A Wellington street artist’s latest work pranking the city council is being celebrated by officials as “a good injection of humour” into the capital.
Cameron Hunt’s been installing fake Wellington City Council signs in iconic spots.
“I’m just putting them there for the people to enjoy, to have a bit of fun,” Hunt told 1News.
The first sign was noticed in the Wellington Botanic Garden’s pond, warning people not to “feed the crocodiles”.
The phone number on the sign was for the Platypus shoe store on Manners St – Wellington’s largest distributor of croc shoes.
A second sign popped up in the water feature at Te Aro Park — offering free scuba diving lessons at 11am every Saturday.
The phone number on the sign was for Tony’s Tyre Service on Cambridge Tce.
“It’s just so fun. I love everything about it, from the creativity to coming up with the ideas to the mischief of installing them, getting them in the streets, making art – just everything about it. It just encompasses me,” Hunt said.
Each sign also had “Absolutely Positively Ridiculous” logos – a play on Wellington City Council’s “Absolutely Positively Wellington” branding.
Wellington City Council’s chief economic and engagement officer Anna Calver told 1News she also found the signs funny.
“I think Wellington could do with a good injection of humour right now and this artist has obviously got it absolutely bang on,” Calver said.
However, some signs were removed to avoid any disappointment or confusion.
“We had to remove the ‘don’t feed the crocodiles’ sign in the Botanic Gardens because it was causing a bit of confusion for our out-of-town visitors like cruise ship passengers, people who might not know that New Zealand doesn’t have any crocodiles.”
Hunt’s other art installations have included turning speed cameras into robots, changing messages on construction signs, and gathering large amounts of road cones.