De reinigingsmachines van de straat treffen voorbereidingen om Banksy weg te vernietigen
De critici roepen de graffitikunstenaar een genie, en Brad Pitt en Angelina Jolie heeft £1m voor zijn werk betaald. Maar de raad van Hackneypaard heeft tot zijn arbeiders aan macht-slang zijn beelden uit gezicht opdracht gegeven
Door Cole Moreton
Wat is grootste eyesore op de straten van Oost-Londen? Een reuzerat met een mes en vork in zijn paws, blijkbaar. Of rioter die bloemen werpt. De raad van Hackneypaard zegt deze subversieve beelden de plaats vuil maken kijken en moeten gaan - zelfs als zij door Banksy werden nevel-geschilderd, meest onwaarschijnlijke superstar van de kunstwereld.
Brad Pitt en Angelina Jolie heeft net £1m voor sommige van zijn werk betaald. Van Hollywood aan Hoxton, zijn de kunstcollectoren bereid om groot geld te betalen want om het even wat Banksy, met zijn duurste enig stuk, Meisje en Vogel uit elkaar plaatst, verkopend voor £288,000 in Bonhams in April. Maar de raad van Hackneypaard geeft niet.
„Wij moeten de muren schoonmaken,“ zei een spreekbuis bevestigt, die dat de straatreinigingsmachines bereid zijn om wat van distinctiefste beelden van de moderne Britse kunst de als deel van een nul-tolerantie beleid weg te vernietigen. „Wij kunnen geen besluit nemen over de vraag of iets kunst of graffiti is. De overheid beoordeelt ons op het aantal schone muren die wij.“ hebben gehad
Let nooit op dat de kunsttoeristen uit overal ter wereld komen proberen om Onverbiddelijke Reaper met het smileygezicht of enkele andere 30 of zo werken te bevlekken Banksy die binnen de stadsgrens zijn gemaakt aangezien hij eerst begon met stencils zeven jaar te werken geleden.
De raad zegt het de kunst „zal verwijderen wanneer wij het“ vinden. In dat geval, moeten de ambtenaren de laatste mensen in Londen zijn om niet te weten waar het is. De kaarten beschikbaar op Internet geven nauwkeurige plaatsen. Zij tonen ook waar de cocaļne-snurkende politieagent of de diner-beklede ratten met een rood tapijt aan hun gat waren. Banksy is voordien een slachtoffer van de straatteams geweest, ziet u - maar gewoonlijk per toeval.
A year ago, two officially sanctioned Banksy works were meant to be unveiled at the opening of a new square in Hackney, but when the covers were removed two days before the ceremony, the cleaners took exception to the stencils of a man’s face and a girl in a gas mask and hosed both away.
“These were famous artworks by Banksy and of considerable value,” said the co-operative responsible for them being there. The council apologised. That disaster was thought to have led to a list of untouchable sites, but if there was one it has been thrown away. “It is a myth that Hackney has a list of protected street art,” said councillor Alan Laing, the member of the ruling cabinet responsible for the look of the streets. “Some might see graffiti as street art, but to most people it is just plain vandalism.”
Born and raised in Bristol, Banksy started out as part of a graffiti team. According to the self-made legend, his real name may be Robert Banks, and his parents are said to believe he is still a painter and decorator.
His work is often funny, iconoclastic and strangely touching, from two policemen kissing to the naked man hanging off the window ledge of a sexual health clinic in Bristol. The city council chose to keep that one, because people liked it. Banksy has also carried out guerrilla-art stunts at London Zoo, the British Museum and several major American galleries. This summer he made a Stonehenge-style circle at the Glastonbury Festival out of portable loos.
In recent years his fame has spread and his ambition grown: he painted a hole with blue sky on the West Bank wall built by Israel, and made a live elephant look covered in crimson flock wallpaper for an exhibition in Los Angeles. That show introduced his work to Hollywood – the singer Christina Aguilera later bought a picture of Queen Victoria having lesbian sex, and Pitt and Jolie became collectors. Last week, 10 of his pieces raised a total of £500,000 at Bonhams in London.
Gareth Williams, senior picture specialist at the auction house, said after the sale: “Perhaps the most incredible aspect of the Banksy phenomenon is neither his meteoric rise, nor the substantial sums of money that his art now commands, but that as a self-confessed guerrilla artist he has been so wholeheartedly embraced by the very establishment he satirises.”
Embraced? Not everywhere. They may not know much about art in Hackney, but they know what they don’t like.
Top prices: Off the street and into the auction house
£1m
Various works sold to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, October 2007
£288,000
‘Space Girl and Bird’ (commissioned by the band Blur for their album ‘Think Tank’), April 2007
£102,000
‘Bombing Middle England’, February 2007
£96,000
‘Ballerina with Action Parts’, February 2007
£57,600
‘Mona Lisa’, October 2006
£25,000
Three prints including Queen Victoria sitting on a woman’s face sold to Christina Aguilera, summer 2006
Further reading: ‘Banksy Locations and Tours’ by Martin Bull (Shellshock Publishing, £10.99)
See More:ArtHave Your Say: Street cleaners prepare to blast Banksy away
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This entry was posted on Sunday, October 28th, 2007 at 6:53 pm and is filed under Culture . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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