Thomas Broome's Textual Interiors

Thomas Broome's wonderful pen-and-ink drawings of interiors made from text have formal appeal for me--fine lines, faint edges when you squint, and a doodle-like accessibility that reminds me of drawings in high school notebooks--but conceptually I like it too, especially his Ikea edition (bottom). When products with Swedish names become ubiquitous around the world--Flarke!--his rendering almost serves as a critique, but not quite.

What I'd like to see: a room created purely from brand names, countries of origin, or working conditions (UNIONMADEUNIONMADE chairs and CHILDLABORCHILDLABOR shoes).

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Brand-name trash

While not all that original--Adbusters ran some images a few years back of trash bags covered with the Louis Vuitton logo--I like the sentiment. Rene Gagnon created this "top dollar garbage" stencil as "a statement about the value we put on things because there is a pattern associated with it, coach, gucci, doony and bourke..." It also suggests, from a dumpster-diver's perspective, that there's gold in them thar bins, as fickle consumers toss items they grow bored with or figure it's easier to buy something new rather than fix the damaged old one you've already got. Below, a different artist's logo-covered dumpster from early 2006, via Stencil Revolution.

The Military-Industrial Complex, verbalized. (Or, shop the war away.)

George W. Bush, at his much-touted final press conference of 2006, made some startling statements, including his first admission that "We're not winning [in Iraq], we're not losing." But the kicker comes at the end. From the CBC's coverage:

He said the most painful part of his presidency has been knowing that American soldiers die as a result of his decisions. His "heart breaks" for their families, he said....

...Although he said the war will require additional sacrifices, he called for no sacrifices on the home front.

"A recent report on retail sales shows a strong beginning to the holiday shopping season across the country," he told the reporters, "and I encourage you all to go shopping more."

(Thanks, Tom. Photo: Christopher Morris)