Olivia Locher – In North Carolina it’s a misdemeanor to pee on someone else’s property (2015)

This image is from a series called I Fought the Law. In it, Locher focuses on all those crazy laws you hear are still on the books in various states.

I appreciate the straight faced delivery–the sense of anarchic playfulness inherent in the conceptualization, the panache in execution.

Considering the gleefulness with which this body of work transgresses these laws, I think it ends up mitigating some of the earnest charm of the images. I mean, they were almost certainly shot in a NYC studio–not on location in the states where the actions depicted would violate legal statutes.

I’m not going to be a total Grinch in this case because it does seem clear to me that this is less about the punchline than a rigorous commitment to a well-told joke. (A criticism that can probably be just as easily applied to Wes Anderson, come to think of it….)