Banksy

I have always been a fan of Banksy’s work. For one, it is amazing art, and the fact that he himself is unknown to the public and has managed to escape being discovered by police (or anyone) since he first got involved in it which was allegedly during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the 1980s, makes it even more brilliant. Banksy's work has caused a lot of controversy in the past - is it condoning graffiti? Or is it art? I for one believe it is art - even if it is of the illegal kind - and to paint over it is the same as painting over any other artist's work - it shouldn't be done! Whilst in London last week, I wanted to go and see a Banksy piece so after looking it up and finding out that the closest one was only a 15 minute walk form our hotel, we set off...only to discover that when we got there the piece we were hoping to see (one nation under cctv) had been painted over 4 months ago!

Looking into this further, I discovered that the local council (Westminster City Council) had ordered that the artwork was to be removed to send out a message to other graffiti artists in London, as the artist did not get the permission that was necessary to do this. The full story on this particular Banksy piece being painted over is at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7688251.stm

This is just one of a number of Banksy pieces which have been painted over recently, mainly for the same reasons and a few by mistake. Last year, a piece which appeared on the cover of Blur's 'Crazy Beat single' was painted over by 'mistake' by Hackney council. The owner of the building had given permission in 2003 for the piece to be done. It is said that Hackney council sent letters to the woman's previous address asking to paint over it, and when no reply was given they started. The woman managed to stop them half way through and save half of it.

In 2008, a Banksy piece of a small diver in a duffle coat in Melbourne, Australia was vandalised. The piece was painted over and the words 'Banksy woz ere' written across it.

The number of pieces being painted over is growing, with more councils claiming this is no better than kids tagging and vandalising buildings. I feel this is more than graffiti, as the messages put across in Banksy's pieces reflect issues in the world which he clearly feels need addressed (such as anti-war and anti-capitalism). Maybe councils should look past the graffiti and to the message underneath...

With the release of his film (Exit Through The Gift Shop) in cinemas just now and the growing number of articles about him, hopefully the knowledge of Banksy will grow further, and he will become recognised as an artist and have his works protected in future.