Our original title put us in danger of quoting both Ace of Base and Simon & Garfunkel before we even got out of the gate, so we decided to go with Garfunkel. Art Garfunkel once sang of a sign that read “the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls” in the spooky sixties song ”Sounds of Silence.” Here, in mass-transit challenged Louisville, the only Subways we have smell of ”fresh-baked” wet dough and meatballs however, we do have our fair share of boarded-up tenements, if you will, covered in plywood that would make an ideal canvas for one to get up on their soap box and scrawl a message for all to see. Circa September 2019, we see our first photographic evidence of a new Louisville sign painter, as it were, on Instagram. The messages on these signs read a bit like an old-timey advertisement written during a minor stroke with the mysterious hashtag #ezzitwhurr beneath. These quirky signs, using unprecedented word play and cryptic slogans, slowly started to pop up in various neighborhoods around town.

We first noticed one of these curious signs downtown on Main Street near Butchertown and were struck by the bold lettering and the sometimes stream of consciousness style phrasing. As a society, we are constantly bombarded with ads. Everywhere from our social media feeds to our televisions to our airwaves to the billboards along the highways and beyond. Advertising is so omnipresent and overwhelming that it can become essentially invisible. But there is something about these random hand-painted signs that really stand out from the rest of the pack, yet they don’t appear to be promoting anything real or cost any money to create. We can’t help but wonder how The Hammer, Master of Billboards, might feel about that.

After seeing a few of these hand-painted signs, we became curious, as we are wont to be. Who was behind them? What were they trying to convey? Had others noticed them? What did they think? Where would the next one pop up and what would it say? This project, so to speak, began to capture our imaginations as well as others and thereby creating a type of phenomenon around it. It is perhaps reminiscent of the OBEY project where the now legendary street artist, Shepard Fairey, once put up stickers of Andre The Giant’s face along with the word “OBEY” around various cities without explanation just to see what the reaction would be.

“The OBEY sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as ‘the process of letting things manifest themselves.’” Shepard Fairey writes on his website. “Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the product or motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters (with the ad) provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer’s perception and attention to detail… The first aim of phenomenology is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment… to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the (ad) and their relationship with their surroundings.” We’ll likely never know the intentions of this Louisville sign-painter but like all good art, it creates different impressions, reactions and interpretations in each observer.

This mysterious street artist has been at work since just before the pandemic and has provided some much needed levity, amusement and intrigue for the Louisville community. Whomever they are, they seem to adhere to the courtesy of only writing on abandoned properties with the disposable plywood as the canvas for their message.

In other cities like Chicago, New York, Austin, Seattle, Richmond, Cincinnati, Asheville and LA among others, you will find an abundance of amazing street art. The street art in Louisville is not on the same level as those cities and seems to be largely comprised of “tagging” which is typically an attempt to get one’s name or handle seen as much as possible which isn’t that interesting to us. The Louisville sign-painter, evidently identifying simply as Ezzit Whurr, is doing something quite different and much more fascinating. So if you see a strange hand-painted sign around town, you can post a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #ezzitwhurr and add to the portfolio of this enigmatic artist or visit the Ezzitwhurr Instagram account which is either a fan/tribute account or could belong to the actual artist. We’ve written quite enough about something we really have no real information about so we’ll just leave you with a gallery of some of the signs to make of what you will. And be sure to hurry on in today, these deals won’t last for long! Photos courtesy of the Ezzitwhurr Instagram account.