Art Of The State News - London

Banksy Exit Through The Gift Shop DVD pack / Banksy in Hastings?

Editor — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 09:42:32 +0100

Has Banksy been to Hastings? Found on Rollerzorro's flickr stream (which is full of interesting Banksy items). This piece also appears on the frequently on the money the banksy forum.

source: Rollerzorro

Also appearing yesterday were images of the soon to be released (Sept 6th 2010) Banksy film 'Exit Through The Gift Shop', featuring 2D glasses amongst some other little goodies in a special pack. It's still a little unclear (to me at least) which version you will get if you have already placed an order on places like Amazon but they are showing this picture on the order page and it has a RRP of £19.99 reduced to £10.93 so I guess this is the one to go for.

Meeting Of Styles 2010

Editor — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:36:18 +0100

International Meeting of Styles 2010 - 21st August 2010, Highbury Studios, Hornsey Street, Islington, London (nearest Tube Holloway Road)

This years international event sees 60 artists from all over Europe work on 12 huge walls at the Highbury Studios in whats being billed as a free block party. Follow the build up on meetingofstyles.co.uk where you can see the walls to be painted along with work by many of the artists involved. Its shaping up nicely to once more becoming a truly amazing event.

Featuring artists: Daze, Crome, Ders, Demo, Blam, Are, Ante, Ekto, Eska, Ebee, Epok, Yesb, Trans, Pryme, Korpz, Jasik, Izer, Inkfet, Essex Rockers, Brave, Item, Vodker, Jive, Vomit, Dead, Mac1, Shok, Estum, Sune, Smug, Replete, Dep, Sorn, Elph, Soker, Sepr, Cheo, Noir, Phorm, Tizer, Bonzai, Zadok, 3dom, Ponk, Cept, Pref, Revert, Probs, Lovepusher, Astek, Zeus, Snug, She1, 3steps, Ozone, Roket, Sebasura, Dulk, Ghetto Farceur, Vaporz, Da Mental and more

I like that, no hang on. no I don't

Editor — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:44:08 +0100

When I first saw this piece on Romanywg's Flickr stream I felt a little uneasy about it's location. In fact while he'd got a great photo and I thought the street art by Specter looked stunning I really didn't like the fact that it had obviously been placed directly over a piece of local history. Old painted signs like this one for Boyd Pianos are an increasingly rare sight in London. I love them as they provide a ready made link back to the past, often reappearing when more crass modern signs have been taken down. Pure Evil (the gallery that is putting on Specter's show at the moment) commented on Flickr that the art was just wheatpasted onto the wall and would disintegrate over time. I don't know about that - only time will tell. It's just as likely the wall will be hit up by less successfully applied art or colonised by London's street poster teams - or, perhaps worse, blasted off by an over zealous graffiti removal crew. If that's the case we'll have lost a part of this 'ghost sign'. There's no point in hand wringing about this instance - we'll have to see what the wall looks like in a few months time to get some perspective (continues below).

I went to take a look at Specter's work today and get a picture. On the way back I saw that the excellent Verynearlyalmost blog had already covered the story and come down on the side of street art instead of history. They've got a point - street art of course works best when it interracts with the urban environment and this piece certainly does that exceptionally well. It's just the fact that it potentially may result in something that has stood there so long and that has its own fans being damaged. It's my own personal opinion that street art/graffiti generally shouldn't go over obviously historical pieces. For me there's a difference in say the ethics behind spray painting a modern Tube train than an old rail coach thats been lovingly restored by volunteers over several years as happened with the carriages used for the Hogwarts Express and other heritage trains back in 2003. Banksy even issued a rare denial once when a copy of his placard bearing apes turned up on a war memorial. Of course others have different agendas and quite frankly some don't give a toss about history and see it as an irrelevance. I doubt from conversations with Pure Evil in the past that he's one of those.

I'm interested in others views on this subject.

Schoony's 'Boy Soldiers' show update

Editor — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:13:41 +0100

Most shows consist of unpacking some canvases and choosing where to put them and how to light them. Schoony's upcoming group show 'Boy Soldiers' is totally different to this tried and trusted approach - he's been busy mass producing well over 30 of the life size figures which are his most recognisable style of work. Each one is being passed on to an artist to customise as they see fit. I caught up with him recently at his studio to see the work in progress and to have a general nose around.

Like some kind of reverse mortician Schoony works on bringing another figure to life

'Boy Soldier' - an unusual blank canvas

Every artist gets one of these delivered - a plain 'Boy Soldier' ready to be modified. A working list of artists includes Goldie, Dan Baldwin, Mau Mau, Snugone, Don, Carleen De Sozer, Pa Pa Schoon, Joe Rush, Dotmasters, Carrie Reichardt, Insa, John Nolan, Fin DAC, PEN1, Grafter, Liliwenn, D*Face, Matt Small, Inkie, David Bray, BEST EVER, Nick Reynolds, Hiruka Irie, Part2ism, Slice, K-Guy and Leeks

'Boy Soldier' has a strong and direct message held in his right hand. The artists involved have the choice to go with that incorporating it into their reinterpretation or I guess change it into something completely different. Looking at the list of artists involved you can see already that they are more than capable of reworking these unusual canvases into something really striking. It's hard to visualise exactly what we'll get to see when the show opens at Blackall Studios on the 2nd September (to the 4th September - then the action moves to GraffikLondon ) but I guess that's the beauty of it.

A previous incarnation of 'Boy Soldier'

The figures around the studio are not your run of the mill art works...in front of this boy was a couple of boxes containing the lifecasts of an artist connected to the show along with a special surprise vehicle getting prepped for the opening night.

'Where The War Things Are' was one of the stand out pieces at the Mutate Britain Show last year.

Fully updated list of artists for the show and further details are on the flyer below, note its a buyers preview only on Thursday 2nd September - email address below:

Catching up with Elate

Editor — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:02:47 +0100

Elate's (aka Jon Hammer) blog has recently been updated with a few great articles but pick of the bunch for me was this writers meet up which looked like a lot of fun. I seem to remember that the last time this happened torrential rain and more conspired to cut down on the painting activities on the day so its good to see the event, which saw a mass of old school writers descend on one location, run smoothly this time. For his piece Jon had the rather nifty idea of painting a Central line train that was in use up to 1995 and then asked other writers to tag it up (Envy, Time, Keen 53, Sharn.E, Wish, Part Two, Fuem ACR, Carl 131, Merc, Coad 5, Fuel, Kis 42, Fued, Colt 45, Prime WRH, Cazbee DSS, Hit and Urge obliged). Finally he overlaid a cut through 'Elate' on the top to make a great looking piece. There's a mass of photos from the day on his blog and a more detailed write up so head on over there to check out more scenes from the day.

Elate's collaborative piece (photo courtesy of Elate)

Writers doing their thing (photo courtesy of Elate)

Beyond Punk at the Signal Gallery

Editor — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 22:26:28 +0100

Been too long since a bit of punk rock was featured on this blog but the Signal Gallery have given me the perfect excuse. 'Beyond Punk' features art from a batch of first and second wave punk band members along with a few who wear their punk influences on their sleeve. I don't know much about the styles that will be on show but I sure am interested in seeing the results as some of these people have been consistent influences musically since I first discovered them 'back in the day'.

Charlie Harper of the UK Subs is a proper legend fronting up a band where he has been the only constant in a never ending changing line up. He is, for me, pretty much punk personified. Steve Ignorant was the young upstart in Crass who became influential in ways that at the time I think even he struggled with. Knox from the Vibrators - well they were the first punk band I ever saw and I just loved Killing Joke so it will be interesting to see what Youth puts on show.

Can you tell I'm excited by this one? I hope it lives up to expectations....

Steve Ignorant at the Feeding Of The 5000 gig

The legend that is Charlie Harper in Hounslow, 2005 (taken on a disposable camera - it was a fun evening)!

Ben Eine and RYCA in Hackney

Editor — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:08:23 +0100

Feet firmly on the ground Ben Eine teamed up with RYCA yesterday to paint these new hoardings in Hackney, East London. With a font comprised entirely of dots with smiley faces it turned into a marathon session with Ben choosing the wording 'The Strangest Week' as a fitting comment on 7 days which saw one of his paintings gifted to President Obama and hung in the White House. Around the corner RYCA opted for the more simple but effective 'Power Up.'. It was rewarding to see how favourably their work was viewed by passers by. Even the Police stopped and had a look - initially with a view to making an arrest but after a quick look at the Times article they were happily on their way again. What a difference a week makes.

Ben Eine

Ben Eine - The Strangest Week

RYCA - Power Up.

Whitecross Street Party /

Editor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:30:15 +0100

A couple of upcoming events well worth taking a look at:

'Rise of the Non Conformists', Whitecross Street. As well as a two day street party two dozen artists will be turning the street into a giant canvas, including Burning Candy Crew, Carrie Reichardt, Dotmasters, David Bray, Dr.d, Filthy Luker, Gavin Turk, Giles Walker, Best Ever, Dead Leg, Mysterious Al, Matt Small, Mr. E. Dawe, Paul Insect, Peter Dunne, Shepherd Fairy (OBEY), Peter Dunne, Terry Baden, Will Baras, Wreckage, Xenz and Eeelus.
More details on wxstreetparty.com

'Boy Soldiers' - a group show by Schoony. 30 different artists have customised one of Schoony's boy soldier figures. Includes Goldie, Dan Baldwin, Mau Mau, Joe Rush, Dotmasters, Carrie Reichardt, Insa, John Nolan, Fin DAC, PEN1, Grafter, Liliwenn, D*Face, Matt Small, Inkie, David Bray, BEST EVER, Nick Reynolds, Hiruka Irie, Part2ism, Slice, K-Guy. Show will run separtely at the Blackall Studios in the East and the Graffik Gallery in the West.

Boy Soldier at Mutate Britain 2009

Ben Eine's gift to President Obama

Editor — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:49:25 +0100

Yes you read that headline right. In a strange turn of events that probably has left Ben Eine thinking he may have entered a parallel universe a painting of his has apparently ended up in the mits of US President Barack Obama via David Cameron and his wife Samantha. 'Twentyfirstcenturycity' by Ben was given as part of a gift exchange between the two men after Ben was asked and he "had a bit of think about it and thought: yeah, I suppose so". According to the Times he added "I would definitely not have done it for Bush".

It's not such a stretch as it first seems - Samantha Cameron works in the luxury goods sector and Ben recently allowed his font to be used by a top end handbag designer.

I was trying to work out what I thought about the whole thing this morning - should he do it, what does it do for his credibility and then I remembered that I'm just writing a blog and it really doesn't matter a jot what I think. If its good for Ben then I guess I'm happy. But I would have been more than happy with the two fingered approach too.

Ludo returns to London

Editor — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 21:38:41 +0100

Ludo has made a welcome return to London in recent weeks with works from his Natures Revenge series appearing all over the East End of London. I managed to track down a few last Friday but if you want to see them in person be quick - just like real flowers these paste ups tend not to look their best for very long.

And there's more

Editor — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:34:48 +0100

While I love Shok-1's recent monochrome fixation the colour in this latest piece really makes the image 'pop' off the wall. Shok claims that he's only working his way back to full colour at present so expect more hues to creep in on the next few pieces.

More Shok-1 on the streets of London

Editor — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:03:15 +0100

Loving this punker on the side of Shok-1's latest vehicle makeover. The vehicle itself is an old bus converted into a mobile tattooing parlour and if you get a chance to see it in person check out the amazing level of detail.

Alphabet Street

Editor — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:53:02 +0100

Been a while since the last post. Partly because I've been taking a bit of time out and partly because there's been nothing going on. Well, except for Eine painting an entire new alphabet in just one street! Lower case all the way, it turns a road off the city into an amazing cartoon like world when the shops finally shut for the night.

