Expect the next week or so to be filled with Shepard Fairey related news. He’s in New York for his upcoming May Day solo show at Deitch Projects. Here’s some of what’s happened already:
Shepard Fairey has just about finished a massive mural (photo above) at Bowery and Houston in NYC. The historic wall is also where Keith Haring painted years ago and Os Gemeos painted last summer.
There’s a few developments in the story of Banksy’s Jeff Koons dog stencil that wasstolen in LA, so I thought I’d just throw it all together and link to the best reports of what’s going on.
The artwork that was on eBay which the seller implied was Banksy’s Jeff Koons piece (but cleverly he only implied that) has been removed from the website. Last I checked, the highest bid was $5,100, but the piece was almost definitely a fake, and now I’d say that the removal of the listing is enough to convince me it was fake.
Animal NY spoke with Doug Christmas, who removed the artwork from a building in LA that he has some connection to (sounds like he owns it). Christmas, a very shady art dealer, claims that the piece is not for sale now and never will be. Sure.
It’s no secret that RJ and I are big fans of FAME (it’s also where we met, incidentally) and had an awesome time in Grottaglie last September. A few weeks ago, our friend Angelo announced this year’s tentative line up and when I spoke to him the other day, he mentioned that Swoon and Ben Wolf had just been to visit. Unfortunately, there are no photos of Ben Wolf’s work as it was destroyed before it could be documented, but there are some great images of Swoon’s gorgeous pieces, both in the monastery and around town. I really hope they survive over the next five months!
Let me know if you’ll be coming this year – Seth and I will be there for sure.
The urban art association PAINT CLUB is a global institution offering an official platform for all urban artists. Talented illustrators, designers, comic and street artists from across Europe will be given the chance to compete against each other in an international tournament. Check out the video below to see just what Paint Club are all about!
JetSet Graffiti has this video of the artwork being removed:
JetSet Graffiti have also been able to determine that the artwork was removed by Ace Gallery. I don’t know much about Ace Gallery, but what I have heard hasn’t been positive. As JetSet notes, “Famous for treating his bills as if they didn’t exist; Since 1976, [Ace Gallery owner Doug Christmas] has been sued 55 times by artists, other dealers and art collectors, according to a profile in 2009 in the LA Weekly.” Another interesting tidbit is that if you call the phone number listed on the side of the building for those interested in renting or buying the space, it connects you to Ace Gallery. So I wonder what’s up with that?
My take? Don’t be that guy who buys a street piece. If you’re one of the collectors considering buying this artwork, just consider what you’re supporting. And besides, the artwork was never confirmed as a Banksy. It’s not like Banksy’s style can’t be replicated. It would’ve been easy enough for Ace Gallery to fake the whole thing (except that the art world is a small place). And the third (and kind of disappointing) possibility: Banksy’s no idiot. In fact I’d say he’s pretty damn smart, and his people are too. If he did paint that spot, did everyone in his employ really miss that the building Banksy was painting on is connected with Ace Gallery? I hope so.
I think this is one of those art mysteries that we’ll never fully know the answer to.
Two things by Banksy, separated by thousands of miles, have disappeared in the last 24 hours.
First, Los Angeles is abuzz with the news that Banksy’s stencil of a guard and Jeff Koons-style dog has been removed from its location on an empty building:
When this stencil first appeared, it wasn’t clear if the dog was meant to be an actual balloon animal or a reference to the Jeff Koons artwork (or both). Given a comment Tim McCool made on Hyperallergic though, it is clear that this piece is referencing Koons. According to McCool, “There’s a Koons quote: ‘Abstraction and luxury are the guard dogs of the upper class.’ So Banksy is accusing Koons’ work of being in the same category of unintelligible, abstract, and ludicrously expensive art.” Given that, I’ve totally changed my opinion of this piece. At first I found it kind of boring, but this 2nd meaning, I’d say this piece was much more interesting. It’s great when Banksy comes up with pieces that have 2 or even three completely meanings depending on how you look at the piece. In this case, he’s combined an okay joke for the masses with witty commentary for the art-world elite (to be clear, I certainly am not including myself in the art-world elite. I never would have caught that 2nd meaning).
Shame that this piece had been removed. Hopefully it was taken down for the piece’s own protection and we’ll see it in a museum next week, but I’ve got a feeling that this was more about a property owner’s potential profits.
Photo by Jordan Seiler
And all the way back in New York City, Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign has gone out and covered up those fly-posted adverts for Exit Through The Gift Shop with some of his artwork. I suppose that’s the scary power of the internet that one person can state an opinion and somebody else can take political action as a result. I’m not usually a big fan of abstract pieces, but I’d much rather see something like what Jordan has done here rather than some flyposted advertisements any day of the week (could that be part of what Jordan is trying to say with this series that he’s been putting up on billboards lately? I’m not sure).
An interesting day for Banksy artworks all around.
Banksy once said “‘Every time one of my friends borrows my ideas, mounts a huge art show and becomes a millionaire celebrity,’ a little bit of me wants him dead.” I’ll amend that to “Every time a street artist turns their back on theirvalues, mounts a hugeflypostingcampaign and becomes what is essentially an advertising executive, a little bit of me wants to write over their work.”
Very Nearly Almost‘s 11th issue hits shelves this month, and so next week they’ve got a launch party for the magazine. Should be good fun. This issue’s cover artist is the UK’s INSA, and other artists from around the world are featured inside. In fact, make sure to pick up this issue of magazine because it’s where you can read an interview that I did with Case earlier this year. Plus they’ve got the legendary Mike Giant, the super-cool photographer Ruedione and one of my personal favorite artists, Gaia. Hope to see you at the launch.
More news in the ongoing Shepard Fairey / AP lawsuit over the use of a photograph to create Fairey’s iconic HOPE poster. Back in October, Fairey admitted to submitting false images into evidence and deleting images off of his computer that clearly showed which photograph he used to create his poster. A judge has ordered Fairey to say exactly which files were deleted and when, as well as name anybody who may have helped him tamper with evidence (originally, Shepard claimed that he alone was involved in the cover-up. At this point, it’s unclear if his statement was accurate or not.)
