Right or Wrong? Banksy's Newest Gets Protection

Banksy's newest piece just got covered with plexiglass. Some people think this is very wrong, and against Banksy's wishes and the purpose of street art. Click the jump for more

The London Street Art Design (LSD) Blog just posted a pic and video showing Banksy's newest piece being protected and covered by plexiglass.

LSD feels that street art is a 'temporary flash of greatness' and covering it up, even to protect it, is wrong. They feel it might even jeopardize Banksy's doing art on the streets at all.

While we agree that covering a piece of street art alters the essence of the piece. Still, we aren't sure whether it is a better thing to let the piece run its course naturally, or to protect it with something foreign to the streets, and the idea of street art, like plexiglass.

And the irony is rich how building owners don't want graffiti on their buildings, but when its a Banksy, they will protect it. Clearly, it has more to do with the financial aspect than love of graffiti as an art form, but it does start to represent a change in the way society treats things. Perhaps, if communities would ask, could this be a Banksy? or worth money? and maybe those questions would lead to more street art being preserved longer, in general.

Right or Wrong? Banksy's Newest Gets Protection

Banksy's newest piece just got covered with plexiglass. Some people think this is very wrong, and against Banksy's wishes and the purpose of street art. Click the jump for more

The London Street Art Design (LSD) Blog just posted a pic and video showing Banksy's newest piece being protected and covered by plexiglass.

LSD feels that street art is a 'temporary flash of greatness' and covering it up, even to protect it, is wrong. They feel it might even jeopardize Banksy's doing art on the streets at all.

While we agree that covering a piece of street art alters the essence of the piece. Still, we aren't sure whether it is a better thing to let the piece run its course naturally, or to protect it with something foreign to the streets, and the idea of street art, like plexiglass.

And the irony is rich how building owners don't want graffiti on their buildings, but when its a Banksy, they will protect it. Clearly, it has more to do with the financial aspect than love of graffiti as an art form, but it does start to represent a change in the way society treats things. Perhaps, if communities would ask, could this be a Banksy? or worth money? and maybe those questions would lead to more street art being preserved longer, in general.

Banksy Trashes Bin Ladin

Osama Bin Ladin gets killed, and people get rich?

The Poke is reporting that last night, the night after Obama announced that Osama Bin Ladin had been killed, Banksy stenciled 1000 trash receptacles in the poorest areas of Britain with an Osama image. The Poke claims (through an intermediary of a spokesperson for Banksy's spokesperson) that the stenciled are indeed authentic Banksy pieces.

Since Banksy's work is generally worth thousands of dollars, if these are indeed Banksy pieces, then a thousand of Britain's poorest families just got rich.

Not sure what the meaning is of seeming 'gifting' on the day of Osama's death. Maybe there is a deeper context to putting the image on a trash bin? Could it be Banksy was making up for possibly making a homeless man more homeless? Or maybe Banksy was trying to quell potential urban revolt in the poor, disenfranchised areas of Britain? Perhaps its to steer the conversation away from the talking points of the pundits on television? Or maybe this is reading too much into things and, like always, Banksy just wanted to keep folks guessing!

We have some reservations about this, in large part due to the sheer ability to stencil 1000 pieces in a night. We know that Banksy has a team, but even for 3 or 4 teams, it is quite an ordeal to stencil a couple hundred pieces in one night. So we are puzzled about the logistics of how this could be done.

Stay tuned to MELROSEandFAIRFAX for further updates, and keep an eye on ebay for Banksy's Osama Trash Bins.

And if this is Banksy, perhaps 'philanthropist' should be added to Banksy's title, along with 'vandal'.


***UPDATE: This story did not really happen. It is from a publication that is like the Onion, which is a (hilarious) parody news site. So, great story, but a parody, not truth.***



***Big thanks to Dennis from ColorsinLA for sending in the tip!***

Banksy Trashes Bin Ladin

Osama Bin Ladin gets killed, and people get rich?

The Poke is reporting that last night, the night after Obama announced that Osama Bin Ladin had been killed, Banksy stenciled 1000 trash receptacles in the poorest areas of Britain with an Osama image. The Poke claims (through an intermediary of a spokesperson for Banksy's spokesperson) that the stenciled are indeed authentic Banksy pieces.

Since Banksy's work is generally worth thousands of dollars, if these are indeed Banksy pieces, then a thousand of Britain's poorest families just got rich.

Not sure what the meaning is of seeming 'gifting' on the day of Osama's death. Maybe there is a deeper context to putting the image on a trash bin? Could it be Banksy was making up for possibly making a homeless man more homeless? Or maybe Banksy was trying to quell potential urban revolt in the poor, disenfranchised areas of Britain? Perhaps its to steer the conversation away from the talking points of the pundits on television? Or maybe this is reading too much into things and, like always, Banksy just wanted to keep folks guessing!

We have some reservations about this, in large part due to the sheer ability to stencil 1000 pieces in a night. We know that Banksy has a team, but even for 3 or 4 teams, it is quite an ordeal to stencil a couple hundred pieces in one night. So we are puzzled about the logistics of how this could be done.

Stay tuned to MELROSEandFAIRFAX for further updates, and keep an eye on ebay for Banksy's Osama Trash Bins.

And if this is Banksy, perhaps 'philanthropist' should be added to Banksy's title, along with 'vandal'.


***UPDATE: This story did not really happen. It is from a publication that is like the Onion, which is a (hilarious) parody news site. So, great story, but a parody, not truth.***



***Big thanks to Dennis from ColorsinLA for sending in the tip!***

Banksy Responds to Oscars

Banksy finally responds to the Oscars.

Banksy finally issued his response to the Oscars, only the new piece is not in LA, it is in Weston, UK.

The SWNS broke the story that this new stencil has gone up so recently that the paint is still wet. It has not yet been verified on Banksy's website, but we think this does look like a Banksy.

This new piece features a little girl, who is assumed to be 15-month old Lara Egan, who dropped and damaged her fathers Oscar statue..

It seems that Banksy might have been a little bit put off by not winning the Oscar, and we were disappointed that he didn't issue a rebuttal in LA. This new piece seems to say 'I'm going to take my ball and go home', and at the same time poke fun at the very idea of the award.

Banksy has reportedly said, "The last time there was a naked man covered in gold paint in my house, it was me."