banksy – Page 24 – Vandalog

August 25, 2009August 25, 2009

New from Banksy: Zorro

Looks like this could be the latest Banksy piece, captured by Romanywg in Westbourne Park, London. It hasn’t been confirmed as a Banksy yet by his own website or anything, but street art authorities are calling a Banksy, the style fits and there is a similar sketch in his show at The Bristol Museum, so I think it’s a safe bet.

Zorro is an interesting subject for Banksy to paint, as NoLionsInEngland has noted on WallKandy: “Zorro defended peasants from the tyrannical authority of officials and aristocrats, as ‘does’ Banksy; Zorro was the alter-ego of a knight or some kind of aristocrat, and certain newspapers seem convinced that Banksy is/was a mild-mannered public school poshie.”

Photos by Romanywg

August 16, 2009

Street art and advertising

There is often a very fine line between street art and public advertisements. They are both on the street, and often times they are both illegal. When that line gets very blurred though is when street artists start putting up advertisements as artwork or vice versa.

There are numerous examples of artists who put up wheatpastes or flyposted advertisements when they have a show about to open, but they also aren’t what I want to address today. I want to focus on a few more recent and blatant examples of street at as advertising and advertising as street art.

First, there is Kaws. He did some work for Kanye West’s new album, including this piece in Times Square:

For a guy who started as a graffiti writer and transitioned to a street artist who subverted (or at least changed) advertisements, he sure has come a long way. I’m not going to say it’s good or bad that Kaws is doing advertisements. I’d probably rather he didn’t, but I can’t blame him for wanting to make some money and get up in Times Square. People change, and I don’t think he’s shy about how he has changed. There isn’t a false front there. Kind of like Kanye himself.

Rappers don’t usually start out their careers by saying “I really want to rap and get a connection with fans and spread a message.” The stereotypical rapper justs comes right out and says “I wanna get really extremely rich.” By comparison, your average rock start has to worry about “selling out” and staying true to their originals and all that. Inside, that rock star is probably thinking “I really want to buy a mansion some day,” but they’d never be allowed to say that out loud.

Kaws doesn’t claim to be this anti advertising subversion king at all, so more power to him I guess.

And the important thing to keep in mind here is that Kanye’s record label paid for that ad. It’s not like that billboard is a wall which would have otherwise been taken and used by street artists or graffiti writers.

More after the jump… Continue reading “Street art and advertising”

August 14, 2009

Nothing to see here

It should come as no suprise that Banksy took every step possible to prevent The Bistol Museum from revealing his identity or very much at all about his show Banksy Versus The Bristol Museum. Banksy’s lawyers (yes, even street artists need lawyers) crafted a seemingly airtight contract with the museum, and now a Freedom of Information request regarding the show has revealed almost nothing.

You can read the full results of the request online, but in short, here’s what was learned: Banksy was paid £1 for the exhibition, pretty much all the CCTV footage is destroyed after 30 days (so if you want to rob the Bristol Museum, just make sure whatever you steal can go missing for a month before anybody notices), and that Banksy really wants to keep his identity a secret.

So really, who cares?

Via @Banksynews

July 24, 2009

Banksy “Donuts” print release

The latest Banksy print is available soon at Pictures on Walls. “Donuts” comes in two colorways (black or pink), with editions of 299 in each colorway. Of course, if this were any other Banksy print release, there would be no point in writing to post because by the time I had finished typing, the print would be sold out. This time, Banksy has taken the Faile approach and made a lottery system where anybody who registers before noon on July 28th will have an equal shot at buying this print.

You can register at Picturesonwalls.com.

July 22, 2009July 22, 2009

Banksy canvas at New Orleans museum

This is pretty exciting. According to nola.com, there is an original Banksy piece on display at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The piece is a canvas with the Nola girl image and pink rain.

Nola Pink

July 22, 2009

The best street art post you’ll read this year

Last night I came across a post of Art of The State which sums up a major problem in street art in such a way that I just have to share the entire post. You can read the post, titled “Stop Thief! / the other Banksy show,” over at Art of The State, but for the benefit of Vandalog’s email subscribers who might not want to bother clicking on a link outside of their email client or are reading this on a phone or something, I’ve also reposted the entire article below. Thanks to Steve for letting me repost it (and going to the Banksy show in Covent Garden so that none of the rest of us have to).

