
it's D.B.Cooper after all these years...
Whoa. MICHAEL_DANIEL and JAMES, thanks for the info on this sketch.
this is not a clever way of displaying street art. this is a time tested way of warning civilians of a criminal and leading to his arrest when he is recognized as a criminal called a composit sketch. although it would be intersting if this man got approched and was told how much you loved the portriat you saw of him at the rail station.
do you really need words on that poster to tell you it's a police sketch? Seriously? Art? Really?
Well, there's no warning or information. In fact, the only text on the paper looks very similar to a quick artist's signature.
A hand-drawn picture of a person's face is not necessarily a police alert. Portrait sketches can be used for other purposes too...
Thanks for posting this ~ I just sent the link to my composition class. We'd recently discussed the reason for using quotes from a text; one student asked if there was any way to know if someone was misusing the text. My answer: context will tell you. That's why we give our sources and use quotes.
Thanks for providing a perfect real-life example of the dangers lurking for those who would warn us, but don't take care to think through HOW they do so.
Lanval
Geez, the cops are sure lazy in those parts. That's if it really is a police sketch. I mean, what's the point if you don't actually tell people what the drawing is all about, leave contact details and so on.
Then again, cops have done stupider things before. Yeah, this is definitely their work. Look out for this guy, he is dangerous, he has a towel on his head and everything!