A mystery graffiti artist slash hero who is calling himself “Wanksy” has taken it upon himself to solve the problem of Manchester’s pothole-ridden streets, drawing attention to the offending potholes by spray painting giant dicks around them. Hey, you’ve got to give him credit for creatively using a dick to plug a hole! (I’ll see myself out… again.)
Wanksy, who has a Facebook fan page, but remains under the cloak of anonymity, told the Manchester Evening News that he started the dick drawing after cyclist friends of his had actually been hospitalized due to the condition of Manchester roads. He also uses non-permanent paint because his mission is, first and foremost, to get the roads fixed.
“They damage vehicles. Sometimes it’s hard to know which pothole caused the damage because there are so many. When I’ve finished in Ramsbottom, I’ll move on to the rest of Manchester.”
“I wanted to attract attention to the pothole and make it memorable. Nothing seemed to do this better than a giant comedy phallus. It’s also speedy, I don’t want to be in the road for a long time. It seems to have become my signature. I just want to make people smile and draw attention to the problem. It seems to be working, judging from the Facebook fan page.”
Wanksy claims that while it hasn’t been 100 percent succesful, many of his dick potholes are repaired in anywhere from 48 hours to a week. City officials are less than enthused, however, as one council spokesman spoke with the Evening News:
“Has this person, for just one second, considered how families with young children must feel when they are confronted with these obscene symbols as they walk to school? Not only is this vandalism, but it’s also counter-productive.
“Every penny that we have to spend cleaning off this graffiti is a penny less that we have to spend on actually repairing the potholes!”
It’s Great Britain, for Christ’s sake. Isn’t it basically all Benny Hill, all the time over there anyway? I’m sure most parents would rather their kid be exposed to some harmless dick drawings than spend hundreds of dollars in repairs when their car gets nailed with a pothole.
At any rate, while Manchester’s local government may not be on board, Wanksy has built quite the online following. Here are some examples of his finest work: