Thursday 6 March 2008

Urban satirist or vandal?



Another new piece of Banksy wall-art has sprung up along Essex Road in Islington. I noticed it from the bus on Sunday as I was travelling to Camden Passage, so the ink must still have been wet (according to news reports it appeared that day).

I am in two minds about the ubiquitous graffiti-monger. On the one hand he is incredibly talented, sharp in his choice of subject, and chooses to apply his paint to otherwise neglected walls. On the other hand, he doesn't (to my knowledge) ever ask permission of the wall's owner before he sprays, and - considering that individual works by this former member of the Bristol DryBreadZ Crew (sic) now sell at Sothebys for hundreds of thousands of pounds - neither does he offer them any cut of his earnings for the privilege.

Mind you, if I found that Banksy had sprayed something on my wall I'd damn sure get the builders in to remove it right away - and get it straight to an auction house!

Banksy website

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