Hunting Down Those Responsible for the 'Street Art Rambo' Posters
Finally, an answer to a question that’s been plaguing us for upwards of five minutes per day every time we drive by one of those posters for the new Rambo movie coming out. That question, of course, is, “What’s with those Rambo posters?” We ask because they’re Banksy-esque, street-art-looking, but we can’t for the life of us figure out how exactly Rambo fits with that style at all. While that question isn’t answered in the LA Times’ “So the New Rambo Has a Subtle Side,” it does give us some insight on who is responsible for it and some backstory:
The stencil-and-spray-paint image, done by Jason Lindeman of Ignition Print, seems a nod to the work of Banksy, the infamous and ironical British graffiti artist whose work now commands high sums.
The “Rambo” image was originally just designed for a T-shirt — a kind of “Che Guevara meets Jesus” motif, said Tim Palen, co-president of marketing for Lionsgate, which is releasing “Rambo” on Jan. 25.
“This was never meant to be the whole backbone of the campaign,” Palen said, noting that the image has ended up as an 80-foot billboard in Times Square.
Apparently, as the story continues, the faux-spray-painted image wound up being used in such prominence because Sylvester Stallone liked it so much. Still, you can kind of read between the lines from those quotes above and find the reason: “The kids love this crap!” But in using that street art look in such great quantities, doesn’t it seem to place it in a category of nothing more than an ironic retread? Granted, that’s all it is, but who wants to admit that they’re just rolling something like this out because it’s easy and because everyone else is rehashing the recent past at an alarming rate? Next up: Saturday Night Fever 2: Because It’s Funny That We’d Make A New One.
