Sabo (street artist)

Last updated
Sabo in 2018 Artist Sabo.jpg
Sabo in 2018

Sabo (born 1968) [1] is the pseudonym of a street artist formerly active in Los Angeles, California. His name derives from sabot, a weapon most commonly used in firearm or cannon ammunition. [2] According to a 2015 interview with Adland, Sabo had been involved in street art since 1999, [3] though he began to take his activity in the scene more seriously around 2008. [4] [5] [6] Sabo's works have been critical of left-wing politics (and its prominence in the entertainment industry) and America's Democratic Party, claiming that "leftism is a mental disorder." [2]

Contents

Notable works

Sabo's first work that received mainstream attention was in May 2014, where he put up posters attacking Democratic politician and then-candidate for governor of Texas Wendy Davis, [4] [7] who held a thirteen-hour-long filibuster to block Senate Bill 5 (a measure which included more restrictive abortion regulations for Texas) a year prior. [8] The posters feature mostly-naked Barbie dolls with a plastic baby in their belly areas and Davis' face plastered on, with the caption: "Hollywood welcomes Abortion Barbie Wendy Davis."

During the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Sabo targeted Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party with posters (most of which were themed to Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party , a 2016 political docudrama created by American conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza) being placed at local bus stops. [9]

In December 2017, Sabo claimed credit for putting up posters (heavily derivative of works by the artist Barbara Kruger) of actress Meryl Streep with producer Harvey Weinstein with the words "She knew" emblazoned across Streep's face, a reference to rumors that Streep had been aware that Weinstein was a serial sexual predator before the information became public. He said that he considered it retribution for Streep's role in the film The Post because he believed the film was a direct attack on Donald Trump. [10] [11]

Several days before the 75th Golden Globe Awards in January 2018, Sabo put up road signs around the Beverly Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles that referenced claims of child sexual abuse in the entertainment industry. [12] In a similar stunt committed days before the 90th Academy Awards, Sabo vandalized three billboards in the Hollywood area (in a reference to nominee Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ) that not only criticized celebrity-led movements like Time's Up and #MeToo, but also claimed that the entertainment industry shielded pedophiles within their ranks, and claimed that the industry was hypocritical for handling sex abuse scandals. [1] [13]

Later that year, Sabo vandalized a billboard near Television City promoting the CBS series Young Sheldon into an attack on comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and Who Is America? , a Showtime television series created by Baron Cohen; Showtime is also a subsidiary of the CBS Corporation. He mocked up an image of Baron Cohen as a wounded war veteran, referencing a character he portrayed in an episode of the series, in relation to Sarah Palin's comments about the show; Palin had claimed that Baron Cohen had interviewed her in disguise and disrespected the U.S. military by being a military impostor. [14] A similar mock advertisement for Who Is America? was found at a bus stop down the street in Fairfax Avenue, which also promoted the Wounded Warrior Project. [14]

In October 2018, Sabo vandalized a billboard promoting the 2018 Halloween film, which placed the face of Maxine Waters, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, on Michael Myers' body, with the hashtag #uncivildemocrats also plastered on. This work was done in response to a statement Waters made encouraging people to confront former President Donald Trump and his Cabinet members regarding their political actions. [15]

Responding to the controversy of the host selection of the 91st Academy Awards, Sabo placed posters around the Dolby Theatre in support of Kevin Hart, who was slated to be the original host of that year's awards ceremony but had to step down due to criticism over homophobic comments and jokes. [16] [17] While Sabo claims that he's a fan of Hart, the intentions behind putting up these posters is to "make a point about the industry's intolerance toward those it deems politically incorrect." [16]

In February 2019, Sabo placed mock advertisements that lampooned Jussie Smollett and the controversy of Smollett staging a hate crime against himself and making a false police report. [18] The mock advertisements make reference to the 2018 films Black Panther and BlacKkKlansman , in which Sabo uses the quote "This is MAGA Country"—the phrase Smollett told police that the perpetrators uttered—in one of the mock posters. [18]

In July 2019, he vandalized various advertisements for the Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . In a billboard located a block away from La Cienega Boulevard, for example, the title of the film was changed to Once Upon a Time in Pedowood, and the faces of the film's lead actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, were changed to those of convicted child sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Roman Polanski. [19] [20] Another advertisement for the film was vandalized with the face of Pitt replaced with Woody Allen. [20]

In the 2021 California election to recall Governor Gavin Newsom, Sabo produced several posters opposing Newsom and supporting right-wing talk show host Larry Elder. [21]

Personal life

Before his career as a street artist, Sabo was enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. [10] He studied at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. [1] [3]

