motivated by a smile

NSW government and the organisation keep australia beautiful NSW have stepped up their anti-graffiti operations of late. not only was there a unified inaugural graffiti day of action [don't the photos make you feel good?] held in may 2010 where one thousand avid residents banded together with religious fervour to clean up operations in identified key areas. education programmes are also being run to enlighten the masses on the potential hazards criminalized street art presents... like thinking. 


which got me to thinking --> wouldn't it be fun to run a counter event?


we already know about the other anti-stuff of fanatic house-value obsessed puritans which was announced by the state premier at the end of 2009: increased money directed into graffiti removal, the instant fines for carrying a spray can, markers or etching implements, on-the-spot fines for retailers, doubled penalties of up to 12 months imprisonment [check out the tagger musk case], the list goes on. one wonders if their zealotry would hypocritically swing if banksy paid a visit?


now there are two recently released reports, products of research conducted by the department of justice and the attorney general. one of these is "the motivations and modus operandi of persons who do graffiti". the sample group was fifty two graffiti kids busted between 2008 - 2009. any marketeer/statistician would cough at this unrepresentative sample. but anyway this is their summary of the four main motivators in order of frequency of the kids who got caught:


1. pursuit of fame or recognition
2. adrenaline rush
3. artistic expression
4. intentional malicious damage


all i know is when i saw this guy i photographed above outside the local mangy mechanics, i smiled. that's the power of art. filed under motivation 3. 


i went home & pulled out my stencils... and turned off youtube.

invisible man leaves stencil footprints

you know what hip-hop has done with the word ‘nigger’ - i'm trying to do that with the word vandalism, bring it back.
-- banksy.


the poster boy for street art, enigmatic socio-political activist banksy's been in the news again. if he's not commenting on it, he's frequently in it. these days ironically he or at least his reputation profits from it. increasingly the blurred line of problem vs solution becomes his all too familiar terrain.

his commodification probably doesn't make the elusive self-proclaimed vandal too comfortable, but he's known as a modern day robin hood giving the bulk of it away when he deservedly profits from collusion with the traditional art world. mostly he works for free for the common good. his work a public gift. or he's "lucky to break even" when some of his collaborative shows have massive outgoings and he sells programs for 3 pounds a piece.

the latest melbourne escapade now has the mayor inviting banksy down under for a spray painting rerun. i guess there are some landowners desperately looking to increase their property value.

which brings us to the interesting debate of public domain. whilst looking for various art to use [i do have a copy of wall & piece which is officially not sanctioned by banksy as per his website - who can tell?] online the majority of banksy's photographed work has been copyrighted by others with questionable motive. creative commons yields a sample of his infamous imagery but most people are holding onto their photos with a tight dickens-like grasp. there's no accounting for greed. no matter how incongruous with the original motive.



many people are turning onto banksy's art because it has been determined to be of social, political or artistic merit. 

this from a guy who cutely debunks the recent ID reveal by saying [he has been identified as robin gunningham through an old jamaican photo traceback [courtesy of what appears to be a high scale personal fall-out with the problematic man responsible for this video & the leak of the original photo]:



- no matter what the case, the ability to maintain his identity for so long has been an incredible feat. but thanks for nothing daily mail]:

a modern day hero akin to zorro. the cultural phenomena has earned buzz. kudos to that. banksy put the spotlight back on the art/message not pseudo celebrity which he often satirises. 


following fast on those tracks in a mass surge are those who perceive that this has value. of the financial kind. with that comes the plethora of rich who can afford to buy his work. ie. entire building walls. the people in & beyond the system. luckily he keeps speaking to us from the streets which are his world stage.

there are banksy spotters everywhere. he's been spotted in san francisco in the last 24 hours with a number of new art works. the flickr photos are copyright courtesy of the featured photographers. a contradiction of sorts.


what would banksy do? well the popular cut & paste plagiarist would probably go right on ahead and serve them, perhaps with a timely yet suitable twist.

