Banky's graffiti used to stick around for a while until being painted over or buffed. But now that Banksy's prints and artwork sells for vast amounts, it seems that his graffiti is being lifted from the street for "private collections" or, more likely, to be sold on eBay.
Unfortunately, the many websites and books dedicated to his work can serve as handy guidebooks for these art-snatchers.
From
Art of the State blog
"It would now seem that there is a market for original Banksy street art and I guess that these people are using the Banksy location maps and pictures at times published by this site and others to work out what can be lifted from the streets. It's a no-win situation. Graffiti is meant to be seen and the maps etc. help in this respect but are they now making things too easy for the scalpers? By its very nature graffiti is expected to be buffed, destroyed or gone over but soon there won't be too much to look at if this trend continues."
Saturday, January 13
Friday, January 12
Soviet bus stops
Christopher Herwig's photos of Soviet bus stops:
Soviet Bus Stops
Link via Orang Utan [real name?] on the Urban75 bulletin boards.
Soviet Bus Stops
Link via Orang Utan [real name?] on the Urban75 bulletin boards.
Very Important Person
Mark Alor Powell's book, VIP, is now available, and looks eye-wateringly good. I have a very strong feeling that this will prove to be a work of great density and importance.
Details here:
http://book.markalor.com/
I'm just waiting for the European site to be set up so I can buy a couple...
Details here:
http://book.markalor.com/
I'm just waiting for the European site to be set up so I can buy a couple...
Monday, January 8
Big in Berkshire
Some dates for the diary. After my solo show in sunny Slough, the Beside the Sea exhibition is moving on to the fragrant town of Bracknell. It will (hopefully) feature 35 big prints taken along the English south coast.
South Hill Park exhibition
The South Hill Park arts centre is set in a stately home, and I'm told is the biggest arts centre in Europe. Several other exhibitions will start and finish at the same time.
Dates: Saturday 3rd February to Sunday 18 March
Opening times: Mon-Sat 9am-11pm
Sundays and Bank Holidays 11am - 10.30pm
The show was instigated by the beautiful people at Gallery 435, who curated, organised and financed the original "Beside the Sea" show.
South Hill Park exhibition
The South Hill Park arts centre is set in a stately home, and I'm told is the biggest arts centre in Europe. Several other exhibitions will start and finish at the same time.
Dates: Saturday 3rd February to Sunday 18 March
Opening times: Mon-Sat 9am-11pm
Sundays and Bank Holidays 11am - 10.30pm
The show was instigated by the beautiful people at Gallery 435, who curated, organised and financed the original "Beside the Sea" show.
Saturday, January 6
Up and coming? David Solomons
People can be sniffy about Flickr, and certain aspects of the presentation can be annoying, but it is a great place to bump into good photographers. And occasionally extraordinary talents, that make you wonder about the correlation between ability and success. ("Success" being a relative term in the rather obscure practice of street photography, I suppose.)
Anyway, being very late to the Flickr party, my most pleasing "discovery" so far has been David Solomons. A graduate of the well known Documentary Photography course in Newport, Wales, David has been shooting since the early 1990s.
His web site at
http://www.davidsolomons.co.uk
contains a tightly edited portfolio, but the steady stream of old and new photos trickling onto Flickr at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidsolomons/
show him to have a very large body of good work.
It's a mystery to me why he isn't more well known; I'm sure that will change soon.
Anyway, being very late to the Flickr party, my most pleasing "discovery" so far has been David Solomons. A graduate of the well known Documentary Photography course in Newport, Wales, David has been shooting since the early 1990s.
His web site at
http://www.davidsolomons.co.uk
contains a tightly edited portfolio, but the steady stream of old and new photos trickling onto Flickr at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidsolomons/
show him to have a very large body of good work.
It's a mystery to me why he isn't more well known; I'm sure that will change soon.
Monday, January 1
Bath before Christmas
No that's not an instruction.
For the past few years I've made a point of visiting the Georgian city of Bath just before Christmas. The gaudy lights and plastic Santas that seem to signify Christmas in most town centres don't really cut the mustard for me. No - I was searching for the mythical notion of a traditional Christmas experience. Carol singers and, erm, other stuff.
Some photo taking, present buying and general aimless wandering were on the agenda. The present buying was fairly painless - some jewellery from the excellent Silver Shop and the indoor market.
The obvious photographic subject would have been rushing Christmas shoppers, hence that didn't seem appealing. Instead, I set myself the task of taking an interesting picture featuring the famous Royal Crescent:
Bath
The Jimmy Stewart moment came early in the day, when I passed a little girl who was telling a Santa what she wanted for Christmas: "A dog ..., well a puppy". The excitement on her face was priceless. If that was in a Hugh Grant film, I would have puked, but in real life it was so touching. And there were some great carol singers (one of whom I recognised from a photo taken a few years ago).
Shopping and photography over, I concentrated on aimless wandering until 9 pm (and have the blisters to prove it). The wide streets and "tasteful" Christmas lights looked great after sundown.
For the past few years I've made a point of visiting the Georgian city of Bath just before Christmas. The gaudy lights and plastic Santas that seem to signify Christmas in most town centres don't really cut the mustard for me. No - I was searching for the mythical notion of a traditional Christmas experience. Carol singers and, erm, other stuff.
Some photo taking, present buying and general aimless wandering were on the agenda. The present buying was fairly painless - some jewellery from the excellent Silver Shop and the indoor market.
The obvious photographic subject would have been rushing Christmas shoppers, hence that didn't seem appealing. Instead, I set myself the task of taking an interesting picture featuring the famous Royal Crescent:
Bath
The Jimmy Stewart moment came early in the day, when I passed a little girl who was telling a Santa what she wanted for Christmas: "A dog ..., well a puppy". The excitement on her face was priceless. If that was in a Hugh Grant film, I would have puked, but in real life it was so touching. And there were some great carol singers (one of whom I recognised from a photo taken a few years ago).
Shopping and photography over, I concentrated on aimless wandering until 9 pm (and have the blisters to prove it). The wide streets and "tasteful" Christmas lights looked great after sundown.
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