Stop Thief! / the other Banksy show

One problem thats come out of the rise in the popularity of street art is that work that used to be left to survive on its own (either ending up being removed by the property owner or gone over with other graffiti – both of which are fine by me) is now having to die a slow, undignified death above someones fireplace. Street art is meant to be on the streets (the clues in the title). ‘Street art’ removed from the streets becomes, well, just ‘art’. I’m not talking about copies of street pieces that are meant to be sold and displayed. I’m talking about the peel off carefully, chisel out of the wall brigade. Case in point this was the scene in Brick Lane this afternoon. Walking around a corner I stumbled on this not too stereotypical street art ‘liberator’ carefully peeling off a fresh paste up. She then proceeded to roll it up, stuff it in a bag and then made her (slightly shaky) getaway in the direction of the 24 hour bagel shop (the best place in London for all your Bagel needs). It’s not exactly a crime but it would be much better if it was left there for others to enjoy.

A bit later on in the afternoon and against my better judgement I had a look at the totally unofficial show of ‘reclaimed’ Banksy work in Covent Garden. Walking up to it and even walking around it you’d be hard pressed to determine that Banksy would have had nothing to do with this show (his verification agency ‘Pest Control’ famously always refuses to authenticate street pieces). Most of the work on display has been lifted off the streets over recent years. Large sections of walls, doors and plaster are amongst the pieces that make up the exhibition. It’s a very soulless look at some of his work with a totally different vibe to the Bristol exhibition. In fact it has no vibe at all. Simple labels next to pieces tell you nothing, not even the city the works have been taken from. Banksy’s street pieces are all about the context of where they are placed and in this empty whitewashed hall they lose an important part of their reasons for existence. I actually thought that Andipa Modern’s recent Banksy show was better than this – it was an unofficial show too but at least the work they had on display at the last one was pretty much exclusively never placed on the street. That’s not meant as an endorsement of Andipa in case you were wondering.

This sign summed up the whole seedy enterprise for me…my advice is don’t buy anything here – it’ll only encourage them to do it again. Don’t bother with this sorry show and get yourself down to Bristol if you can….

Via Art of The State

July 20, 2009

Correction

It’s been pointed out that there was something very important that I missed in yesterday’s post about Banksy’s auction results.

WallKandy, on WallKandy’s forums in fact, noted this morning that Lyon & Turnbull, the auction house whose representative is quoted in the original Bloomberg article, kind of had it coming and shouldn’t be suprised that their Banksy pieces failed to sell. Those works were pieces taken off the street and authenticated by VERMIN, not Pest Control (the official Banksy authenticators). Sorry to have written that long post yesterday based on that information, though I guess now my critisism of the article is even more valid as Banksy work hasn’t been doing as bad at auction as some Bloomberg readers now think.

July 20, 2009July 20, 2009

Auction demand for Banksy is dropping

UPDATE: Here is an important correction to this article. In short, many of the Banksy works referred to in this article shouldn’t have sold, as they were street works and not properly authenticated. Sorry I didn’t notice that when I first read the article, and thanks to WallKandy for the heads up.

Bloomberg.com reports that “Works by Banksy are disappearing from U.K. auctions as collectors shy away from paintings by graffiti artists in the financial slump.” Okay, so this isn’t actually so suprising, I’m more interested that it is being covered by Bloomberg. Banksy’s work isn’t selling like it used to at auction, despite some amazing work at both Sotheby’s and Christies (aka, two versions of The Flower Chucker being sold within a month).

This is a good article and should be read in full, but here’s a little sample:

Works by Banksy are disappearing from U.K. auctions as collectors shy away from paintings by graffiti artists in the financial slump.British regional auction houses have canceled specialist sales of urban art in London, while some of their bigger rivals’ catalogs have few stenciled works by Banksy, who was born in Bristol, west England, and keeps his identity a secret.

Falling prices and rising failure rates for Banksy works earlier this year have made sellers reluctant to test the market with higher-value paintings. Auction prices for contemporary artists generally have dropped between 30 and 50 percent with the crisis, according to dealers.

“There’s no point flogging a dead horse,” Ben Hanly, contemporary-art specialist at the Edinburgh auctioneers, Lyon & Turnbull, said in an interview. “The core collectors have been decimated. Young City types don’t want to spend 20,000 pounds ($32,690) or 30,000 pounds on trendy art at the moment.”

There were no Banksy paintings to be seen at Sotheby’s, Christie’s International’s and Phillips de Pury’s evening contemporary-art auctions in London in June, or at Bonhams’s Vision 21 sale on July 1. Meanwhile Lyon & Turnbull and Berkshire-based auctioneer Dreweatt Neate both dropped standalone events.

Five Banksy sprayed-stenciled works, ranging in estimate from 7,000 pounds to 18,000 pounds, failed to sell at Lyon & Turnbull’s April 24 contemporary-art auction in London. The company’s October sale will contain a higher proportion of works by established 20th-century British artists, said Hanly.

One important note that the article does go on to make is that street art, including work by Banksy, has been put into contemporary art auctions recently. Gone are the days of the “Urban Art Auction” and while yes, the market has slowed down, the positive to all this is that Banksy’s is in the same auctions as Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst. Perhaps street artists are going to be taken more seriously as a result of this move.

