There seems to be so much going on right now with street art being sold or auctioned off for charity and other good causes, so I thought I’d throw a few things all together in one post. Also, how great is it that Shepard Fairey is involved in so many of these things? See it all after the jump… Continue reading “Art for charity”
The New York Times is given you a chance to ask graffiti legend and talented fine artist Lee Quinones (aka Lee) a question. I don’t get star-struck often, but he was at the Primary Flight opening in Miami last year, and I just froze up whenever I caught sight of him, this guy is a legend. Just go to their website and post a comment on the article to ask your question. The first set of questions will be answered on Wednesday.
There are a lot of people commenting already. One of my favorites is from Anne. She asks, “Since it appears you have profited as a result of your graffiti art, have you made any effort to pay restitution to the city or other property owners of locations you vandalized?” That’s probably the most inteligent way I’ve ever heard somebody ask a graffiti artist how they feel about coming from an illegal art movement into something legal that profits from those illegal actions. Much better than how Nolane put it.
Via I Love Graffiti
This week’s issue of The Sunday Times Magazine has a really nice cover designed by Banksy. The magazine also includes an article on the artist and an interview.
The article covers such a wide range of topics from his identity and personal life to the art market to why CCTVs are irritating, so I’m not even going to try and pick out my favorite bits. The article is a good read though, and if you’re not completely sick of Banksy-mania, it’s worth reading. You can find it online here.
On a related noted, The Times had an article on Saturday about Mr. Brainwash and Exit Through The Gift Shop. It’s probably the best article I’ve read so far to look at Mr. Brainwash as a person and artist in an unbiased and thought-provoking manner. They even speak to MBW himself and get his take on the film, which definitely strays from the official story. You can read that article here.
Photo by Annar_50
Next week’s issue of Time Out London will feature a cover designed by Banksy. The full cover image hasn’t been released yet, but the above teaser is interesting. Time Out says “This photo shoot, a mixture of self-portraiture and his trademark use of spraypaint, is unlike anything he’s ever done for a magazine before and may never be repeated.”
In addition to the cover, Time Out has an interview with Banksy.
Because this issue is sure to be popular with art fans, Time Out are also selling a version of the magazine without the Time Out logo on it and that includes a 68 x 51 cm poster of the cover art for £12.99. That’s for sale at their online shop.
Yes, I realize that I sound like a press release, but I figure this is pretty cool if you’re not worried about Banksy becoming too mainstream. And if you are worried about that, read the Hank Willis Thomas interview in the latest issue of Juxtapoz.
On Tuesday evening, I had the chance to see Banksy’s film Exit Through The Gift Shop (in cinemas March 5th) at the pop-up cinema he has put together in the tunnels next to Leake Street (where he held Cans Festival). It was an experience that I’ll never forget.
Outside the entrance, Banksy has painted a red carpet onto the street. Inside, it’s like a mini-exhibition. A mix of new and old works, the highlight for me was the “Paranoid Pictures” logo which has been stenciled onto one of the walls. Or maybe it was the animatronics from Banksy’s Pet Store show. It’s tough to say. But the art got everybody in the mood to watch what we’d been invited there for: something that involved Banksy, a video camera and Mr. Brainwash. Beyond that, most of us were in the dark as to what exactly was going to be shown.
Here’s the spoiler-free review:
Exit Through The Gift Shop is not going to be the Subway Art of street art (Beautiful Losers and Bomb It have already attempted that anyways…), and it’s not trying to be. It’s not “The Banksy Movie” either. And I think that’s going to disappoint a few people. But if you’re a regular reader of Vandalog, you probably like street art, not just Banksy. Exit Through The Gift Shop is a film that you’ll enjoy.
The film is a documentary that comes across as a mockumentary. I’ve heard people plenty of people compare it to Spinal Tap or Borat. But everything in Exit Through The Gift Shop is more or less true. Of course, I’m sure certain half-truths are told, but it’s about as factual as you can get when it comes to talking about anonymous artists. The important thing here is that all the characters are real people, and the events on film actually happened and were unscripted, so that seems real enough to me.
There’s a line every five minutes that might be quoted by street art fans for years to come: Some of them are funny, some are poignant and some are depressing. The whole film is mixture of comedy, drama and tragedy, but every angle will be compelling to street art fans.
The big problem though, is that I just can’t imagine telling my friends who don’t like art or film to check out the movie. It’s not like Spellbound or (in my opinion, not that of my friends who stopped talking to me after a certain movie night…) Helvetica; if you don’t like street art (or at least art or documentary films in general), you may just be left confused and bewildered by the whole thing. I suppose that’s the point, but last time I checked, Banksy’s work isn’t supposed to confuse people, it’s meant to be clear, direct, funny and hopefully provocative.
And where the film could have most interested audiences outside the street art world, examining how money and marketing plays a role in the art market, Exit Through The Gift Shop hints at these issues, but falls short of actually confronting the subject head on, leaving the audience to consider the consequences. While people certainly are smart enough to see what’s going on and figure these things out for themselves, I think Banksy could have been a bit more direct about the whole thing.
