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Banksy backlash.


Park Life
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The artwork - titled Mild Mild West - depicts a comic bear throwing a petrol bomb at three cowering policemen on the side of a dilapidated building in Stokes Croft, Bristol.

But the artist's work was defaced as it was daubed in red paint by members of a protest group called Appropriate Media.

 

 

The group claims artists such as Banksy - which it describes as "poor little middle class white boys" - are "gentrifying" urban areas by attracting the liberal elite.

As a result, regeneration pushes up house prices and drives out low-income families.

It is the second recent attack on Banksy's work - which could mark the beginning of an urban backlash against the street artist's move into the mainstream.

 

A message on the Appropriate Media website labels Banksy a "guffhead of massive proportions" who is cashing in on the "capitalist created phenomenon of 'urban' art".

It reads: "Graffiti artists are the performing spray-can monkeys for gentrification.

"In collusion with property developers, they paint deprived areas bright colours to indicate the latest funky inner city area ripe for regeneration.

"Pushing out low income families in their wake, to be replaced by middle class metrosexuals with their urban art collections."

 

 

Gosh. ;)

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Socialist Worker:

Street art 5: Banksy and guerrilla art

 

 

Banksy used the Apartheid Wall to paint a better future for Palestine

 

 

In recent years there has been a renewed interest in street art, coinciding with the rise of the anti-capitalist movement. One element of this is “culture jamming” or “adbusting”, where activists use guerrilla art techniques to subvert the advertising that pervades our society.

 

Adbusting shows up how adverts sell us impossible dreams, by highlighting the massive gap between the promise and reality of consumer products.

 

The British artist Banksy is the most prominent representative of this new trend. His work is now internationally famous – and he is also one of the most explicitly political street artists working today.

 

Banksy’s message is one of opposition to war, the establishment and capitalism. He has travelled to Chiapas – the area of Mexico controlled by the Zapatista revolutionary group – and to Palestine, where he has supported popular struggles for freedom through his art.

 

As part of his work, Banksy carries out stunts that aim to puncture the self-important bubble of the official art world, such as secretly “installing” one of his paintings in the Tate Britain gallery in London.

 

Some of Banksy’s stunts are directly aimed at raising political issues. Last September he dressed an inflatable doll as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner – and then placed the figure within the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland in the US.

 

Nevertheless, Banksy’s work also shows up the tensions that street art faces under capitalism.

 

Being a street artist has not prevented him from becoming part of the art market.

 

Some of his works now sell for tens of thousands of pounds. He also sells limited edition prints and exclusive art objects, just like a conventional artist.

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Guest alex
"Capitalist created phenomenon"..?? :D

 

Banksy is basically a copy of Blek Le Rat, a french graf/stencil artist from the 80s.

 

So that would be a resounding fail from Appropriate Media.

 

http://bleklerat.free.fr/

Heard about him before actually. Where's all this shite from btw Parkinstein?

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"Capitalist created phenomenon"..?? :D

 

Banksy is basically a copy of Blek Le Rat, a french graf/stencil artist from the 80s.

 

So that would be a resounding fail from Appropriate Media.

 

http://bleklerat.free.fr/

Heard about him before actually. Where's all this shite from btw Parkinstein?

The Socialist Worker by the looks of things.

 

I was out on the May Day marches on friday, joined up with the Socialist Party's protest against the global financial crisis next to the jardin du luxembourg. Thats that sorted then.

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"Capitalist created phenomenon"..?? :D

 

Banksy is basically a copy of Blek Le Rat, a french graf/stencil artist from the 80s.

 

So that would be a resounding fail from Appropriate Media.

 

http://bleklerat.free.fr/

Heard about him before actually. Where's all this shite from btw Parkinstein?

 

First bit is from the Torygraph and second bit from Socialist Worker.

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  • 4 years later...

 

For his 13th day in New York, Banksy pulled a fantastic prank on unsuspecting passersby in Central Park yesterday by setting up an unannounced art stall with dozens of 100% original signed canvases. In a world where copies of unlicensed Banksy works are available for a dime a dozen, it’s not inconceivable for somebody to peddle cheap knockoffs for $60 apiece. To further camouflage the artwork the booth was labeled simply “SPRAY ART” and manned by an unsuspecting old man who seemed completely uninterested in what he was doing.

 

So after having the art stall open for an entire day in Central Park, with an inventory that could have value into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, how many people stopped to buy something? Over a period of 7 hours just three people bought a total of 8 canvases, one of whom managed to haggled the price down 50%! Total haul for the day: $480. One lucky man who said he was decorating his new house in Chicago just won the lottery and unknowingly walked away with four original Banksys. But don’t get your hopes up, according to the artist’s website this was a one day affair. “This was a one off. The stall will not be there again today.” Watch the video to see it all unfold.

 

For those of you following along the past few weeks via Instagram, Banksy’s website (or perhaps following his tracks around New York), the artist has been creating a new artwork every single day in October as part of his Better Out than In Residency.

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QUEENS-high-private.jpg?1381759380

 

 

Some people criticize me for using sources that are a bit low brow (this quote is from 'Gladiator') but you know what? "I'm just going to use that hostility to make me stronger, not weaker" as Kelly Rowland said on the X Factor.

 

:D

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For his 13th day in New York, Banksy pulled a fantastic prank on unsuspecting passersby in Central Park yesterday by setting up an unannounced art stall with dozens of 100% original signed canvases. In a world where copies of unlicensed Banksy works are available for a dime a dozen, it’s not inconceivable for somebody to peddle cheap knockoffs for $60 apiece. To further camouflage the artwork the booth was labeled simply “SPRAY ART” and manned by an unsuspecting old man who seemed completely uninterested in what he was doing.

 

So after having the art stall open for an entire day in Central Park, with an inventory that could have value into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, how many people stopped to buy something? Over a period of 7 hours just three people bought a total of 8 canvases, one of whom managed to haggled the price down 50%! Total haul for the day: $480. One lucky man who said he was decorating his new house in Chicago just won the lottery and unknowingly walked away with four original Banksys. But don’t get your hopes up, according to the artist’s website this was a one day affair. “This was a one off. The stall will not be there again today.” Watch the video to see it all unfold.

 

For those of you following along the past few weeks via Instagram, Banksy’s website (or perhaps following his tracks around New York), the artist has been creating a new artwork every single day in October as part of his Better Out than In Residency.

Could have put the same stuff in the Tate Modern and sold the lot by luchtime for $10,000 a piece. :lol:

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Wonder if the folks that bought them have found out what they have yet.....or ever will.

I don't really know if these 'objects' have value outside of the contextualisation of the art market per se. Probably look good in the bog next to the star wars posters.

 

Back in the day me and a mate got into trouble for swapping prices on canvases in the Pompedeu Paris...Quite the giggle..:)

Edited by Park Life
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I don't really know if these 'objects' have value outside of the contextualisation of the art market per se. Probably look good in the bog next to the star wars posters.

 

Back in the day me and a mate got into trouble for swapping prices on canvases in the Pompedeu Paris...Quite the giggle..:)

:lol: Was it you and Dickie Greenleaf?

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:lol:

 

What they didn't know was that we were actaully sleeping in there in one of the storerooms behind the reserve canvases..:lol: And taking our morning coffee in the skylight roof terrace for free. True story.

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