Friday, March 10, 2006
Graffiti Stencil Art
"The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Any fame is a by-product of making something that means something. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit." -- Banksy http://www.banksy.co.uk/
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5 comments:
he's got some cool stuff. I like that statement, but he is ridicously famous, so I'm not too sure if someone famous can say that. I know he's talking about graffiti that is just about tagging the town with no real concept or content. To me it's like the rich telling a poor person that you should just focus on one day at a time and you'll be all right. Of course the rich person can do that because he has enough money in the bank to not worry about where the next meal is going to come from.
I don't think graffiti is necessarily "just about tagging the town with no real concept or content." What about the kids profiled in the early 80's PBS documentary "Style Wars"? There was real purpose to their work. Or, Basquiat with the SAMO tag? Even though SAMO's anti-materialistic message is somewhat corrupted by Basquiat's rise to fame, I still think there was substance and meaning in the work.
I didn't mean that. But the guys who do just tag the town have concept. I believe there is concept in everything. Banksys work is socially politicaly charged work. I meant he was talking about the graffiti artist who's work is more about ego, and less about concept. I definitely don't dismiss graffiti. Banksys work is really great though. I can definitely dig it. I do believe that there is a lot of ego around having your work in a public setting without the consent of the building owners space. I used to stencil and I got a high off of tagging. It made me felt sort of above the law, etc. But I believe artwork can just be nice to look at also. It doesn't have to be deep and introspective and have to make a political statement. That's my take on it. A piece of artwork, works or it doesn't. Regardless of concept. To me it's sort of a gut instinct. Oh well. Nice new photo.
I'm just glad that we've created a dialogue on the subject. I have a series of graffiti stencils (not my own) which I'll post when this sky series reaches its natural conclusion (maybe soon, I'm thinking four is enough). I wanted to open the door on the subject a little early by posting the Banksy quote -- just to take the temperature of the collective. You clearly have opinions and first hand experience on which to draw. That's exactly what makes the conversation so interesting and worthwhile. I'll keep posting, you keep communicating, the collective will grow and benefit. At least, I hope that it will . . .
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