Plastered across campus are posters, stickers, and works of art. Characters with big eyes staring outside of bus stops and big signs, any space where otherwise, it would just be empty.

It’s not wrong to assume a lot of these art pieces come from the same person. The style, but more so the soul, gives it away just as much if not more than the signature “Joe” or “J.W.” at the bottom of the drawings.

The artist behind the Rowan street art scene is Joseph Worosila, otherwise known as Joe Warr. He’s a junior anthropology major, and a multi-talented artist and musician.

On a chilly afternoon, he went for a walk around campus to put up his latest series of posters.

The posters are of various subjects. Some are the signature monsters and characters, and others have different subjects.

One poster is of a cactus and a hand in a similar shape. The cactus on the left says, “But it ain’t meant to be,” and the hand on the right says “I love you!”

Another poster, which is inspired by the band Grateful Dead, depicts a horned monster with big eyes staring at a heart, with the lyrics from their song “Friend of the Devil,” “Set off runnin’ but I take my time. A friend of the devil is a friend of mine!”

“It talks like it’s talking right to my heart, to my soul,” Warr said.

Music is a driving force for Warr’s artwork. When he draws, he tends to put on a particular genre or artist and then “trances out.”

“Where what I do is I put on a song, like a really catchy one or something that has like memorable lines,” he said, “And I’ll just play it over and over again for hours in my headphones. And I’ll just get lost in the music. I kinda let the music do the drawing.”

This subconscious approach to making art means that Warr delves into his mental state as it is. Dreams influence his art a lot as well.

On the walk, Warr looks for open spaces on signs, poles, bus stations, and anywhere he can put his art to be seen. He takes a loop around a large portion of the campus to make sure the art is spread around. This is what he’s been doing since October.

As to why Warr makes his art public, it’s an attempt to be seen, be vulnerable, and outwardly express himself.

“Putting these up is kind of my way of reminding the world and reminding myself that I am real, that I’m a person, that I have ideas and a soul,” Warr said.

Though visibility is on his mind, his art is more about expression and practicing letting go of his art as his property.

“All artists, once they finish a project, it’s no longer theirs,” Warr said. “It becomes the public…it becomes, it’s owned by the people who see it and I think that teaching myself to come to peace with that is something that I gotta learn.”

While his art is taken down most of the time, there are still plenty of works of his that have stood the test of time so far. 

A few times when he found a spot for a poster, an older piece of his art sat next to it, along with other drawings and stickers that range from political messages to memes. Warr seemed less interested in the older art than the art he was putting up.

Warr makes a point to make his art public for more than just the expression and letting go.

“Most of my life, I felt alienated to an extent, you know, stuff with bullying or, you know, mental illness kind of isolated me from a lot of normal developmental milestones,” Warr said. “So for me, I’m kind of just like adrift in my own world.”

Warr’s philosophy on his art is that it’s a way to not only prove to others that he’s alive, but to himself. He’s dissatisfied with being “adrift” and living a “ghost life,” including a lot of the time he’s spent in his subconscious and losing out on the present and living a “proper human” life.

He expresses this through his work.

“Sometimes I’ll draw like zombies or like little shriveled creatures on the ground, and they look dead on the outside, but on the inside, they have a little glowing heart on the inside,” Warr said. “I feel like a zombie, but on the inside there is hope. There’s potential for life, there’s potential for feeling alive.”

Part of what Warr wants to do is try new ways of making art. One thing he wants to do is make art entirely mindfully instead of “trancing out.” Since he feels out of touch with himself when subconsciously living, he wants to see what it would be like to be more connected with his work.

The philosophy goes deeper. Warr believes that every person has a “fire” to live inside them. While he does escape into his subconscious to create, his art is also a push against becoming invisible, and to a greater extent, against leading a “traditional” life.

Warr hopes his impact as an artist is able to demonstrate his philosophy to others.

“I want people to realize that you don’t have to spend your life doing boring office work,” he said. “we have a chance to express ourselves. And I think what terrifies me the most is living in a world where you’re not allowed or not encouraged to do that.”

He mentioned that art, as a philosophy, should be a resistance.

“The way things are going in America right now,” Warr said. “I think people need to start fighting back because right now where we are, with AI taking over and art becoming less and less.”

In the long run, Warr will continue to make and post art publicly on campus. He plans to keep making art as a passion, and not get too involved with making money off of it. Though he has commissioned art before, it won’t be his full-time job. Instead, he’d like to be a museum curator to support his artistic passions.

In thinking about legacy, Warr wants to one day make a masterpiece, and be an inspiration to others.

“I think what fulfills me, or what would fulfill me, is really having that fire burn,” Warr said. “Part of what I want to do is encourage people to get out there and to put their art up there and to let their fires burn as well.”

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