Indecline

Indecline, stylized as INDECLINE, is an Unitedstatesian art collective.

Indecline
NationalityUnitedstatesian
MovementContemporary art, street art, graffiti, activism
WebsiteOfficial website

Members have said that the collective was formed in 2001 and is decentralized, with "dozens" of members in affiliated groups in several US states and a few foreign countries,[1][2] and have characterized it as "[an] underground movement [of] activists, musicians, graffiti writers, [and] photographers".[3]

Projects

Bumfights

In 2002 Ryen McPherson, Daniel Tanner, and others operating as Indecline Films produced the first video in the Bumfights series, Bumfights: A Cause for Concern. They subsequently took down the Indecline Films website, and have said they sold the rights to the series to two investors.[4]

Dying for Work

In August 2012, the group installed a billboard on Interstate 15 in Las Vegas with Dying for Work in black lettering on a white background and a dummy hanging from it by a noose; a companion billboard, also with a hanged man, read "Hope you're happy Wall St."[1][5]

Largest Piece of Illegal Graffiti

In April 2015, eight people spent six days creating the largest piece of illegal graffiti in the world: "This land was our land", painted on a disused military runway in the Mojave Desert (35.280664°N 117.397822°W / 35.280664; -117.397822).[3]

Rape Mural

In October 2015, in response to Donald Trump's calling illegal immigrants "rapists", the group spray-painted a mural depicting Trump with the slogan "¡Rape Trump!" on an old border wall on US territory approximately a mile from the Tijuana airport.[2][6][7]

Hollywood Walk of Fame

In March 2016, members of the group glued names of African-Americans killed by police over names on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and also glued the Indecline logo to the stars.[7][8]

Donald Trump Statues
Main article: The Emperor Has No Balls

On August 18, 2016, using industrial epoxy, the group glued life-sized nude statues of Trump to the sidewalk in five cities: Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Rail Beast

In September 2017 Indecline broke into Union Pacific's Milford Utah yard and vandalized several engines parked on the south end of the yard at Lund Siding. One of them was painted like a tiger. Union Pacific Railroad Police has placed a $300.000 bounty on Indecline for vandalism and has moved some of the engines stored at Lund to Warm Springs Yard in Salt Lake City Utah. The engine in question UP #2519 was taken out of storage at Lund to nearby Milford and the graffiti was stripped off with primer before the engine was sent to Jenks Shops in North Little Rock, Arkansas for a full overhaul. The engine returned to service in 2019 and is still running but now has a flag decal on the long hood.[9]

Ku Klux Klowns

In August 2017, Heather Heyer was murdered by a white supremacist at the 2017 “Unite the Right Rally” in Charlottesville. In response, Indecline installed eight effigies of hanging clowns dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan in Richmond's Bryan Park.[10][11][12] A sign on one of the effigies read: “If attacked by a mob of clowns, go for the juggler".[13] A video published online by Indecline includes footage of the clowns being assembled and mounted at dusk by people wearing masks. The video includes dialogue from a decades-old episode of the “Superman” radio show that ridiculed the KKK, interspersed with a Klan anthem featuring the lyrics: “Stand up and be counted/show that world that you’re a man … join the Ku Klux Klan".[13][11]

Freedom Kick

In September 2020, the group began a project alongside Spanish artist Eugenio Merino called Freedom Kick, where they order silicone replicas of the head of famous world leaders and distribute them around the world to be used as soccer balls. The games are recorded and uploaded to their Instagram account.[14] Some of the world leaders included Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Jair Bolsonaro.[15] After releasing Bolsonaro's video, members of the group received death threats.[14]

See also

References
  1. Bort, Ryan (August 19, 2016). "We Talked to the Activists Responsible for Those Naked Donald Trump Statues". Newsweek.
  2. Suárez, Matthew (November 6, 2015). "¡Rape Trump! Border mural depicts presidential contender with ball gag". San Diego Reader.
  3. Taete, Jamie Lee Curtis (June 3, 2015). "These Guys Claim They've Made the Biggest Piece of Illegal Graffiti in the World". Vice.com.
  4. "Hell's Tour Guide Part 2". Polly Staffle. CCF Entertainment. July 2006. Archived from the original on January 8, 2007.
  5. "'Dying for work' billboard startles Las Vegas drivers". Fox news. August 8, 2012.
  6. Pardes, Arielle (October 30, 2015). "Someone Painted a 'Rape Trump' Mural on the Mexican Border". Vice.com.
  7. Rajghatta, Chidanand (August 19, 2016). "Anarchist artist tests limits with nude statues of Donald Trump". The Times of India.
  8. Holley, Peter (March 31, 2016). "Why the names of African Americans killed by police took over the Hollywood Walk of Fame". The Washington Post.
  9. October 17, Justin Franz |; 2017. "UP declines to comment on viral videos from September | Trains Magazine". TrainsMag.com. Retrieved April 29, 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. "Hanging Klansmen art installation stuns Richmond community, makes powerful point". AFROPUNK. September 8, 2017. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  11. "Ku Klux Klowns". Indecline. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  12. "INDECLINE on Instagram: "INDECLINE's legendary response to the murder of Heather Heyer by a white supremacist at the 2017 "Unite the Right Rally" in…"". Instagram. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  13. Moyer, Justin Wm. (September 7, 2017). "Activists hang KKK 'clown' effigies from tree in a Virginia park". Washington Post. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  14. Perassolo, João (September 23, 2020). "Pelada com cabeça de Bolsonaro rende ameaças de morte a coletivo de arte". Folha de S.Paulo (in Portuguese). Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  15. "Coletivo de arte usa 'cabeça de Bolsonaro' como bola de futebol em vídeo de protesto; assista". Rolling Stone (in Portuguese). September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
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