Last summer it seemed that Sux Falls had their very own Banksy-copy-cat-stencil-artist-vandal in our midst. It got me thinking all nostalgic about one of my artistic influences Keith Haring, and his collages and drawings he would do in the 1980’s in New York’s subway stations. Most graffiti artists suck, but DISINFORM was kind of good, but hey when you have influences like Banksy, anything is easy, right? Being the loudmouth artist that I am I figured it would only be a matter of time before the fingers started pointing in my direction. I knew that all the underground artists and punk rock kids in town didn’t suspect me, because they all knew who he was. And since I was probably going to be a suspect, no one would tell me his name (I still don’t know who it is) and on top of it the answer I would get to my inquiry was “But you know him.†Well apparently not well enough. Well to my chagrin, the coppers never knocked on my door, must be too busy guarding casino’s and such. But a reporter from Bill Janklow’s favorite Alternative Press did call me. Nestor Ramos called me one day accusing me of being DISINFORM after I told him I didn’t know who it was. It took me a little off guard, but I did find it humorous and produced this cartoon to go with a column that Nestor wrote about it. But once again the Gargoyle Leader pulled the rug underneath me and printed the column without the toon, in which Nestor accused me again of being DISINFORM. After I emailed him and asked where the toon was he blamed the page layout department. (They like to pass the buck at the Gargoyle, a lot.) They did print it a couple days later. I decided instead of getting mad about it I would have a little fun with Nestor. I started emailing him different places I (supposedly) seen DISINFORM’s work. I had him driving around a few times looking for something that was never there. Eventually Nestor caught on and ignored my emails, but it was fun while it lasted. Besides, a Gargoyle reporter actually leaving their cubicle is newsworthy in itself.
BTW, over the holiday season I was able to send a list of questions to DISINFORM through one of his friends, he still hasn’t responded, but if he does, I will post the interview here. I understand he lives far away now, and that’s probably a good thing. Though I discourage vandalism, I do enjoy anybody who can pull the wool over the coppers eyes once in awhile in this cold, boring town, makes things interesting even when C-list journalists call you asking ridiculous questions.