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.
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.
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Comments
Hide the following 27 comments
bigger fish to fry than banksy
06.04.2009 08:40
Your action seems churlish and childish to me.
tosh
What is this about?
06.04.2009 08:47
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
e-mail:
soephchen@hotmail.com
WTF?
06.04.2009 09:04
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
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!
pd
Predictable
06.04.2009 09:41
For the publicity perhaps... publicity to kick start your pathetic campaign?
go back to sleep.
tired
banksy
06.04.2009 09:43
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
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...
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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
kb
stupid students
06.04.2009 10:44
like I said they don't get it. dumb students
brummie
Graffiti hypocrisy
06.04.2009 10:54
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
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
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
Jamal
b
06.04.2009 12:43
a
Jacobdog
06.04.2009 12:49
Jacobdog
It's difficult to
06.04.2009 15:30
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
e-mail:
corneiliusc@hotmail.com
Real artists not stencil half steppers!!
06.04.2009 23:45
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
ultimatekev
ouch! you hurt my banksy
07.04.2009 00:26
hands up who can spell HYPOCRISY?
Eight Ace 149
stupid
07.04.2009 09:07
Selina from Dove Street
e-mail:
selinapostgate@blueyonder.co.uk
Homepage:
http://www.dovestreet.co.uk
temporary art
07.04.2009 17:15
Ok, you've trashed a Banksy, now how about trashing a Bank?!
anon
splasher
07.04.2009 21:31
NYC
This is being cleaned up
08.04.2009 08:24
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
anon
response to anon
08.04.2009 19:49
hehimselfandi