with his film: exit through the gift shop just released in the states it's no surprise the artist turned flipside filmmaker could end up leaving many more stenciled footprints in his US wake. celebrities, governments & the status quo should shake. while the rest of the people can celebrate. so many agendas.

make sure you buy a postcard on the way out.

all images courtesy of creative commons & romanywg @the wooster collective & banksy's own site via interwebs. thank you for re-packaging anti-establishment mentality in a palpable user-friendly call-to-action breath of fresh breezy freedom goodness & providing a vehicle of expression. we're not all cattle for consumerism slaughter.

gathering moss on rolling asphalt

yesterday it came to my attention that breaking news on new zealand TV was the "vandalisation" of a goat with anti-police graffiti. the town goat now sports fluoro orange lettering "FTP" which is thought to stand for "fuck the police". i wonder if the kids responsible has seen banksy's cow series? or seen the hairdresser's painted poodles up on crown street in surry hills, sydney...

anyway recently whilst cruising the redfern back alleys i came across this wonderful mixed media graffiti which i've been meaning to share but a sabbatical from the daily grind resulted in extreme blog neglect until NOW!

moss typography clinging to wall crevices supplemented by clever pavement stencil work. plan big is an initiative of the adelaide & bendigo banks tapping into the gutter zeitgeist to flog their wares which ultimately is a nationwide mega mentoring program traversing multiple disciplines. personally i despise banks but little banks are kinda cooler. more banksy.

if you do have big plans check out their rhetoric. if it doesn't work out graffiti their asses. they're undoubtedly up whilst their heads are down thinking big. which reminds me [but not to be confused with] of robert muldoon's unpopular interventionist political strategy in the 80s.

one of my most loved gold towns, old cromwell was drowned under the sour deluge of aluminium smelting meets dam construction. perhaps there's a clyde dam goat to tell that story. another time.

september 11 generation...

matthieu rossat AKA matto is a member of the september 11 generation. his definitive breakfast television was the collapse of the twin towers. hence the expletive.. "FUCK"

like many of us he's concerned about art being blindsided & no longer pushing barriers due to lack of broad commerical appeal/profile.

last week i went to his exhibition opening at a little gallery i occasionally frequent quayside. gallery eight is an intimate but politically aware environment which often houses art with significant social commentary whilst delivering an aesthetic edge.

as usual neither the gallery or matthieu [who has played an active role in previous punk monk propaganda art events] disappointed. in fact i rather liked what i recognised/saw conveniently packaged for my viewing pleasure in a politicised nouveaux tribute to the pop characterisation popularised by banksy meets warhol. no standardised beauty facism here.

tristran mendès france had this to say as a preface to the exhibition. let his words mirror mine.

you can feel ill at ease, have an unpleasant feeling, even feel sick, that’s the objective.

the mechanism rests on some unlikely analogies, you may vaguely feel they are not politically correct, though you can’t actually grasp this.

the familiar pictures deal with our time.

you can recognize its tones, its aesthetics at once. the motives one claims are about our nowadays. they reveal something about the revolution of the media-related order that is taking place. the icons, the screens, which have always had a set place, their own logic, their social or political status can be found here, bare and without a hierarchy. the tsunami of post-modernity has just flown away.

the analogies you are confronted with have lost their structure, they are hybrid, regurgitated, and they question you like an insult.
you would like to know who it is aiming at and what it conveys.
you would like to be offended, to refuse. but it would only mean that you are staring at the finger pointing out to the moon. because these figures, however disturbing they are, convey nothing but vertigo, really. exactly the one you feel when the structure of history collapses.

the vivid picture is facing you. you answer it, but you are stunned. it swallows you up along with your own indignations.

the serigraphy posters can now be purchased online. AND there are these awesome pics which complete the series on matthieu's blog. if you're afraid of naked women you might not want to venture down the rabbit hole... red pill or blue pill? as matthieu says "everything's political."