I really like today’s Banksy piece, even though it’s a bit more targeted towards an audience already familiar with street art and graffiti that most of the Better Out Than In. I was shocked these last few days. I was at a big family wedding, and it seemed like everyone I spoke with brought up Banksy. I know he’s got mainstream popularity, but sometimes I forget how much. But hey, if my grandmother doesn’t get this piece, I’m okay with that, because I think it’s a good joke for those who will get it. Plus, with my upcoming ebook Viral Art all about the internet, street art and graffiti, I’m always fascinated by street art that makes a joke about how it will be distributed online. Overall, one of my preferred pieces from the show for sure. The one I’d make a trip out to see in person.
Today Banksy also posted an ostensible “blocked message” to the Better Out Than In site along with this piece: The draft of an op-ed he submitted to The New York Times mocked up to appear as it would if it were published in the paper. But the NYTimes editors rejected Banksy’s article (which argued that Freedom Tower is a terrible building to put up in place of the Twin Towers). That’s not a blocked message. That’s an editor doing his or her job and deciding what to publish. Read the article and see for yourself. Do you really think it meets the standard of quality that people expect (whether or not it’s always reached) from the New York Times? I didn’t have an opinion one way or the other about Freedom Tower before today, and I still don’t have an opinion on it. Shouldn’t that op-ed have convinced me or at least got me thinking about the issue? I’ve definitely offered up some poorly thought out and poorly written criticism here on Vandalog from time to time, but I never expected it to appear in the New York Times or implied censorship when it wasn’t.
So today we have 2 elements to the + 5. First, I want to point out five articles that where I think the writers have done a nice job voicing an opinion about the work of street artists or graffiti writers or the cultures of street art and graffiti:
- More Things “Reinvented” by KAWS by Marina Gaperina & Kyle Petreycik
- My secret life as a graffiti artist by Glynn Judd
- Brutal Lazarides Vinyl Factory Group Show by Dave Nolionsinengland
- Beyond Graffiti by Carolina A. Miranda
- Four Documentaries That Capture the Globalization of Street Art by Emily Colucci
And for our regular + 5, we have work by Mr. Toll, Ken Sortais, Endless (I assume) and two unknown artists:
Photos by carnagenyc, Hrag Vartanian, failing_angel, Lord Jim and duncan c