Eine - Lower Case Alphabet

Candy Shop Open

Editor — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:20:56 +0100

Candy Shop - A Burning Candy pop up show, 8th May to 22nd May 2010 at 10 Palmers Road, London E2 OSY. Thu - Sat, 1-7pm. Check highrollersociety.co.uk for details.

Don't know Burning Candy? They are responsible for work like this all over London:

The show blurb puts it well:

Ignoring the limitations and expectations of the graffiti art scene, London based Burning Candy have made a name for themselves as being amongst the most prolific and creative street artists in the UK. As individuals they are some of the biggest names both on the street and in the galleries that exhibit their work. However it is their collaborative work producing epic genre-defying murals that has cemented them as an unstoppable powerhouse. To coincide with DOTS, a Burning-Candy-film-in-the-making, High Roller Society proudly presents CANDY SHOP, an exhibition of selected works by each of the crew's 9 core members: CEPT, CYCLOPS, DSCREET, GOLD PEG, LL BRAINWASHED, MIGHTY MO, ROWDY, SWEET TOOF, and TEK 33. The exhibition, which runs from 8 May - 22 May, showcases the chaotic harmony of Burning Candy's street-inspired individual works in a kaleidoscope of crazy colours, mediums, and styles.
Over the past four years, the prolific Burning Candy crew came together naturally through shared ideals of what they each wanted to achieve as artists, both in the studio and on the street. They all believe in big colourful graffiti that challenges passers-by in a positive way, and that doesn't take itself too seriously. Think one-eyed King Kong-sized monkeys with gnashing gums and clothes pegs for teeth, clenching a half-crocodile, half-owl in one hand, and a slimy pink super-brain being speared by a pitch-fork in the other, looming over trendy Londonistas as they skip to their day jobs and prowl the pubs. With a passion and obsession for graffiti at their core, Burning Candy's ingeniously collaborative street creatures have both fueled and furthered their individual studio work, where the usage of endless mediums has caused an oddly desirable thirst for more in their extensive following.
As a very loose synopsis, Dots will prompt the crew members to exceed even their own expectations and produce a work that is bigger and more inspired than anything they have done before. To achieve this, the film will follow each of the artists as they visit the spiritual home of their artistic style, taking both Burning Candy and the viewer on a journey around-the-world as they learn more about where their art has originated, explore it’s importance in their lives and discover how they can take their ideas further.
To help raise funds and make Dots a reality, Burning Candy has put together a limited edition set of 9 screenprints, one print from each member of the crew. The prints, which are 2-colors, A5 sized, and an edition of just 150, are each beautifully presented in a bespoke hand-screenprinted box. But, these prints aren’t only artwork; anyone who buys a box set will also own the rights to 0.05% of the film's revenues for the next 10 years. High Roller Society will have a limited amount of Burning Candy Box Sets available to purchase. A percentage of the proceeds from both the box sets and the crew's art works will go toward the film, as well as to a member of Burning Candy who has recently fell upon difficult times. CANDY SHOP opens on 8 May to anyone and everyone willing to sink their teeth into Burning Candy's deliciously twisted treats.

Phoolan - a craftivism piece by Carrie Reichardt and Nick Reynolds

Editor — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:01:48 +0100

The Elephant Parade in London recently started with a scale and scope in an outside art project that has rarely been seen before. Over 250 elephants were custom painted by artists and some celebrities and placed in central London. It's not difficult to track one down - they're often in small herds and kind of stand out. The one I really wanted to find was this one by Carrie Reichardt and Nick Reynolds which was found in the gardens of the Natural History Museum. It features a mind numbing amount of attention to detail which adds extra depth to the explanation of the plight of the Asian elephant by showing how it is persecuted for its ivory, blown up by landmines and more. And if you look carefully round the back you can see a little play on the Turner prize.

More about the project can be found on elephantfamily.org. You can see a BBC video on the installation of Phoolan here and the video of its creation here.

