Photos by Dakota/Curbed LA

So you say the thing about art pranks is that they are not to be taken seriously? I agree. May they be funny, or sad, as the case may be. And it seemed that, without once stopping to consider Homer, Chicken Corner had wrung all the funny and sad out of "There is no joy in this hipster hell" and "All is full of love" -- which were perpetrated on the community by a graffiti artist (or two) whose identity is not known to Chicken Corner.*

But, wait! It's not too late! My friend Steve Kurtz has opinions on "No joy" and "Love" and Homer.

("Actually" disclaimer: Chicken Corner asked Steve, who is a comedy writer and lawyer, if he had an opinion, so he gave it some thought, consulted the sediment at the bottom of his cup, and came to understand that the writer(s) of both messages connect(s) to Homeric literary traditions. And a few other things.)

Concerning the author's identity, Steve notes:

As to the question did two separate people write these, I'm afraid this [may be] lost to the mists of time, much like the Homeric question. Though I'd guess the one who writes about Love prefers The Odyssey and the other one prefers The Iliad.

The Homeric question...is did one man write both The Iliad and The Odyssey? (Though sometimes it's said the question is did Homer write both The Iliad and The Odyssey or was it another man of the same name.) Both epics are ascribed to Homer--and certainly they have the same format and style--but that doesn't prove it was the same man, especially since the content and themes are so different.

Well, you had the same problem here--two pieces of literature from an unknown source with certain similarities--handwriting style (cursive) and medium (concrete). But the themes are very different--Love and Hipster Hell. Well, it just seemed to me if these were done by two different people, the Love writer is more inspired by The Odyssey and Hipster Hell harkens back more to The Iliad. The Odyssey goes all over the place, including hell, but is all about someone overcoming great adversity for love. The Iliad, however, while it has many themes, is centrally about someone (I'm talking about Achilles, though you could say this also applies to Agamemnon and Hector, too) willing to go through all sorts of misery just to make sure he looks cool in front of everyone.

So we see the muses sing the same songs over the centuries.

As for cursive, Steve says:

Speaking of the [graffitist] who wrote "There is no joy in hipster hell," the author does something I always wanted to do as a kid--mix cursive with cursing.

*Regarding who done it. Turns out that Maisie, who stepped forward to take responsibility for the vandalism, was at the beach romping when both acts occurred. When probed, the tea cup lab's story unraveled faster than a ball of yarn tied to the back of a Buick, Chicken Corner is sad to report.