BEFORE

AFTER

I know this happened awhile ago but I’m still angry. This was one of the best storefront murals in the Mission; reduced to nothingness by a few subpar taggers. While 24th Street my be impoverished by his absence, in my mind’s eye Mr. Burbujas still lives on. In my mind’s eye he was never tagged, never whitewashed, never erased. In my mind’s eye he continues to smile down on the corner of 24th and Florida while enthusiastically feeding dirty underwear to his equally enthusiastic friends. Whimsy is dead! Long live whimsy!

On second though, perhaps “whimsical” isn’t the best term to describe Mr. Burbujas. Sure, there’s a playful and fantastic quality to this mural but there’s also something subtly dark about the laundromat world depicted therein. Look closely – have you ever really considered the psycho-sexual implications of Mr. Burbujas’ actions? He and his friends are really excited about “doing their laundry” –  laundry that seems to consist mainly of dirty boxers, thongs, and bras. And why does he have bubbles pouring forth from his palms? Is this a subtle allusion to the ins-and-outs of anthropomorphic laundry machine anatomy? And what’s the story with their friend the clock? Does he like to watch? (Ha! Get it?) And don’t even get me started on the “Giant Loads” signage…

Sometimes the uncanny valley is more of a whimsy glory hole.

Sometimes taggers are assholes.