Above: This appears on the elephants behind...

...and this appears underneath the elephant

There is a Fourth Way - Vote Toaster

Editor — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:36:49 +0100

It's election day tomorrow where we get the chance to put an X in a box to choose between the Conservative/Labour duopoly that's been in control for all our lives (with apologies to any readers who were over 18 years old about 60 years ago). As usual we get to vote for the one we dislike least or against the one we dislike most. What sort of choice is that? Of course there are other parties but a vote for the Lib Dems won't see them in power short of a hung parliament. A vote for Clegg and Co does, however, carry the idea that we might just get a shot at some badly needed electoral reform. All very depressing but just when all seemed lost a fourth way has appeared with the clock at two minutes to midnight. New slogans from a previously little heard of political party have appeared. Common sense and salvation are here at last.

On May 6th Vote Toaster. You know it makes sense.

campaign shots: The Toasters

Return of the rat - More Banksy in San Francisco

Editor — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:41:11 +0100

With a big thanks to Warholian again and the photographers credited here are 5 more Banksy pieces that have surfaced in the San Francisco area over the past few days.

Fishermans Wharf - Alcatraz Tour Boats - source: nimobimo on Flickr

Fishermans Wharf - Alcatraz Tour Boats - source: nimobimo on flickr

Alcatraz Island - source: Patric Fallon uptownalmanac - features a nice write up on this piece

Alcatraz Island - source: Patric Fallon uptownalmanac

24th and Valencia 'The Mission' source medicineagency

Regency Ballroom - 1290 Stutter Street - source: Regency Center

Broadway and Columbus (North Beach) - source: geekstinkbreath on Flickr

The Mighty Mo Line (aka The London Overground extension)

Editor — Sat, 01 May 2010 00:32:53 +0100

This week saw the launch of the latest section of the London Overground to go live. Running from Dalston Junction down through to New Cross it runs straight through areas like Hoxton and Shoreditch at roof top level. Which is pretty damn handy if you want to see work by climbing graffiti legends Burning Candy and in particular Mighty Mo (based on my quick jaunt along the line on the opening day). Right now its kind of a weird experience riding the line. There's an odd mix of a few locals trying out the service and a whole host of trainspotter types. So on my left I had someone saying "See right dahn the train inside, init, bruv" whilst on my right the man with the bottom of his trousers not quite reaching his ankles said "Looks like they're using the same sleepers as in the Euro Tunnel". I'll let you work out which one was which.

Mighty Mo and Gold Peg

Mighty Mo and Elmo

Mighty Mo / Cords

Mighty Monkey & Gold Peg (BC)

...here comes the trainspotter bit

London Overground train

First London Overground train - April 2010

Shok-1's Urban Assault

Editor — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:17:10 +0100

It's a work in progress but this 'Urban Assault Vehicle' can currently be seen turning heads on the streets of London. Shok-1's given one of the city's most infamous and battered vans a completely new paint job in his own organic graffiti style. There's a wealth of letter forms and fine canvas art like detail - more flicks soon when it's ready to roll.

Shok-1's UAV - spraying bullets

Elsewhere in town Shok has completed a new wall with a difference - more than a splash of colour. Look more closely though and it's underbelly is exposed.

'Weird Seeds' - Shok-1

Banksy San Francisco street blitz

Editor — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 08:32:45 +0100

Banksy has at least six pieces in San Francisco now - thanks again to Warholian.com for the use of their pictures. These photos show both the pieces and their context which as always shows up some really relevant placement. Warholian's Flickr stream has all the exact locations for those in town.

All San Francisco Banksy pictures - Warholian.com

VNA 11 out now

Editor — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 23:38:01 +0100

The latest copy of VNA (verynearlyalmost) landed on the doormat this morning with a reassuring thud. Sure enough its another 100 pages of quality content with the usual great pictorial roundups of graffiti, tags, stickers, stencils and paste ups. There's also features on Insa (the cover shoot looks like fun!), Gaia, Maclaim's Case, Mike Giant, The Toasters 'Bluff Buff' work and Joe Holbrook. For me though the standout piece has to be the Ruedi One interview with some awesome photos from eerily quiet night time graffiti raids into Europe's railway yards. Four pounds - get it here.

