The art of politics

A mystery artist's alterations to Tauranga election signs are setting new standards in the art of election sign augmentation – with mixed reviews from victims.

Signs for Labour's Tauranga candidate Rachael Jones and NZ First leader Winston Peters received extreme makeovers, seeing Rachel sporting metallic green nails and saucy red lips, and posing Winston as the Mad Hatter.


Labour Tauranga candidate Rachael Jones with her newly altered election hoarding. Photo: Bruce Barnard.


Winston Peters depicted as the Mad Hatter.

Rachel is so impressed with the alterations to her sign she's taken it home to keep as artwork.

'It's a pretty cool sign,” she says. 'It's quite a change from the original.”

'The team saw that it had been graffitied. They took it down and brought it around. We were toying with the idea of putting it back up, but we thought maybe we shouldn't be encouraging graffiti.

Winston Peters' sign appeared briefly before being taken down by the local NZ First sign patrol team.

Speaking to SunLive on the matter, he says he is 'unimpressed”.

'I'm not going to give some looney tune the option of respectability by responding to this, by highlighting his work when basically it's a crime.

'Anyone that goes round and defaces another political party's hoarding is involving himself in criminal activity. It's not a joke, the fact is it's serious.

'People are out there, they work hard slave from the street level to try and raise money for a party to engage in a critical element in our society, and some felon goes along and behaves like that.

'The fact is the authorities should pick these people up and put them in the slammer. Let them know that democracy does matter to us.”

Winston has not seen the sign, and doesn't wish to.

'To think that his activity ever got any mind from me, it just encourages those sort of people.

"It's just defacing some hard work by a whole lot of men and women from the streets and hamlets of this country by someone involving themselves in criminal activity. Criminal activity never brings a smile to my face.”

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10 comments

WOW

Posted on 01-09-2014 13:01 | By Clover Green

Whoever did this has some awesome talent! Do we have another Banksy in our midst?


Love it!

Posted on 01-09-2014 13:56 | By thegoodlife

Keep it up mystery artist. Winston doesn't know what he's missing!


Rastus

Posted on 01-09-2014 14:04 | By rastus

While Clover makes a valid statement as to the ability of this person, I think we should agree that its vandalism however you look at it - don't we already have enough of those posing as the encumbent government without encoraging more hangers on?


.

Posted on 01-09-2014 14:51 | By penguin

Get over it Winnie!


Since when did Winnie

Posted on 01-09-2014 17:32 | By tish

care whether advertising about him was good or bad? I reckon it made him look more trustworthy. Someone will keep it and sell it on trade me one day and make bucks. Probably him.


fun

Posted on 01-09-2014 20:50 | By rosscoo

end of day someone just livening up what is turning into a circus campaign


No Comment? Yeah Right

Posted on 01-09-2014 23:54 | By Bill Gibson-Patmore

Well done SunLive! Great image and story capture. As for "Mr NZ First Sign Patrol Monitor" who refused to dignify the work of "some looney tune" (he wasn't meaning Winston was he?).....by commenting on it, He certainly had difficulty keeping his words back! His own quotes contributed over half the story. .... It amuses me that a person can proclaim one stance and then deliver another entirely. Perhaps he is in the "correct" party.... Bill Gibson-Patmore.


Right on, rossco

Posted on 02-09-2014 10:36 | By nerak

this campaign is a circus, the art has given us a chance to laugh at the clowns. Who wants to vote for a clown though, and that is what many candidates are proving themselves to be. Sad little New Zealand!


Election Signs

Posted on 02-09-2014 20:15 | By rosbo

I would far rather that there is heated discussion over this than all the rubbish produced by the "Dirty Politics" nonsense. Perhaps someone should ask Dotcom for his views.


14 GK

Posted on 04-09-2014 10:51 | By 1 4 GK

Great artwork - and I think Dr Jones has taken a really good position on it. As for Winston the First; how unlike him! :-)


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