Defaced Banksy

In the early hours of this morning, Banksy's 'Mild Mild West' on Stokes Croft in Bristol (UK) was repainted by a member of Appropriate Media, presenting an alternative version of this 'alternative Bristol landmark'.

Banksy Mild Mild West

Through this action, Appropriate Media asks “What is the value of street art?”. How much time and money will be spent to restore this urban 'masterpiss' by urban masterpisser, Banksy.

Come on, you only care about it cos its a Banksy and he sells his lazy polemics to Hollywood movie stars for big bucks.

Come on, you only care about it cos makes you feel edgy and urban to tour round the inner city in your 4x4, taking in the tired coffee table subversion that graffiti has become.

Appropriate Media state:

Graffiti artists are the copywriters for the capitalist created phenomenon of urban art.
Graffiti artists are the performing spray-can monkeys for gentrification.

We call for the appropriate and legitimate use of public and private property.

We are taking matters into our own hands.
We will not seek permission.
We will retaliate.

Appropriate Media
e-mail: appropriate.media101@gmail.com
Homepage: http://www.appropriatemedia.net

Comments

Hide the following 27 comments

bigger fish to fry than banksy

06.04.2009 08:40

There are 100s of explicitly pro capitalist, racist, hetrosexist adverts and billboards out there -its a shame you didn't subvertise one of those. Not everyone has heard of banksy -and at least his work encourages reflection and response -your crude action, says little and could be read as very right wing. It sounds like you are jealous of Banksy success -yes he uses the capitalist system to make money by critiquing that system -it sure beats working in a meat factory for 10 hours a day.

Your action seems churlish and childish to me.

tosh

What is this about?

06.04.2009 08:47

I don't understand this action or the article. Did the authors slosh the red pain across the banksy? What are they calling for?

Banksy was valued as a street artist long before he became appropriated by the main stream media and celebrity and he has never courted celebrity. His art stands out for its craft and creativity, he has highlighted the decay of urban life and police intimidation/brutality in many of his works, which he placed in very visible spots around London. This achievement should be celebrated! And his works continue to be destroyed, particularly in East London, so it's not the case that he is particularly protected from this.

MS

milli schmidt
mail e-mail: soephchen@hotmail.com

WTF?

06.04.2009 09:04

What is this, jealousy that Banksy can actually create art. This seems like a rather puerile attempt to try and siphon off some of his 'celebrity' for yourselves.

Go throw paint at EDO, HLS, RBS, the police or someone who is actually doing something bad! or, like the earlier comment said, subvert some billboards that are brainwashing people.

This was a pathetic action that will get little if any support, which we can only assume was carried out by some middle class reactionary trying to get their 5 minutes of fame.

Grow up.

pathetic

Does Banksy make any money from this?

06.04.2009 09:07

My understanding is that nobody is completely sure who Banksy is, and that he doesn't make the money from the sale of his works - the owners of the buildings, hoardings etc. that they are painted on, do.

Am I completely mistaken?

Cartoonist

Banksy is Viral Advertising

06.04.2009 09:39

Banksy doesn't exist -it is an example of viral/contagion advertising invented and propagated by the property developer/gallery owner/culture controllers that assume the inner city is their cash cow- destroy Banksy-destroy the wall it's pained on and the gallery/estate agents/cafe next door!

Predictable

06.04.2009 09:41

There are so many more legitimate, corporate targets out there... makes one wonder why you chose Banksy.

For the publicity perhaps... publicity to kick start your pathetic campaign?

go back to sleep.

tired

banksy

06.04.2009 09:43

"My understanding is that nobody is completely sure who Banksy is, and that he doesn't make the money from the sale of his works - the owners of the buildings, hoardings etc. that they are painted on, do.