VNA issue 11 - (image from VNA's flickr)

Ruedi One in VNA 11 (image VNA's flickr)

Banksy on tour in America

Editor — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:19:32 +0100

Hot on the heels of his work in L.A. (coinciding with the Stateside release of Exit Through The Gift Shop film) further new Banksy work has now appeared in San Francisco. Warholian were pretty much first up with the news and kindly sent these pictures through to be used on artofthestate. Since then several other pieces have appeared - you can find them here and here and what looks like a joined up one between here and here.

Banksy in San Francisco

Roa going large in London

Editor — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 23:35:18 +0100

As both hoped for and expected Roa has been hitting the streets of London with massive new works to coincide with his show at the Pure Evil Gallery. I tracked down a couple of the most recent ones today which were lit up by the fantastic sunshine we've had pretty much all week. If you want to find some of Roa's pieces for yourself try this map from Pure Evil.

Escif at Pictures on Walls - Street work pictures - opens Friday evening

Editor — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:41:36 +0100

Escif's show opens at Pictures On Walls on Friday (16th April) evening between 6 - 9pm . Prior to the opening work from the Spanish artist has gone up on the shutters outside the pictureonwalls ground floor premises at 46-48 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LT and in the Dray Walk car park off Brick Lane.

Different Ways To Escape From The Tragedy!!

Escif show at Pictures On Walls

Editor — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:24:43 +0100

If you've seen Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop or even just the new extended trailer for the film you'll have seen one of the funniest moments - graffiti artist Escif getting arrested in quite ridulculous head gear while painting a wall. Other (slightly more calm) moments can be seen on his youtube channel which can be found here. The good news is that he's still at large and Pictures On Walls are shortly bringing him over from Spain for a solo show ('Around The Wall') at their Commercial Street premises in Aldgate. The event runs from 17th April to the 30th April (check on picturesonwalls.com for the latest updates on particular opening times). In the meantime I'm hoping to see him hitting the streets of London with some quality interventions such as this:

Escif (image courtesy picturesonwalls)

Escif on Youtube

A look around Roa's show at the Pure Evil gallery

Editor — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:30:50 +0100

Roa's work translates easily from the streets to a gallery setting and this show in the small but perfectly formed Pure Evil Gallery in Shoreditch is one of the finest I've seen in a long time. Featuring a pretty unique interactive element many of the artworks can be flipped open or closed to reveal the different states of their animals decay or their vital organs. And with a cleverly layed out range of site specific works, art pieces for sale and a room full of photos of his work in situ the space it's a show that London really needs right now to give it a much needed shot of originality. Here's hoping that originality transfers itself to the streets as well before Roa leaves town....

Roa show opens at Pure Evil Gallery tonight

Editor — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:18:45 +0100

Over the past year Roa has been, in my humble opinion, smashing it worldwide. So its great to see that he has his first solo show in London opening on Thursday night (April 8th) at the Pure Evil Gallery.

Roa in London:

Election Announced - Let Battle Commence

Editor — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:40:24 +0100

So the elections been called and we get to choose between two brands of basically the same washing powder.

Of course other parties are available but short of a hung Parliament there's no chance they will wield any real power.

Here's Dr D taking on the UK Independence Party by hi-jacking one of their posters alongside the M4 heading into London. Nice work - especially as it links UKIP, Robert Kilroy Silk and that classic graffiti slogan 'Kilroy Woz 'Ere' all into one billboard. More on this piece here.

