#foundinternet A.T.O.N.(Alvin Tung Ontological Node). Picture from the 2005 ‘Aton’ strategy board game.

From ChatGPT:

“Yes, the Joker can be seen as the conceptual antithesis of the Laughing Buddha, making him an “anti-Laughing Buddha” in a certain symbolic sense.

The Laughing Buddha (Budai) represents joy, contentment, and abundance—his laughter is a sign of spiritual fulfillment, the dissolution of suffering, and an enlightened, carefree attitude toward life. His humor is cosmic, compassionate, and liberating, reflecting an acceptance of reality as it is.

The Joker, on the other hand, represents chaos, nihilism, and often a perverse joy in destruction. His laughter is usually cynical, mocking, or deranged, reflecting a rejection of meaning rather than an embrace of it. While Budai’s laughter dissolves suffering through transcendence, the Joker’s laughter amplifies suffering through absurdity and destruction.

In this way, the Joker is a dark mirror to the Laughing Buddha—both laugh, but one’s laughter affirms existence, while the other’s undermines it.” 

The kind of stylized graffiti you often find commissioned in public places does nothing much for me…the graffiti found in unfrequented spaces like dilapidated fire escapes, dodgy public toilets, and abandoned mental hospitals, on the other hand, fascinates me as seeming pure and direct expressions of the Id often featuring violent, hateful, sexual and or racist content.

The first and second photo was taken at Granton Breakwater, North Edinburgh. The third photo was taken at the abandoned San Antonio asylum. The fourth photo was taken at the abandoned St Vincent asylum in Oklahoma. The fifth photo was taken by me in the fire escape of my old apartment complex(I remember I took other photos with legible graffiti, but if I did these have since been deleted and never to be recovered).