Am I completely mistaken? "

um yes, I dont know banksy myself but do have friends who work with him and have painted alongside him for years.

banksy makes seriously money now of his works, both from his book and recreations of his street art, when I say makes money I mean millions, like 10's of millions, by sale of his work through galleries. He also supports many grass root projects, (as he did when painted someones mobile home, it went for 100's or thousands, allowing them to buy a house). from this and helps loads of people out, from what I gather, as well as avoiding celebrities and their hangers on, from what people tell me a thoroughly decent chap, who's works tell a tale no one wants to hear. so this defacing is well by people who just dont get it.

cheers

brummie

brummie

Info on 'APPROPRIATEMEDIA.NET'

06.04.2009 10:03

Domain name: APPROPRIATEMEDIA.NET

Registrant: Clean Collective - Bristol, Avon

1) The Clean Collective – a disparate, desperately random collection of artists (who met studying MA Fine Art at UWE, Bristol) has commissioned the comparatively well-defined duo of Harrison & Hughes to act as artists, builders, collaborators and curators. To build an environment which is – and isn’t – their work and, to incorporate into that, the work of the Clean Collective..which then becomes the work of Harrison & Hughes. Or is it the other way round, and the whole thing is simply the Clean Collective buying in paid help to buff up their chances? Whether collaboration or compromise, for the collective good or personal profit, perhaps it simply is. And may be that’s enough.

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2) A group of students on the MA Fine Art course at the University of the West of England formed Clean earlier this year as a means to facilitate a group exhibition of their work in Bristol in September.

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The Clean Collective describes itself as a group of artists who want to "come clean" about the work they have been producing in private.

Their work ranges from iconic paintings and photographs decorated with animal intestines, to paintings, photography and drawings commenting on popular culture, fetishism, the...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GFA Grants 2005 (Arts Council)
012797SW
THE CLEAN COLLECTIVE
Plan Nine
£500 - 12/17/04
Bristol, City of Visual Arts

The Clean Collective Info

pathetic

06.04.2009 10:14

seems like pathetic jealousy, you've defaced a decent piece of art and you think that's revolutionary? pick better enemies please

stupid students

06.04.2009 10:44

"A group of students on the MA Fine Art course at the University of the West of England formed Clean earlier this year as a means to facilitate a group exhibition of their work in Bristol in September."

like I said they don't get it. dumb students

brummie

Graffiti hypocrisy

06.04.2009 10:54

There seems to be hugely hypocritical attitudes to graffiti in Britain. On the one hand, Banksy makes millions from his art and appears to be accepted as an artist in most circles, yet on the other hand, teenagers and young men are handed disproportionately lengthy prison sentences for essentially the same activity. The difference seems to lie in the fact that Banksy displays some of his work in galleries and appears to be accepted by the artistic establishment and yet street graffiti artists tend to target trains and frequent dangerous locations in order to fulfil their need to graffiti. The former is accepted as an artist and the latter are regarded as vandals, so what's the truth of the matter?
Moreover, the lengthy prison sentences for graffiti writers reflects the capitalist value placed on property - at worst, graffiti is an economic or property crime. Tom Collister was sentenced to two and a half years yet a Portugese lorry driver killled a family of six on a motorway and was sentenced to just three years - only six months more than Tom Collister (who hung himself in his prison cell in his 23rd year). Where's the sense of proportion?

BABS

we call..........

06.04.2009 11:07

'We call for the appropriate and legitimate use of public and private property.'
wtf ?!?!?!?! are these people crazy or jealous?

fuck property

remember kids, organise and smash the state

anon

how to win friends and influence people

06.04.2009 11:40

not their finest hour. i'll call my friend up at the Arts Council see if he can dig up some info on the Clean Collective if they've had a grant payment.

stokey

Smacks of jealousy

06.04.2009 11:42

Was it the suggestion that anti-police protesters are really cuddly Pudsy bear types that upset them? It just comes across as jealousy.

I mean, if they subverted it somehow in a clever way, it might be possible to take it more seriously. But chucking red paint all over it?

When they've got the guts to go to the West Bank and do some of the illustration that Banksy's done there, then they can accuse him of selling out.

Norvello

Ridiculous

06.04.2009 12:28

As many others have said, the paint would've been much more useful splashed across a billboard advertising short-haul flights. Regardless of what you think of Banksy, there are plenty of worse public displays you could vandalise; this is childish and idiotic.

