'I have received confirmation that Banksy had permission to tag the billboard in LA. The company that was advertising on the billboard is owned by the same guy that helped finance ETTGS. The billboard was put up with the sole purpose for Banksy to tag it. The billboard is now framed and is hanging in that gentlemen's office. It was Banksy's way of saying thank you.'
wholly unsurprising
from here
Ah the joy of vindication. But it was pretty obvious from the very first that it was all bought and paid for upfront.
ReplyDeleteReally?, then why is it currently being offered for sale?, each of the three sections being offered seperately.
ReplyDeleteBanksy and his financial backer are probably splitting the profits. Anything's possible in the repellent marketing charade known as corporate street art.
ReplyDeleteI have heard from reputable sources that banksy only paints on commissioned walls. I presume the recent kite runner pieces were illegal, god knows they were sketchy enough, but everything else from the LA Oscar promotion/hype tour would have been legal pieces.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it matter, his brand is too big to be getting caught in the act doing street pieces and there is now too much at stake. Banksy, the brand, is such a well oiled machine at knowing when and where to get up to promote their latest film, show, award nomination, print etc etc which ultimately revolves around one man’s, Banksy the individual, anonymity.
Always makes me laugh when idealist fanboys cry foul because he is meant to be their ‘Robin Hood’ type character and has ‘sold out’ because of this legal wall/corporate tie in/commissioned piece. He sold out a long time ago and long before you started taking interest.
Not being offered by either Banksy or his financial backer (whoever that is?) but by a well known American player (no not Lee3 the big headed knows f*** all), on the kiddies forum, at a ludicrous price for what in my opinion is a ridiculous piece of work by a mediocre albeit media savvy street artist.
ReplyDeleteWell, obviously Banksy wouldn't be offering it for sale himself, but behind all the PR smoke and mirrors there's a ugly rapacious commercialism at the heart of the Banksy empire. It wouldn't exactly be the first time they've created 'street pieces' with the covert intention of profiting from them.
ReplyDeleteTime for the fanboys to wake up. Soylent green is people and Banksy 'artworks' are nothing more than bad adverts.
Again, so what. If people are happy to buy these 'bad adverts' up then why does it bother you? Yes Banksy is nothing more than a pr/advertising company with socio political artwork similar in artistic merit to something found in the metro, time out or the guardian but it sure as hell beats sitting in a mundane office job and pays him considerably more no doubt. As long as people are suckered into buying up his pr driven output then fair play to him.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me because of all the bullshit and rebel posturing involved is so fucking annoying. I'm tired of hearing how he's some kind of genius renegade countercultural hero. All that this kind of misplaced fan worship makes street art into a bad joke and diverts attention from those artists who conduct themselves in a more sincere manner.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking earlier...how would it have been if instead of Banksy rising to prominence as the emblematic icon of street art, instead we had experienced a genuine 10 years long wave of protest art that refused to be commercialised? I guess we'll never know now, because it seems that the masses always prefer the weak, diluted, inauthentic version of music/art or whatever else they get spoonfed. Hence why we're now stuck with this ridiculous impostor as the figurehead of street art, who insists on constantly making it look like a cheap tacky gimmick.
'As long as people are suckered into buying up his pr driven output then fair play to him.' what if we hoped for something more from our mediocre humdrum lives, where we're supposed to meekly bend over and take everything we're fed?
ReplyDeleteBut you're not are you. You make the conscious decision to buy or try to buy Banksy’s or any other artists work. If you don’t like it or think it’s everything that is wrong with the scene then don’t buy, simple as. If you believe it is all pr driven tripe then more fool those who buy it. If you genuinely love it then great, enjoy!
ReplyDeleteIf you hoped for something more from your mediocre humdrum life why don’t you go out and try to do something about it. Who knows, it might even allow you to do something you love and be able to live your life through it accordingly. It's easy to be a keyboard warrior afterall.