In an interview with conservative newspaper The Washington Times , Sabo identified as mixed race. [1] In a New York Times interview he said his father is Mexican. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacha Baron Cohen</span> British comedian, actor, screenwriter and film producer (born 1971)

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English comedian, actor, screenwriter and film producer. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen. At the 2012 British Comedy Awards, Baron Cohen received the Outstanding Achievement Award and accepted the award in-character as Ali G. In 2013, he received the BAFTA Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy. In 2018, The Times named him among the 30 best living comedians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meryl Streep</span> American actress (born 1949)

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress. Known for her versatility and adept accent work, she has been described as "the best actress of her generation". She has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including a record 21 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and a record 33 Golden Globe Award nominations, winning eight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subvertising</span> Parody advertising

Subvertising is the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements. The cultural critic Mark Dery coined the term in 1991. Subvertisements are anti-ads that deflect advertising's attempts to turn the people's attention in a given direction. According to author Naomi Klein, subvertising offers a way of speaking back to advertising, ‘forcing a dialogue where before there was only a declaration.’ They may take the form of a new image or an alteration to an existing image or icon, often in a satirical manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Williams</span> American media personality (born 1964)

Wendy Williams Hunter is an American former broadcaster, media personality, and writer. From 2008 to 2021, she hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show The Wendy Williams Show. She retired from public life in 2023 after being diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.

Robert M. Peak was an American commercial illustrator. He is best known for his developments in the design of the modern film poster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jussie Smollett</span> American actor (born 1982)

Jussie Smollett is an American actor and singer. He began his career as a child actor in 1991 debuting in The Mighty Ducks (1992). From 2015 to 2019, Smollett portrayed musician Jamal Lyon in the Fox drama series Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonah Hill</span> American actor (born 1983)

Jonah Hill is an American actor and comedian. The accolades he has received include nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award and two Golden Globe Awards.

The National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble is an annual film award given by the National Board of Review.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margot Robbie</span> Australian actress and producer (born 1990)

Margot Elise Robbie is an Australian actress and producer. Her work includes both blockbuster and independent films, and her accolades include nominations for three Academy Awards, six BAFTA Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2017, and Forbes named her the world's highest-paid actress in 2023.

Steven Chorney is an American artist, graphic designer and illustrator with a primary focus in the motion picture industry.

Brandalism is an activist artist collective founded in 2012 in the United Kingdom which engages in subvertising, culture jamming, and protest art. Brandalism uses subvertising to alter and critique corporate advertising by creating parodies or spoofs to replace ads in public areas. The art is typically intended to draw attention to political and social issues such as consumerism and the environment. Advertisements produced by the Brandalism movement are silk screen printed artworks, and may take the form of a new image, or a satirical alteration to an existing image, icon or logo. The advertisements are often pasted over billboards, or propped under the glass of roadside advertising spaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood Music in Media Awards</span> Award organization

The Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA) is an award organization honoring original music in all forms visual media including film, TV, video games, trailers, commercial advertisements, documentaries, music videos and special programs. The HMMA was the first to include Outstanding Music Supervision as featured award categories. HMMA nominations and winners have historically been representative of key awards shows announced months later. The annual HMMA main event, held the week before Thanksgiving, features live music performances, celebrity presenters, tributes to music industry icons and awards for composers, songwriters and performers. The 2023 winners were announced on November 15th.

<i>The Spy</i> (miniseries) French television miniseries

The Spy is a French English-language espionage television miniseries, created and directed by Gideon Raff, based on the life of Israel's top Mossad spy Eli Cohen, who is portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen. The series is a production by French company Légende Entreprises for Canal+ and Netflix. OCS is airing the show in France and Netflix is streaming the show internationally outside France. The six-episode miniseries, released on September 6, 2019, on Netflix, was inspired by real-life events. It is based on the book L'espion qui venait d'Israël, written by Uri Dan and Yeshayahu Ben Porat.

<i>Who Is America?</i> American comedy television series

Who Is America? is an American political satire mockumentary-style television series created by Sacha Baron Cohen that premiered on July 15, 2018, on Showtime. Baron Cohen also stars in the series as various characters and executive produces alongside Anthony Hines, Todd Schulman, Andrew Newman, Dan Mazer, and Adam Lowitt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NPC (meme)</span> An insult that implies a person lacks critical thinking

The NPC, derived from non-player character, is an Internet meme that represents people deemed to not think for themselves; those who lack introspection or intrapersonal communication; those whose identity is deemed entirely determined by their surroundings and the information they consume, with no conscious processing whatsoever being done by the person themselves. The meme gained further viral status on TikTok in 2022, with the surge of "NPC Streamers". The NPC meme, which graphically is based on the Wojak meme, was created in July 2016 by an anonymous author and first published on the imageboard 4chan, where the idea and inspiration behind the meme were introduced.

