McDon't. McDidn't. McDoesn't.
by goodguyboris
McDonald's is permanent.
It doesn't close.
That was the first thing i knew. The entire image of the corporation i had, the reason it exists as a symbol, as an icon of everything globalisation is its permanence. It is always open, it is the same everywhere. It does not lose. It does not retreat. It does not abandon a location and leave a ruin standing there with windows covered and weeds coming up through the car park. That is not what McDonald's does.
Except that this one did.
I was running through Athens with Tilt, we were shooting a documentary on his work - more about that later. We drove around the block and there it was. A full McDonald's building - abandoned (for real). The corporate architecture you recognise immediately, the shape, the colors, the large glass frontage, the landscaped entrance.
Empty. Locked.
Amazing!
McDonald's restaurant in Athens closed. I don't know why. And actually it doesn't matter why. What matters is what it looks like standing there: an entire corporate machine, deployed at full cost, with all the brand architecture and the global logistics and the franchise infrastructure - didn't make it. Toy.
I let Tilt paint, as our project had a priority, but after i returned home an idea came up and i decided to return. To be clear I did not want to make an obvious political statement. It was more the irony of the situation that came with the urge of telling a joke. And the joke was already there. The building was the joke, the failure was the joke. I wrote the punchline on the storefront glass and put a sad face next to it for extra drama.
McDon't.
Broad daylight and traffic running around the big boulevards surrounding the junction where the restaurant is. It took me about twenty minutes to paint and another 40 to take selfies, TikTok dances, explore inside and outside - and since nobody even bothered, i painted the opposite side too. The building is private property, abandoned or not, i could have had problems. Anyway i thought the risk, the time and the materials were worth it. It's rare to find this type of motivation. It's like the urge of telling a joke to somebody, or sharing a meme you laughed hard at with a friend. A laugh is better when it's shared. So is art.
Location. Location. Location.
The piece only works on this specific building. If I write "McDon't" on a wall somewhere, it's out of context. If I write it on a functioning McDonald's, it is vandalism leaning to activism - it can be read as a threat. And i am not threatening anyone with this. But on this failed McDo it resonates better, speaks to its past tense.
The building was already trying to speak, i gave it words.
Graffiti is temporary. Sooner or later it's gone.
This is not a tragic observation, it is the nature of the form. The paint fades. Someone paints over it. The wall gets demolished. The municipality or private entrepreneur comes to make a buck with a powerwash. Another artist comes and makes their own mark on top of yours. You know this when you pick up the can. You accept it. The ephemerality is not the problem. The ephemerality is the point.
Capitalism is supposed to be permanent, or at least to create the illusion of it. That is its promise. Growth. Stability. Infrastructure that lasts. Brands that outlive the people who built them. McDonald's does not close. Except this one did, and the building is standing there, telling a different story. It became a medium for my message. We are ephemeral. Temporary.
Nothing lasts. Not the corporation. Not the paint. Not the building.
Maybe the joke.
What remains is the photograph.
I took pictures. Good ones. The building, the graffiti, the empty car park, the Ferris wheel of the amusement park and the highway visible in the background. I went inside and explored, observed how my piece looks from the other side. I preserved what i did and what was left behind. That documentation will be what remains soon from this building and the teal and yellow letters.
The building was the reason. The graffiti was the performance. The photograph is the permanent proof and the memory of it. The final shape of the idea. When the paint is gone, the photograph will be the only thing that remains as proof it happened. The ephemeral act becomes a permanent record. The joke outlives the building.
Boris: 1
Capitalism: 0
To complete the irony - I am selling this photograph.
Limited fine art print. Signed & Numbered.
The print is the artefact - a specific act, in a specific location, on a specific day, that will not be repeated. The building may be gone. The graffiti will definitely be gone. There will be no second edition of this moment.
Signed & Numbered Fine Art Print by Good Guy Boris.
30 x 40 cm | 11 ¾ x 15 ¾ - Edition of 30 + 3 A.P.
Giclee print on Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta 325gr.