While this article definitely has some insights and is a good overview of what’s been going on with Banksy’s auction results lately, I do take issue with it on one thing.

Is it really fair to say that Banksy (and, by implication, street art as a whole) is in terrible shape right now? EVERYTHING IS FAILING TO SELL AT AUCTION! THERE WAS AN ART MARKET BUBBLE! Nobody can’t honestly say that just street art or Banksy is in trouble.

If we just look at Banksy for a moment, he has never been bigger, at least in the eyes of the public. According to Google Trends, there have been more web searches for the name “Banksy” in recent months than the term “modern art”. Banksy’s recent Bristol show has put his name in every major newspaper in the country, and only 10 days ago Steve Lazarides, Banksy’s former manager, had a major write-up in The Times.

Yes, art is doing poorly right now, but Banksy is by no means the worst off out of the entire art market, and neither is street art in general.

July 13, 2009July 13, 2009

Artnet Urban Art Auction

Artnet.com is having an online urban art auction, which began July 7^th and runs through July 23^rd. The catalogue contains works by many of the major names in the scene, from the 80s through today, such as Dondi, Crash, Haring, Basquiat, Barry McGee, Banksy, Nick Walker, Faile and Shepard Fairey. There are also some strange, albeit nice, inclusions such as Mr. and Jim Houser, as well as some weaker urban choices, but on the whole this auction is definitely worth checking out as there is a good range of pieces in it.

It is also quite well-presented and easy to use; you can either scroll the catalogue page by page or search by artist. The biographical information is nice to have and I like the inclusion of sales results for comparable work – this is particularly handy if you are considering placing a bid.

I have highlighted a few of my personal favorites. Clicking on the image will take you to the lot.

Keith Haring "Luna, Luna, a poetic extravaganza!" 1986

Keith Haring "Untitled (DOG) Oil on Wood" 1983

Jean-Michel Basquiat "Anti-Baseball Card Product" circa 1979

Doze Green "Ancestros Totemic Series: Cuba" 2008

Elisa x

June 16, 2009

Street artists take on Hirst

It seems that a number of street artists have taken to referencing Damien Hirst’s spot paintings in their work. These are just three examples.

Hirst Beejoir — Paintings by Beejoir. Photo by nolionsinengland

Painting by Banksy (and Hirst). Photo by Sabeth718

Painting by Blek le Rat. Photo by WallKandy

The other night, a friend of mine was trying to argue that of these Blek’s painting is most the important street art piece about Hirst, closely followed by Beejoir’s series, followed by Banksy’s. His argument is that Blek and Beejoir did their paintings long before Banksy did his, and so the Hirst reference is old hat now. In addition, this friend sees this as just another time that Banksy has made a stencil that Blek did better and way before Banksy.

If I had to order those three pieces in terms of importance, I would actually go in the exact opposite order as my friend.

Blek le Rat’s piece, especially when thinking about Hirst, is almost inconsequential. As Blek explained this piece to me, it’s about how it is time for conceptual art to step aside and how it is street art’s turn to be important in the larger art world. Makes sense, but then it’s not really about Hirst. Hirst is just used as a reference point. He’s the best known conceptual artist, so naturally Blek includes Hirst in his piece declaring the death of conceptual art, but only so that people understand better what Blek is painting about. Also, Blek’s piece just didn’t get the attention that the work by either Beejoir or Banksy got. It was a one time image, and not a particularly well known piece in that show (his 2008 solo with Black Rat Press). Beejoir turned his spots into a recognizable series just as Hirst did, and Banksy’s is in his Bristol Museum where it is hidden among other paintings by famous painters. I think what Blek has to say is important, but just not that important in terms of Hirst specifically and Hirst’s spots.

Beejoir’s series of spot paintings really said something that everybody else was thinking about conceptual art and Hirst in particular: “Hey, I could do that!” Also, it’s a great party trick. Hang one of those painting on your wall and see who spots what’s wrong with it. They were a series, so lots of people know about them, which adds to the work’s importance. And also, the work directly targets Hirst.

And then there is Banksy’s piece. It is done on an actual original Hirst spot painting. That, to me, puts it miles above the others. Banksy has said flat out “This ‘art,’ if it is art and not just wallpaper, is no more important than mine. If my work gets painted over, then Hirst should have the same privilege.” To me, that’s a much more important message than either Blek le Rat or Beejoir’s piece (plus, I think that Beejoir’s point is contained within Banksy’s painting as well since many art collectors might say “Hey. Anybody could do that and it’s not proper art!” about stencils and simple graffiti).

What do other people think, and do you know any other street artists who have been referencing Hirst and conceptual art in their work (this is another fav of mine)?