Before

After

More on the Robbo / Banksy saga

Editor — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:41:36 +0100

Robbo's well documented take back of his original eighties piece location and the taunting slogans painted on a further three Banksy works on the Regents Canal all received a new twist late last week. Where he had painted 'King Robbo' three letters ('Fuc') have been prefixed to the front in a similar style giving it a new meaning. Now pretty much guaranteed to be buffed in the near future it will be interesting to see whether they decide to remove the whole thing, leave just Banksy's painter or remove only the recently added 'Fuc'. Someone in the councils going to have to make an artistic decision. And that is normally bad news....

Further along the waterway Banksy's fisher boy has received a second modification. Originally he was fishing a tag out of the water but this was changed by Robbo to a sign saying 'street cred'. Now he's pulling in what looks like a fishing prohibited sign.

On the site previously occupied by the 'I Don't Believe In global Warming' slogan a completely new stencil has appeared. A solitary bird with a paint roller for a head watches the wall where Banksy's and later Robbo's slogan appeared apparently waiting to pounce again and erase any further work that might be added.

Finally the text around Banksy's rat in top hat and tails has been removed and to my eye has improved the look of the rat itself who now appears illuminated in a spot light. I love Banksy's rats so it was good to see one of the little fellas make an appearance in London after a gap of of a few years.

What isn't known for sure yet is who did the above alterations. Were they really the work of Banksy himself or some avenging street art fan (with quite a bit of organisational skill)? We may never know but you won't find many who think this will be the last installment in this long running and to be honest at times tedious battle.

Banksy - Graffiti on TFL, Don't Panic poster and the other advertising

Editor — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:09:27 +0000

The original 'Forgive Us Our Trespassing' poster (source: Don't Panic)

Don't Panic gave away a limited edition Banksy poster with their most recent free arts and culture pack. They first teamed up with the then relatively unknown stencil artist a full 10 years ago with a 'Stop Esso' poster (now trading on Ebay for considerable sums of money) and this tie in with Banksy's film sees them reunited. I thought I'd missed the boat on this freebie but I managed to track down a copy yesterday afternoon in an office's reception area so there are still some out there!

The image features a praying boy (see below) and via artbelow a copy of the Don't Panic poster was for a short time on display in London Bridge Underground station. Now Transport For London have a pretty infamous 'no graffiti' rule for any advert on their property to the extent that even printed pictures of graffiti are banned. This recently caused problems for the band Massive Attack and might also be the reason that the poster (reproduced below) for Banksy's film 'Exit Through The Shop' on display at the Leake Street cinema never appeared on the Tube. Just in case you're wondering there is a point to this story so bear with me because here it comes. The poster on display in the station had it's graffiti halo removed to fit TFL's guidelines but someone has since come along and added the halo back on in spray paint. Pretty neatly too as they've masked off the hat to avoid spraying it and allowed a drip to go down the back of the head just like on the original image. TFL, in their ultimate wisdom. have had the poster removed (I wonder if someone had the sense to keep it) and there's now just a white space left where the poster was. Which, ironically, is a red rag to a bull for any passing graffiti artist....

The modified Don't Panic poster on London Bridge Station with its hand spray painted halo (source BBC)

Banksy 'Exit Through the Gift Shop' alternate poster on display in the 'Lambeth Palace' Leake Street cinema.

Finally it would appear that the text advert for the film that appeared scrawled across both an advertising hoarding and the surrounding wall on Portobello Road was an illegal hit. A more recent picture shows that the board part has been covered up with the advertising agencies standard blue paper while the text sprayed onto the wall remains untouched(!). See Phil Dicken's photo on Flickr for how it looks now and below for its original look.

Eixt Through The Gift Shop Advert on Portobello Road

There's been a fair bit of debate on whether the advertising for Banksy's film is hypocritical given his stated hatred of advertising designed to make you feel inadequate in the past. I can't really be bothered to add anything to this played out 'sell out' argument that's been around for years now other than to advise you to read the whole advertising quote in his books. There is more I could say on this matter and the current state of street art in London in general but I'll save that for a future post. For now I'll just say this is hardly the worst thing thats happened in recent times and for people to claim that one piece not even claimed by the man denegrates his entire body of work over more than a decade is just ridiculous....