Life

Meet Wanksy, The Penis Graffiti Artist

by Eliza Castile

April 28, 2015

For as long as there have been surfaces to draw on and utensils with which to do so, people have been helpless to resist the urge to scribble penises all over everything. One man, however, has risen above the rest to use his dick pic powers for good: the anonymous U.K. graffiti artist Wanksy, who draws penises on potholes in the hopes that someone in the government will notice and, preferably, fix them. Is it juvenile? Of course. Is it working? Well, judging by the fact that you're reading about it online, I'd say Wanksy is accomplishing exactly what he set out to do.Wanksy came up with this ingenious solution after yet another cyclist friend was injured by running over a pothole in the Greater Manchester area, Bored Panda reports. "People will drive over the same pothole and forget about it," he said in an interview. With the addition of giant, crudely drawn penises, however, "everyone sees it and it either gets reported or fixed." He told BBC Newsbeat that although he uses washable paint that should fade within a week or two, suddenly potholes that had previously existed for "months" are getting fixed much more quickly thanks to his doodles. "I wanted to attract attention to the pothole and make it memorable. Nothing seemed to do this better than a giant comedy phallus," he remarked. "I just want to make people smile and draw attention to the problem." Judging from the number of likes on his Facebook page, which has hit 10,000 and is still climbing, as well as the various tweets of encouragement from around the world, Wanksy has at least succeeded in the latter goal.

Not everyone is a fan of his work, of course. A spokesperson for Bury Council called Wansky's art "obscene," "stupid," and "incredibly insulting to local residents," although how anyone could find this offensive is beyond me. (NSFW-ish image ahead, depending on your W.)

OK fine. That could be a little jarring if you weren't expecting to see it. But... it's a giant penis painted in the road. You can't tell me that's not even a little bit funny.

<img alt="Tina Fey Jane Lynch Penis joke GIF" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f1/a7/e2/f1a7e27e0ebb5e3bae428a73858db031.jpg" class="article-body-image" title="Image: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f1/a7/e2/f1a7e27e0ebb5e3bae428a73858db031.jpg"/>Apparently, Bury Council's spokesperson doesn't agree. "Not only is this vandalism, but it's also counter-productive," he told BCC Newsbeat. "We urge the perpetrator to stop defacing the roads immediately, and ask anyone who sees this sort of criminal damage being carried out to report it to the police and the council."

Wanksy had only one thing to say on the subject. "To be offended by that, you must be very prudish."

Offensive or not, his work is at least entertaining for everyone not part of the Bury Council. Is anyone else suddenly in the mood to play the penis game from 500 Days of Summer?

Images: Michael Gil/Flickr, Giphy, Christophe Gassesmet/Pinterest