New York street artist Jilly Ballistic is no stranger to installing subway art that is both humorous and provides some social and political commentary. Recently, the artist has been using historical imagery on station signs and on advertisements, including these confederate soldiers that were applied to an ad for Bravo's new reality series, Southern Charm.
We spoke to Jilly about her choice of imagery: "My use of historic imagery is a reflection of human progress, or the lack thereof. 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of chemical warfare, for example. The figures donning gas masks is a way of revealing this. You can see the evolution of the mask's design over time, becoming more accurate, affordable and mass produced."
JIlly says she uses spray adhesive because it's "easy to carry, works well and drys fast." As for where the art goes, the artist revealed that she isn't the paste-where-I-can kind of artist. "Each piece is site specific and meant to work with the environment, not just cover it up. So I don't chose a spot or ad at random. I commute as I usually do and as the train passes locations/ads, that's when the inspiration hits. Seeing the Southern Charm ad, for example, with the show's 'concept' and the ad's layout...That's the perfect combination of things to work with."
For more of Jilly Ballistic's work, check out @JillyBallistic on Instagram.
