The “CANCELED” art piece will be available for three days ONLY APRIL 27-29 as part of the ongoing “Drive-By Art Auction” event at The World Famous bar in Athens GA.
FB event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1714364998687339

I was honored to be involved with this “social distance” style event because it’s such a great idea and helps support not only the artists themselves but also a business that is known for their support of artists in our community. You MUST follow the instructions on their FB event page to DM a bid!

On April 2nd I gathered up my supplies in a messenger bag hanging from my shoulders. I had a pile of 200+ hand spraypainted stencil flyers, a can of spray adhesive, three cans of colored spraypaint, and clear box tape.

For four weeks prior to this I had been in quarantine because I got sick, bad sick! I was told my coronavirus test was negative but there was a good chance it was a “false negative” so I should continue to follow quarantine guidelines. I barely was able to get out of bed most days… but once I was feeling better, I knew what I needed to do.

The plan was to install a big graffiti style streetart installation on the pillars downtown where bands and artists normally would have layered flyer on flyer on flyer promoting their upcoming showcases. I was bummed to see the pillar bare when I got there.. I knew everything was canceled, hence the whole project, but to see those pillar as nakedly bare as they were… was unsettling.

This was the night before Athens GA was to be put on lockdown so I figured this was my last chance to install the art. I quickly installed all 200+ flyers on both pillars in about an hour. I glued the flyers in place with a quick squirt of spray adhesive, and then wrapped everything up in clear box tape, lastly a few signature splashes of spraypaint were added for effect… and then I got the hell out of there before someone told me I couldn’t do what I was doing. Our town has some messed up views on unsanctioned graffiti and street art so I wasn’t sure how this would be recieved. I did it anyways! I felt it perfectly spoke volumes about the effect coronavirus had on the culture of this artistic based community who began canceling tours, shows, and other events for the foreseeable future months before.

I released this statement online:

Tomorrow we supposedly get put on lockdown here in Athens GA because of the Coronavirus, so I figured tonight was my last chance to get this piece installed. I created what looked like a diy show flyer for some local band’s gig or some local artist’s showing. It could have been any show happening on any given night of the week here in this bustling small town known all around the world for its art, performance, and music scenes. Then I made another and another and another… but as fast as I could make them we started hearing of more and more and more reports of people being pronounced dead due to this pandemic. There’s a good chance that once this has all passed, not one of us will go unscathed or untouched in some way by its cold hands… This piece is deadicated to all the canceled events, all the closed businesses, all the lost jobs, all the sick, and especially all the friends and loved ones lost… entitled “CANCELED”.

After a couple days had passed much of that public installation piece was “claimed” (aka taken down by collectors, lol) and I had friends requesting copies. I figured I would commemorate the installation with a wall hanging version and a tshirt designing I could sell from my online shop. So, once again I made a stack of flyers that were each hand-made with stencil, marker, colored paper, spraypaint and ink stamp. I glued them down and clear coated them to a piece of warped plywood and finished it off with some spraypaint and splatter effects. It’ll hang on the wall flat but the warped wood gives it a really cool effect that I love!

If you can’t afford to bid on the big piece I also single copies of the “CANCELED” flyers, tshirts, and other gear available too…

Pictures of the “CANCELED” public installation can be seen (at 22sec) in this video promoting the Athens Works Initiative, check it out, help out!

I also produced this “CANCELED a public street art installation by Mux Blank” video available on my Youtube channel. The video features the song “Bury A Friend” off the new self-titled album from the Rat Babies – Available for purchase here: ratbabies.bandcamp.com!!!