Jamal

b

06.04.2009 12:43

These right wingers are angry because the anarchist movement took actions against the G20 in London which questioned private and state property and hence questioned middle class privilege. They are not the only angry conservatives in England. We need to bring these people round to realising that competition to control property and people is the driving force behind violence and that our resistance is designed to realise a just and peaceful society.

Jacobdog

06.04.2009 12:49

Appropriate - do you hate everyone who isn't you? Get some therapy.

Jacobdog

It's difficult to

06.04.2009 15:30

get how making money from overpriced art that celebrities buy and highlighting the failings of our society that creates such celebrities, and their flip-flop audiences as a matter of poloicy can balance each other...... these are great paradoxes, are they not?

I don't say that Banksy is not entitled to make money from his work.

I just question the standard middle class 'earning is good -refusing to work is bad' non-think.....

And as for Banksy, he' s happy to sell his work for hugely inflated prices, to see it's price rise as do shares, on the basis of market-forces and at the same time happy to obstruct others who also want to make money off of his 'products'...

It's the constant double-standards, that Chomsky refers to often, that most people seem to be able to integrate, that I find really interesting.

coreluminous
mail e-mail: corneiliusc@hotmail.com

Real artists not stencil half steppers!!

06.04.2009 23:45

Banksy is media hyped up shite,a stencil takes naffall effort to do,a piece of real graffiti which has hard work,forethought and planning,and takes someone years to perfect the skills to do is what should be considered graffiti,
Banksy is art,not graffiti art.I'm not saying i agree with them dogging the shit out of his work,cos i'd be pissed if someone did it to me,i just don't like his work.
each to their own an all that.

hehimselfandi

A drastic improvement

07.04.2009 00:13

on a an otherwise bland, empty piece of trash.

ultimatekev

ouch! you hurt my banksy

07.04.2009 00:26

Hey you can't just go around throwing paint at walls that don't belong to you , it's illegal!
hands up who can spell HYPOCRISY?

Eight Ace 149

stupid

07.04.2009 09:07

"Appropriate Media", please put your energies to more appropriate use. There are plenty of better targets than a mural loved by ordinary, non-gentrifying local residents. Look - it wasn't "gentrifiers" who got off their arses and cleaned up your mess. Get a grip.

Selina from Dove Street
mail e-mail: selinapostgate@blueyonder.co.uk
Homepage: http://www.dovestreet.co.uk

temporary art

07.04.2009 17:15

I reckon Banksy wouldn't give a toss about this work being defaced and the fact that it's taken so long to do it just reinforces the 'Mild mild west' message! Street art is temporary, changing, spontaneous and alive and I bet he was laughing all the way to the bank when the 'Establishment' suddenly wanted to get hold of, protect and sell his work!
Ok, you've trashed a Banksy, now how about trashing a Bank?!

anon

splasher

07.04.2009 21:31

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/arts/design/28splasher.sidebar.html?ex=1340856000&en=b692374cc2293497&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

NYC

This is being cleaned up

08.04.2009 08:24

There's nothing radical about trashing a Banksy - are AM trying to appear "more radical"? As per previous comments, they just look like conservative reactionaries, which I presume from their rhetoric is not what they intended. D'oh!

Meanwhile the Morning Star featured a photo yesterday of a community effort to repair the picture, so hopefully it will be back to its former state before too long.

Jon

to hehimself&i

08.04.2009 13:07

If you'd be pissed off to get your work dogged, you're in the wrong business. Get your stuff framed under glass if you wanna protect it so much! street art is about claiming and reclaiming urban spaces, and about individuals shouting 'I'M HERE!!!!' among the anonymous grey concrete sprawl. Check out the Situationists. Street art is temporary, responsive, living. Anything hanging around too long gets stale and isn't relevant anymore. If my stuff didn't get tagged, I'd be disappointed in people.

anon

response to anon

08.04.2009 19:49

haha just cos i'd be pissed off doesnt mean id want to preserve it to stop it happening in the first place,i reckon pople who go round dogging stuff in general are the ones who have nothing better to do,who dont realise that petty beef is just that.

hehimselfandi