Whether you like or dislike Banksy’s work at least he has done that. I admit I used to like his work but it has been getting considerably weaker since the la show to the point where it is now laughable in my opinion with absolute zero content worth talking about. What I do find interesting is the level of pr driven hype he has managed to generate around his brand and manages to sustain.
who's being a keyboard warrior? just stating an opinion, I think we still have that?
ReplyDeleteSorry, when your opinion ended with a question mark i presumed it was a question, silly me. Anyway, back to my our mediocre lives
ReplyDeleteUp to 115 posts about Banksy now I see. Fanboys
ReplyDeleteThis forum wouldn't exist without him or .info and that is a fact
ReplyDeleteExactly!...that's why we hate the cunt. A better form of street could have existed instead, and then we wouldn't need this place to slag off all the commercial shit he's inspired, and tory-boy pricks like Silky would have never come into the picture.
ReplyDeleteNot only that, but I heard from Lahoda that it wasn't even painted in situ. The billboard was removed, painted in studio and then installed as a normal billboard by normal workers.
ReplyDeleteBanksy did paint it himself (not RIME as has also been reported), but if you look at the images of the billboard as it is installed, the artist never would have been able to reach any higher than Mickey's waistline. We're talking about a 20' tall vinyl, people... Compare it to real billboard hijacking by Augor, Pharoe, Revok, etc... and you'll see that nothing goes higher than the bottom third of the billboard; if that.
This whole thing is sad; if you can't see that Banksy is only an art-marketing scheme, you're an idiot.
Wow, can't believe you heard from Lahoda, isn't he in hiding what with him being on the FBI most wanted list for mugging off poor d*face fans and people with too much money to spend on sub rate art??
ReplyDeleteLahoda was not and is not involved in any way in the Billboard work (if you can call it work?), he may like people to think he was but he was not.
ReplyDeleteAh Banksy disappointed you did he? Now go to the keyboard full of tears and vent your frustration and while you are at it, here's a few kleenex for you to wank over the 'the street artists that keep it real'.
ReplyDeleteBetter than wanking over pictures of kids scribbling on walls.
ReplyDeletePiss off Fart el.
ReplyDelete''Piss off Fart el''
ReplyDeleteNot me dude. You got the wrong guy
I can't believe people are even bothering to get upset about Banksy Industries Incorporated
ReplyDeleteHe's been operating as a business for years
Let the masses consume him. That way he will only appeal to the masses, will have to start selling mass produced products at lower and lower prices, and his "art" will become worthless
and then, wonder of wonders, it won't appear in museums in 100 years time as some kind of great art, and future generations will be saved from the bullshit!
I can't believe people are even bothering to get upset about Banksy Industries Incorporated
ReplyDeleteHe's been operating as a business for years
Let the masses consume him. That way he will only appeal to the masses, will have to start selling mass produced products at lower and lower prices, and his "art" will become worthless
and then, wonder of wonders, it won't appear in museums in 100 years time as some kind of great art, and future generations will be saved from the bullshit!
who's being a keyboard warrior? just stating an opinion, I think we still have that?
ReplyDeleteWell, obviously Banksy wouldn't be offering it for sale himself, but behind all the PR smoke and mirrors there's a ugly rapacious commercialism at the heart of the Banksy empire. It wouldn't exactly be the first time they've created 'street pieces' with the covert intention of profiting from them.
ReplyDeleteTime for the fanboys to wake up. Soylent green is people and Banksy 'artworks' are nothing more than bad adverts.
Not being offered by either Banksy or his financial backer (whoever that is?) but by a well known American player (no not Lee3 the big headed knows f*** all), on the kiddies forum, at a ludicrous price for what in my opinion is a ridiculous piece of work by a mediocre albeit media savvy street artist.
ReplyDeleteBanksy and his financial backer are probably splitting the profits. Anything's possible in the repellent marketing charade known as corporate street art.
ReplyDeleteThis forum wouldn't exist without him or .info and that is a fact
ReplyDelete