MOBSTR (UK)
MOBSTR (UK)
The last few years have seen the rise and rise of the UK’s Mobstr. Following in a long tradition of subvertisers, ad-takovers and brandalists, Mobstr employs his unique brand of biting social commentary and astute witticism to walls, streets and billboards across the UK in a manner unrivalled since the early days of Banksy. Utilising methods designed and employed for decades by the advertising industry itself, Mobstr’s artworks act as small “glitches of humanity” in the sea of false realities beamed at us from billboards everywhere we go. Mobstr’s small acts of defiance are amplified a million fold when posted online to an audience eager to believe there are alternatives to the corporate dominance of our public space.
As much at home with urban interventions as he is with billboard takeovers, Mobstr’s work offers a brief respite from the £16 billion of advertising imagery that’s aimed at the UK pubic each year. His work tends to form a dialogue between parties, a two-way conversation between the ad industry, the city council, and in some cases, street art fans themselves. Knowing that they can only respond in a pre -prescribed way, another ad, usually means Mobstr always comes out on top.
