Shoe Thrower
This is my tribute to Muntazer al-Zaidi. The legendary journalist who threw his shoe at George W Bush during his farewell visit to Iraq.
Clearly it is based on Banksy’s “Flower Chucker” stencil which is based on a photo from the 1968 riots in Paris.
I’ve tried to keep it faithful to both Banksy and Muntazer by illustrating his head as close as possible to the original press conference image, in the style of “Flower Thrower”.
I also illustrated the shoe to fit his hand just nicely and added a bit of definition to the fingers. Love to know what you think.
Good riddance George Dubbaya.
Muntazer al-Zaid may be the thrower, but you certainly are the tosser.


Shoe Thrower belongs to the following groups:
# 1 ARTISTS OF REDBUBBLE , A Vector Tshirts Only Group, Agent Provocateur - T-Shirts with Messages, All About Your Best Work, Anticonsumerism, ART ACTION UNION - CREATIVE ACTIVISM, Drawn to Cotton- Art on T-shirts, FAN FRENZY, Humorous Illustrations ( NO PHOTOGRAPHY ) , Let's Pay Homage, LMAO ART - Your funniest work, Pop Art, Simple Witty Shirts and StreetArt Available for sale asT-Shirts


SPARCS
this is a great idea well executed, and can by no means, unlike a lot of other images, be seen to ripping banksy…
great work
Spikerama replied
Thanks SPARCS. Glad you like it.
Sam Dantone
Great T!
I’m thinking this could be a new national sport.
Team sponsorships, uniforms, billion dollar stadiums…
Sam Dantone
Spikerama replied
That’s a great idea!
You know, in Australia we throw thongs (flip-flops) in an annual competition.
One thing’s for sure. Muntazer certainly started a movement. The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao copped one from a student while speaking at Cambridge in the UK last week.
Electricmeat
Now that is just awesome! Great idea. Well drawn. Wish I’d thought of it.
Now I’m jealous. Grrr…
Spikerama replied
Ummm… I think that means you like it?
Sorry to make you feel that way. hides smug grin
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
wazandy
I love it mate, I’m a big Banksy fan too and I think you’ve captured his style whilst adding your own, unique twist. (I’ve seen your other work too – you’ve got talent!)
Spikerama replied
Yeah, respect to Banksy and Muntazer for telling it like it is.
Thanks for the nice comments wazandy.
By the way I love your Swaine Witch short story. You sick muther. lol
craigfc
that’s cool. Banksy uses well known images and puts a unique twist on them to create something new, so its almost appropriate to do it back to his work!
Spikerama replied
Yeah of all his pieces, this is the one to do it too I reckon.
Cheers craigfc.
lostboy13
you did a banksy to a banksy.
Spikerama replied
That’s right. If he gonna give it he’s got to take it too.
Thanks for checking it out lostboy.
ClearLightDotTV
Nice concept. Nice execution.
Spikerama replied
Cheers ClearlightDotTV. I like some of yours too. Off to have another look now.
melovetheshoes
That is so well drawn. This is so way cool! Can’t wait to see what you got next. keep it coming!
Spikerama replied
Thanks melovetheshoes. I got a good one coming up but it’s a tricky bugger to draw.
Hey do you really love the shoes?
toppa
Great work. Love all your Tees. Especially this one. Going to buy this for sure.
Spikerama replied
Thanks toppa.
Let me know if you get one and we can launch a shot of you wearing it on the right hand side.
nofrillsart
ha…how good is this!
Awesome.
Spikerama replied
Cheers nofrillsart. You got some awesome work yourself.
PianoDentist
Ok now that’s really clever!
Love that guy. Love this shit.
PianoDentist
Did I say shit? Damn. I meant shirt.
Spikerama replied
Ahaha. I can delete it if you want. But shit is just as good a shirt mate.
Glad to hear you love it.
I’m so overwhelmed by all the great comments from everybody. I had a lot of smiles to myself when I was making this but never thought it would strike such a chord with all you Redbubblers.
Thank you all. Including you PianoDentist.
RokStar
Cool idea mate – work of Art. It looks particularly revolutionary in red! Do you do this for a living as you’re very good.
Spikerama replied
Thanks very much Rokstar.
Dude if I could make a living from this I would but sadly I think t-shirts are a but like porn nowadays.
People love to look at it but no wanna pay :(
[̲̅ə̲̅٨̲̅٥̲̅٦ ...
«-
-•}★[•´¯♥¯`••– [̲̅ə̲̅٨̲̅٥̲̅٦̲̅]i think this t is really really cool :D [̲̅ə̲̅٨̲̅٥̲̅٦̲̅]–••´¯♥¯`•]★{•—»Spikerama replied
Thanks Miranda.
Your folio is coming on nicely I might add.
Nick Torres
haha very cool man! great design.
Spikerama replied
Thanks Nick. I’m diggin’ your Hilary Clinton as the Joker. That rocks.
Going back for a second look now.
Thanks for commenting.
Sema
Very well done! It looks awesome! :D
Naf4d
Nice shirt Spikerama, it’s such a shame Muntazer al-Zaid missed – think of the design you could have done then! ;-)
Spikerama replied
Yeah lol. I’m seeing a foot in mouth kind of thing. hehe
Cheers for stopping by
Thur
Hats-off to you and to al-Zaidi.