Perhaps the film’s greatest flaw is that it ends on more of a decidedly bleak pop than a spectacular bang or even just a hopeful note of any sort.
Minor issues aside, most street art fans will absolutely love this film. It is hilarious, has behind-the-scenes footage of Banksy and other great street artists at work and tells a story that needs to be told. I can’t say much more without spoiling the plot.
Okay, and now for a spoiler after the jump… Continue reading “Exit Through The Gift Shop review and spoilers”
Hahaha, I thought I’d only have to post one thing abut Exit Through The Gift Shop today. Of course, as soon as the journalists who were at the press screening got back to their desks, news about the film and the screenings started popping up all over the web.
Esquire Magazine has the most interesting article so far:
This morning, Esquire was invited to a preview screening of Exit Through The Gift Shop, the new documentary by Banksy. It took place in a temporary cinema the street artist has built in some dank railway arches next to Waterloo train station. As you would expect from him, both the site and the movie were surprising, entertaining and just a little unsettling.
The cinema, nicknamed “The Lambeth Palace” and sold as “London’s darkest and dirtiest new cinema” (with an exception made for “Cineworld Edmonton”), is a 150-seater auditorium at the end of a series of gloomy bare-brick caverns, in which typical Banksy interventions have been placed: a cardboard Queen and Prince Phillip opening ceremonial velvet curtains to reveal a spray-painted Anarchy “A”, a bonfire of Old Master paintings going up in fabric flames, hamster cages of animatronic hot dogs, and a bar in the form of a grungy ice cream van…
Esquire also says that the film will be screening twice daily there until March 1st. I’m seeing the film later this week, so I’ll post a review in a few days.
Rodrico has some photos from the event, where they have painted a red carpet on the road and made a sort of mini-exhibition…
All photos by Rodrico
Via/pretty much the same post as Banksy Prints
@TimeOutArt has posted some camera-phone snaps from inside of the secret underground location where Banksy is screening Exit Through The Gift Shop. There was a press screening on Monday morning, @Eelus has tweeted that he has been invited to a screening on Wednesday and Pictures on Walls has 300 tickets up for grabs to screenings over the weekend. Time Out also says that next week’s issue of Time Out London will feature a Banksy-designed cover and an exclusive interview with the man himself.
That that’s today’s Banksy film update.
This historic roller by Revs and Cost has finally been buffed. Vanishing New York has the story and pics of what the wall looks like now. And actually, I’ve got to admit that I like the wall’s new look just as much as before it was buffed. The piece has really just been faded to look like the rest of the sign.
Via Streetsy
Remember that dilapidated pub in Liverpool that sold at auction this week for £114,000? And how most people assumed that it sold for that price because there is a huge rat painted by Banksy on the outside of the pub worth at least £114,000? Turns out, the buyers plan to knock the pub down, artwork included. It’s a shame really. Sure, nobody expects street pieces to last forever, but this is a well-executed and well-preserved piece. It seems nuts that a developer would just knock it down.
The buyer said this to The Telegraph:
“I’m not a fan of modern art, I can’t say I know much about it really”
and
“All I was concerned about was getting this great building for a good price, I’m going to turn it into luxury flats.”
I’d urge somebody to start a campaign to save this piece, if only I could think of any logical way for it to be preserved (could they cover it in a layer of anti-graffiti paint?). After all, it just takes one jerk with a can of spray paint to destroy the entire thing.
The Park City Record, the local paper in Park City, printed an editorial this week in reaction to Banksy’s recent painting spree there. I think I can see what they were getting at, and they could have made some great points (in fact, they correctly noted that Banksy’s artworks were essentially guerrilla advertising for Exit Through The Gift Shop), but then they didn’t. And by that, I mean they wrote something which was so outdated and wrong-headed that they pretty much made everything else they wrote pointless. They wrote “But let’s be clear. Graffiti is art when it is invited, and it is vandalism when it is not.”
Really? Do people still think like that? Even when Neas was sentenced to prison for his graffiti in 2008, the judge commented that Neas has artist talent.
Here’s what I wrote as a comment on the Park City Record’s website:
You might think graffiti is never art, or that it is generally or always bad art, and although I would disagree with you, we could at least debate the topic rationally, but your position isn’t even logical. If the Mona Lisa had been painted on somebody’s front door without permission, that might annoy the property owner, but that wouldn’t stop the painting from being a great work of art. Art is art no matter where or how it is made. Of course, graffiti that is painted without permission is also vandalism. But why can’t it be both art and vandalism at the same time? You had the chance to make some great points with this article, and then you suggested that something can only be either art or vandalism, not both, and now I can’t take anything in this editorial seriously.
Simply put… how can there still be educated and intelligent people who don’t grasp that something can be both art and vandalism simultaneously?
Via Banksy Prints
