Saturday 2 August 2014

Oh, the Irony

From the Graun

Since then, the Cheltenham business community has been attempting to raise funds to keep the piece, which had been sprayed with anti graffiti paint, in the town.

Angela De Souza, of Save The Banksy, a group of Cheltenham business owners, said a local millionaire had been in the process of buying the piece.

But on Friday morning, graffiti covering the artwork appeared, leaving locals in a "race against time" to save it.

Graffiti? Tell people it's done by Tracy Emin and everyone will be queueing up to buy it again as art.

9 comments:

Ian Hills said...

"Gloucestershire police appealed for anyone with information about the graffiti to contact them."

It's bad enough that the police no longer arrest vandals like Banksy for criminal damage.

But now they're trying to nick people who damage the criminal damage.

DBC Reed said...

Banksy is an artist and public benefactor; this work has been vandalised.
Now wonder with so many Philistines about.
What's Tracy Emin got to do with it? Her work is not in any remotely equivalent class to Banksy's

Tim Almond said...

DBC,

There was a time when this went up when people were waiting for Banksy to get in touch to confirm it was his work. And the question is why? If you like it, does it matter who painted it?

I have my suspicions that had it not been a Banksy, it would have been painted over. Hence, my Tracy Emin comment.

Mark Wadsworth said...

Banksy stuff is great but he uses stencils.

So they are easy to replicate, why bother scraping the graffiti off to reveal the "real Banksy" underneath?

Just cut out a new stencil for the original thing and spray another one on top of the graffiti on top of the Banksy.

Tim Almond said...

Mark,

Good point. Someone could have scanned the painting (at a very high level of accuracy) and redone the work.

(I have a general problem of "original art" that it mostly makes no sense in an era of mass duplication technology. Next time I'm in Paris I'm buying a miniature Rodin from the rather splendid museum).

DBC Reed said...

Probably best to use stencils when
you are working quickly and in danger of being nicked for vandalising a naff looking wall.
Also cutting the stencils would be a work of art in itself.
Still can't see why Emin's names being invoked .
Walter Benjamin wrote the definitive work on "art in an age of mechanical reproduction" quite some time ago.

James Higham said...

Did you bid for her bed?

DBC Reed said...

Why's everybody going on about Tracy Emin? I believe her bed "installation" was vandalised by Japanese protestors who pissed all over it. Nobody noticed.

DBC Reed said...

Not Japanese protestors but "Chinese artists" apparently. And they did n't piss on the bed, just jumped on it in their underpants,it's said (Hmn!)They did piss on Duchamp's "fountain" (in fact a urinal)in the Tate but it was protected by Perspex so it pinged off.
See more point to them than Tracey Emin whose bed contains used condoms and skidmarked sheets. Not sure about their once eating their own shit off a plate though.
Banksy is streets ahead for good old craftsmanship , design and wit.