Spikerama replied
Thanks Thur.
Though I’d say “Shoes off”.
Belmont Street...
Great idea and well executed.
zomboy
very nice work buddy…
natedawg
front page, great work! sweet design.
Spikerama replied
Yeah thanks natedawg.
I never even dreamed it would happen.
Very stoked indeed.
DApixara
Awesome work…
Spikerama replied
Thanks DApixara. Much appreciated. :D
Ross Robinson
Brilliant. Let’s hope shoe throwing becomes and international phenomenon.
Spikerama replied
Well it’s certainly off to a good start.
Nice comment. Thanks
chelsgus
The shoe throwing event was a genius act that made a good portion of the globe smile.
Nice idea to stick it on a tee ;) Good work!
Spikerama replied
You know what? How do we make this an annual event?
Maybe, every year, on the day that al-Zaidi did it, we should all take our shoes off and throw ‘em in the air.
chelsgus
perhaps..!
it’s a day that deserves recognition!
Reshad Hurree
brilliant!! people were actually carrying bags of shoes during protests against isreals war on gaza! it was crazy seeing shoes flying through the air towards the israeli embassy! cool tee!!
Spikerama replied
‘Friends, Romans, countrymen… LEND ME YOUR SHOES!’
Ah ha ha. Get me a bag would you? I could use one.
Thanks on behalf of al-Zaidi.
montdragon
Excellent…if only he had hit Dubya Debacle square on…but WTF he had the cajones to throw not just one but two shoes…applause applause.
Spikerama replied
Yeah the “footage” is funny. He really chucks ‘em hard and he would’ve hit if Bush didn’t duck.
It’s a pity it all happened so fast because there is really only one photo looking back at him mid throw.
I had to go and look at other photos of al-Zaidi to get a better idea of his likeness because that shot is a bit blurry.
Steve Leadbeater
excellent – just excellent
Spikerama replied
Thanks so much Steve.
dimsim
“Good riddance George Dubbaya.” yes, and thankyou for summing that up so well with this image :D
Spikerama replied
And thank you DimSim for your lovely comment. : >
H M Bascom
Congratulations on your home page feature 16 February 2009 as well as your feature in Art Action Union!
Spikerama replied
Thank you so much Helen. I am absolutely humbled and stoked to be featured on the redbubble home page and in your fantastic group Art Action Union.
There are so many fine and talented people within the redbubble community and to be featured in any way is truly an honour.
Thank you to everyone who participated in making a hero out of Muntazer al-Zaidi in the form of “Shoe Thrower”.
His act and his message deserves to be celebrated.
Reece Ward
Muntazer al-Zaidi – my hero!
Such a pity it missed!
Spikerama replied
It’s probably better for him that it did miss.
And you know, the sentiment and the message is still out there so he scored a direct hit in the hearts and minds of people from all nations.
mikoto
great tribute!
Spikerama replied
Hello mikoto…
Thanks :p
TripleThreeT
Hey matey. As I see you’ve already noticed – I liked this shirt so much I got on the bandwagon and did my own Banksy spin off. A couple more starters and I reckon this will be a genre (like cassette tapes, or starwars designs, or vector faces…)
Spikerama replied
Thanks mate.
I guess they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. However, I’m not sure if a gang rape of Banksy’s Flower Thrower is the best thing for it but I’ll leave that up to the community’s discretion.
I’d hate for it to end up becoming a Che Guevera and I’d most certainly hate to be the one who initiated it all.
I like your Mash Man thinggy by the way.
More art like this please. :p
lisamax
Absolutely brilliant.
Spikerama replied
Thanks Lisa.
I love your little Elephant Toy.
greggmorrison
lmao omg thats so funny
Spikerama replied
You are part of a growing community greggmorrison but I’m still glad to hear it’s personal effects.
Thanks a bunch.
Twelveseven
Very cool,
erikzhong
Brilliant, mate.. Very Powerfull..
Spikerama replied
Eh? You can see that can you?
There’s a template bug at the moment and it just appears as a black square. The technical staff are working on it but tell me if you can see anything more than black square please.
erikzhong
allright..
Adam Gormley
Hi Mate, cool design, well done :)
Spikerama replied
Nice comment.
Thanks Adam. :p
Naf4d
The poor bastard’s just got three years for it.
Lets hope it’s not too hard on him. Someone needs to right him a song… it could start; “freeee..ee Muntazer al-Zaidi…. “freeee..ee Muntazer al-Zaidi…
Spikerama replied
You’re a funny one.
That sucks for him and I can’t imagine they’ll be too hard on him but still I feel bad for him.
I feel like sending one of these shirts to cheer him up a bit.
Naf4d
That’s a good idea, think you’re right – go for it.
I also think you’d sell at shit load of them in Iraq if they had any power for their computers over there at the moment.
metronomad
LeighAth
Haha, i’m sure you’ve sold a tun of these. Very amusing image. Awesome image.
Just wondering if you would like to submit it to our group, Let’s Pay Homage we would be glad to have it