tear down the wall
another banksy is about to be removed and auctioned.
i can't get too excited about it - the whole point about graffiti art is that it is free and transient. here today and gone tomorrow. painted over by the man to keep the walls clean or painted/tagged over by another graffiti artist because they wanted to use the space.
i like banksy.
there is something about an artist who doesn't milk his fame and has helped his mates get more exposure.
even though he is coining it banksy is still throwing up new pieces of graffiti around the place.
lots of people are making money off of the back of his work.
the people who run the street art tours and claim to know banksy.
the street merchants who have turned pretty much each piece of banksy's work into something they can sell (and i can think of at least two more items of tourist style tat that can come out with banksy work on and make a killing).
the galleries who have loved the whole street/ urban art movement where any old graffiti artist can be put forward as something special and prints a-go-go can be sold. (it has to be said some of these artists are very good but quite a lot of them are shit).
there is enough good graffiti being put up on walls that losing a banksy isn't that much if a shame - except people know who banksy is and so his work isn't graffiti anymore - it has become art.
people's art.
not so long ago people wouldn't have looked twice at it.
now it is worth money - it is art.
that is why the wall is being removed and sold.
it isn't banksy's artistic skills that set him apart. i reckon anyone who was half decent at art could copy a banksy. what makes banksy so good is his ideas.
my solution to the whole debate about should his work be removed or not is simple.
let them take it.
then just before it goes to auction - have it painted back on the wall it was taken from (remember boys and girls it is graffiti), and keep replacing it each and every time it is removed.
the bonus of this is that it should reduce the price of the original that has been sold and eventually people will stop trying to buy walls with banksy's work on them.
it is a win win situation.
(now if only i get a cut of the action then i would be quids in...)
another banksy is about to be removed and auctioned.
i can't get too excited about it - the whole point about graffiti art is that it is free and transient. here today and gone tomorrow. painted over by the man to keep the walls clean or painted/tagged over by another graffiti artist because they wanted to use the space.
i like banksy.
there is something about an artist who doesn't milk his fame and has helped his mates get more exposure.
even though he is coining it banksy is still throwing up new pieces of graffiti around the place.
lots of people are making money off of the back of his work.
the people who run the street art tours and claim to know banksy.
the street merchants who have turned pretty much each piece of banksy's work into something they can sell (and i can think of at least two more items of tourist style tat that can come out with banksy work on and make a killing).
the galleries who have loved the whole street/ urban art movement where any old graffiti artist can be put forward as something special and prints a-go-go can be sold. (it has to be said some of these artists are very good but quite a lot of them are shit).
there is enough good graffiti being put up on walls that losing a banksy isn't that much if a shame - except people know who banksy is and so his work isn't graffiti anymore - it has become art.
people's art.
not so long ago people wouldn't have looked twice at it.
now it is worth money - it is art.
that is why the wall is being removed and sold.
it isn't banksy's artistic skills that set him apart. i reckon anyone who was half decent at art could copy a banksy. what makes banksy so good is his ideas.
my solution to the whole debate about should his work be removed or not is simple.
let them take it.
then just before it goes to auction - have it painted back on the wall it was taken from (remember boys and girls it is graffiti), and keep replacing it each and every time it is removed.
the bonus of this is that it should reduce the price of the original that has been sold and eventually people will stop trying to buy walls with banksy's work on them.
it is a win win situation.
(now if only i get a cut of the action then i would be quids in...)
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