The BANKSY bandwagon

In recent months the press has been inundated with stories about BANKSY, the "graffiti"/"street artist". These include reports of his "art" selling for literally hundreds of thousands of pounds,and more ridiculously, to celebrity customers like Brad Pitt. BANKSY hysteria has swept the world and everyone and their grandmother seems to be jumping on the bandwagon. Even local councils have come under fire for removing his work. Unbelievable. Was his work not conducted illegaly on public and private property? Does that not make him guilty of criminal damage? Apparently being the new darling of the moronically whimsical art world exempts you from such laws. So, while BANKSY is canonised by the art community and pseudo-hip celebrity world, real graffiti writers (who generally have very little respect for BANKSY)continue to be arrested, fined, locked up and demonised. Bravo!
BANKSY's website.
BANKSY wikipedia entry.
Banksy painted over.

INFAMY documentary part 10

INFAMY documentary part 9

INFAMY documentary part 8

INFAMY documentary part 7

INFAMY documentary part 6

INFAMY documentary part 5

INFAMY documentary part 4

INFAMY the documentary part 3

INFAMY the documentary part 2

INFAMY the documentary part 1

I have a real treat for you today; arguably the best graffiti documentary since the legendary Style Wars. "Infamy" revolves around the individual stories of a group of writers from all over the USA, aswell as one Joe Connolly; a self appointed anti-graffiti guerrilla. An incredibly informative, entertaining and important work on the subject. Enjoy.

Parisian Graff

Some pics from a recent trip to Paris:

FLASK and TRAN throw ups

HORFO REVOK

Amsterdam Graff

One place where graffiti seems to be alive and kicking is Europe and Amsterdam is home to vibrant and well developed scene. Here are some pics from a recent trip of mine:

AMOR

FLOS

MALE (?)

AGAIN

New pics from North London

ATG

HEFS

JOSE and DES

Myspace used to hunt down graffiti writers

Authorities in Los Angeles California are using the social networking site Myspace to track down writers. One writer was charged after admiting to offences when confronted with pictures he had published on the internet. This news piece (read here) also mentions a company called graffiti tracker inc (graffiti tracker) who offer local officials services in high-tech tracking, analysis and elimination of graffiti.

Vandalism

It seems graffiti has well and truly become synonymous with vandalism. For years goverment officials and police have lumped graffiti in the same category as acts of wanton and violent destruction on public and private property. In the UK, it is considered an Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) and subsequently is associated with crimes like mugging, begging, drunken disorder and criminal damage. This has created an idea in the public mind that graffiti is dangerous. The Home Office claim that people feel unsafe in areas covered with graffiti, one official described it as "visual mugging". The irony here is that most areas that have a high concentration of graffiti, usually lack the funds to clean it up and are typically places where there is already a high level of crime. It is also important to note that it was born in areas of New York and Philadelphia that were already very delapidated and dangerous; its practitioners usually poor and frustrated youth. Surely graffiti was artistic expression carried out by kids who had no other means to do such things. During the eighties, Mayor Koch of New York stated that these kids should involve themselves in the arts available at school, yet during that time he consistently made cut-backs on art facilities in public schools. There is a vicious cycle emerging, the authorities clamp down, the writers resort to more drastic measures to continue producing their art. As trains are cleaned almost instantly, some have even begun smashing the windows of all the trains in a yard to make sure their painted train is forced to run. Are the authorities producing a more and more frustrated group who are beginning to engage in these acts of violent and destructive vandalism?

New pics from west London

Tags by FLASH and OZONE who recently died in a tragic accident in a Barking tube yard.


STUE

RYDE and SAW

Inquiry into death of two writers

Two writers died this January, hit by a speeding tube train whilst evading security in Barking train depot. An inquiry has been launched into the deaths of the two known as WANTS and OZONE, BTP have denied any wrong doing. All over London fellow writers have been paying their respects with R.I.P tags on walls and trains around the city.
Here is the Guardian article published following the incident:
Guardian
and news of the inquiry:
Inquiry

Arrests in London, UK

The past few weeks have seen a string of arrests in the Loughton and Ealing areas of Greater London. A new intitiative called "Operation BusTag" has lead to an alleged 571 arrests since April. Increasingly, arrests for vandalism have lead to the conviction of suspects for other offences, mostly minor, including possesion of cannabis. This only helps to feed the idea proposed by the BTP and Home Office that graffiti is somehow a "gateway" crime which will inevitably lead to more serious offenses such as drug trafficking.
Follow these links to read the full articles:
Ealing Times and
Guardian

Forced removal

The city of London in Canada is undertaking a new scheme which is practised in Toronto and many cities in the U.S.A. whereby property owners are obliged to remove graffiti from their buildings or face fines. If it isn't removed in time it will be done by the council and the owners will have to pay the bill. Full article