<i>The Trial of the Chicago 7</i> 2020 American film by Aaron Sorkin

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is a 2020 American historical legal drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. The film follows the Chicago Seven, a group of anti–Vietnam War protesters charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intention of inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. It features an ensemble cast including Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Daniel Flaherty, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Eddie Redmayne, Noah Robbins, Mark Rylance, Alex Sharp, Ben Shenkman, and Jeremy Strong.

<i>Unplanned</i> 2019 anti-abortion film directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon

Unplanned is a 2019 American drama film written and directed by Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman. It is based on the disputed 2011 memoir Unplanned by anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson. The film stars Ashley Bratcher as Johnson, following her life as a clinic director for Planned Parenthood and her subsequent transition to anti-abortion activism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattel Films</span> Film division and subsidiary of Mattel

Mattel Films is the film production division of Mattel originally formed on October 16, 2013, as Mattel Playground Productions as part of Mattel Global Brands, a unified media structural and strategy unit.

<i>Borat Subsequent Moviefilm</i> 2020 mockumentary film by Jason Woliner

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, or simply Borat Subsequent Moviefilm or Borat 2, is a 2020 mockumentary black comedy film directed by Jason Woliner. The film stars Sacha Baron Cohen as the fictional Kazakh journalist and television personality Borat Sagdiyev, and Maria Bakalova as his daughter Tutar, who is to be offered as a bride to then–U.S. vice president Mike Pence during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. It is a sequel to 2006's Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Toto, Christian (4 October 2018). "Street artist Sabo lampoons liberals: 'No one else was doing it, at least not on a brutal level'". The Washington Times. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  2. 1 2 Carroll, Rory (21 June 2017). "'I think leftism is a disorder': is this artist the rightwing Banksy?". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Search and Destroy: The art of Sabo". Adland. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  4. 1 2 Brooks, Katherine (June 10, 2014). "Meet Sabo, The Conservative Street Artist Behind The Wendy Davis 'Barbie Art'". Huffington Post . Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  5. ↑ "LA Street Artist Launches Anti-Clinton Campaign". KCBS-TV . August 29, 2016. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  6. ↑ Gwynned, Stuart (December 5, 2015). "LA's Right-Wing Street Artist Sabo Strikes Again". LA Weekly . Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  7. ↑ Bassett, Laura (May 22, 2014). "Wendy Davis Greeted By 'Abortion Barbie' Posters In Los Angeles". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  8. ↑ Ghahremani, Tanya (June 13, 2013). "Texas Senator Wendy Davis' 13-Hour Filibuster Successfully Beats Abortion Bill". Complex . Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  9. ↑ Bond, Paul (July 17, 2016). "Conservative Street Artist Slams Hillary Clinton, Democrats in Artwork Outside GOP Convention". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  10. 1 2 Carroll, Rory (20 December 2017). "Rightwing artist put up Meryl Streep 'she knew' posters as revenge for Trump". The Guardian . Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  11. ↑ Han, Angie (December 6, 2017). "The reviews are in and critics absolutely adore Steven Spielberg's 'The Post'". Mashable . Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  12. ↑ "The right-wing street artist trying to troll Hollywood". Vice News . January 5, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  13. ↑ Bond, Paul (February 28, 2018). "Street Artist E2rects Three Billboards Over Hollywood: 'Oscar for Biggest Pedophile Goes To…'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 24, 2018.
  14. 1 2 Bond, Paul (July 16, 2018). "Sacha Baron Cohen Criticized for "Stolen Valor" on Hijacked Billboard Near CBS Offices". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  15. ↑ Bond, Paul (October 19, 2018). "'Halloween' Billboard Hijacked to Target Maxine Waters". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  16. 1 2 Bond, Paul (6 January 2019). "Street Artist Attacks Oscars Over Kevin Hart Controversy". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 11 November 2019.
  17. ↑ Tapley, Kristopher (December 7, 2018). "Kevin Hart Steps Down as Oscar Host". Variety. Archived from the original on December 12, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  18. 1 2 Bond, Paul (18 February 2019). "John Oliver, Jussie Smollett Criticized in Hijacked Billboard, L.A. Street Art". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  19. ↑ "Tarantino Billboards Hijacked in L.A. to Slam Epstein, Polanski and "Pedowood"". The Hollywood Reporter . July 26, 2019.
  20. 1 2 "L.A. artist explains why he defaced Tarantino billboard with Epstein cutout". Los Angeles Times . July 26, 2019.
  21. 1 2 Hubler, Shawn (August 27, 2021). "The Guerrilla Street Artist Stumping for Larry Elder". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.