Thursday 17 October 2013

Banksy In Britain: LONDON Part 3

Illegal Rat, Clipstone Street, W1W 6UP. Nearest Tube Station: Goodge Street
State Of Existence: PRESENT
As the daylight began to give way, we made our way over to this piece in Fitzrovia, West London.
Illegal Rat is in great condition, and the peeling paint on the wall should now hopefully be held intact by the covering plexiglass for a good while to come.
I found one thing particularly notable about this piece, and you should look out for this because it feels oddly worth observing. Along with the nice little fleck of detail with the paint covered paw mark on the wall, there are also quite a few drizzles of red paint emitting away from the wall. It is these sort of rough cut details that make street art so appealing, and allows the viewer to think the work is almost spontaneously created, and the great amount of planning that goes into much of this work can go positively unnoticed.
It is a great piece for photography too, crouch down and get yourself a great James Stewart and Harvey type picture with an imaginary rodent friend. Like this.
 

King Robbo, Regent's Canal, Camden, NW1 9LN. Nearest Tube Station: Camden Town/ Camden Rd
State Of Existence: PRESENT
Night time now well upon us, we arrived at Camden, were things took a turn for the weird.
As soon as I left the tube station, I was instantly approached by a man begging, so enthusiastic in his approach he butted me with the peak of his cap. Next I queued for the toilet in Sainsbury's for what felt like days (you had to be there). Walking towards our intended point along the canal, we startled a man standing next to a woman who had her vagina fully on show, what was to occur next can not be confirmed; but if their shady attiude and tinned lager picnic was anything to go by I dread to think.
The work is in a dank underpass, barely lit by anti-heroin use UV light, where you can literally picture the Crimewatch reconstruction of the rape and murder of You. While we were observing the work (which doesn't take long), a mysterious Oriental man expressed interest in what we were looking for, and passed and me a business card advertising a Flikr Exhibition. This made me feel hip, and grateful he had not stabbed me.
Camden is a must see place, this Banksy by itself is not. My girlfriend at the time, who was with me even said: "Is that it?". Our photo taking was brief, and you must forgive me for looking a tad shit scared on the one photo I had taken with it.
 That said, this piece puts into context nearly every Robbo tag and alteration we had seen throughout the day. In this spooky underpass, the much reported Robbo/ Banksy feud began, when Banksy made a cheeky alteration to Robbo's original work from the 1980's.
This is apparently a cardinal sin in the graffiti world, and what I see as one of Banksy's best ever pieces was seen as a vicious insult. I liked the way the original alteration refreshed the fading Robbo original, while still retaining enough of the old for it to be appreciated. But I am just the humble observer, and since a tit for tat graffiti war has taken place, with at least five variations being created in this particular spot, be it the various stages of the Wallpaper Man, Top Cat's Grave and Goldfish Living Room (Google the current piece and you will see the rest).
What is there now is Banky's olive branch to Robbo, who is still comatose from an unexplained head injury, in the form of the original stencil, presumably for Robbo to recommence should he ever recover. Accompanying the stencil is a half lit gas canister image, either a light in vigil or something more symbolic?
My visit to this piece was extremely memorable, but was rather troubling at the time, so it is probably best seen in the day, when the rapey Trainspotting vibes are replaced by a more middle class stroll along the water feel. But if you like to feel slightly uneasy on your urban treks, by all means go at night, just seriously, do not go alone. Camden Town itself though, is an incredible atmosphere and must be experienced, perhaps only popping in on this piece as a kind of street art history trip.

Flower Painter, Pollard Street, Hackney, E2 6LR. Nearest Tube Station: Bethnall Green
State of existence: PRESENT
Behold the classic Flower Painter, no doubt Banksy's best existing piece, if not his best ever.
Like Every Little Helps, Flower Painter is now in an extremely tired state, but is an absolute must see. Frequently reproduced on canvases and tshirts, there is something quite magical seeing that large yellow flower towering in the distance as you approach the piece.
You have seen it in books and in television, but not until you see it in real life do you appreciate how unique and great it is. It is a lengthy walk away from the nearest tube station, but hanging around by this piece felt totally worth it, and I am sure we must have spent a good half an hour by it too.
It is just so largely iconic, you cannot help but resist the urges to take in the detail of every flawed or unflawed part of the work. The flower is in great condition and would be recognisable simply by the presence of that alone, yet there is also the painter sitting nearby that just furthers the magic.
In truth, the painter has had a very rough time; the surface of brick that was his knees has now been ripped away, leaving a gaping hole in the piece, and someone has foolishly tagged INSE across his face, seriously obscuring the detail (this presumably has nothing to do with INSA, an excellent "curves" obsessed street artist.). But this piece is the very realisation that in whatever state you see these pieces in, there is still something wonderful within to be enjoyed. Along with No Ball Games it is probably this Banksy piece that I am proudest to say I have seen.
If you remember pictures of Flower Painter at its most fresh, you will recall the flower lines adjoining with the double yellow parking lines on the road, and was a pure example of the simple wit that adorns many of Banksy's pieces, and the off the wall interaction between the mural and its surroundings.
Yes, on the whole, it is now in a poor quality state, the plexiglass over it seeming too little to late, but for its pure iconic nature and the sheer fact this piece defines Banksy's work, Flower Painter is an absolute masterpiece. Should you only visit one Banksy in London, make it this one.


Gas Mask Girl, Brick Lane, Hackney, E1 5HD. Nearest Tube Station: Shoreditch
State of existence: GONE
The last stop on our Bansky tour, (which had taken place over two days with a Blur concert sandwiched in the middle, beat that for Hipster points!) was Brick Lane: essentially the London haven for street art and in retrospect a rather poignant finale to end our tour.
I would encourage anyone to come to Brick Lane to experience the sheer unique atmosphere created by the endless street art and the dominantly Indian culture that has infused with the artsy nature of the area to form a town unlike anywhere else in the country. You can see work here by most top notch graffiti artists: Phlegm, Pez, ROA, Sweet Toof, Invader and many, many more.
However though, as a more recent visit shown, no Banksy. Not anymore anyway.
What was there on my visit as part of the Banksy tour, was the last few cracks of paint that once made up Gas Mask Girl. There isn't much I could say about this piece, as there wasn't much to see. But what you could see was enough to give a hint of appreciation for what was once clearly as classic piece.
Now the wall has been polished clean, it is a good example of the life cycle of a Banksy art work, especially as it seemed to have simply faded naturally.
In a period of time unknown, all these Banksy pieces will fade away and once again become a blank wall, just as they originally were. They are not made to last, and unlike classic works by DaVinci, Van Gogh, Picasso and Hockney, these works will not stick around to show the people of the future what it was all about.
The works are purely for us, for now; and it is this exclusive nature of the work that makes them so special.
I would look forward to the days when I could walk through London with the grandchildren, point at a few unconnected yellow specks of paint high up a wall on Pollard Road in Hackney and declare, "that's a Banksy that is". I imagine their indifference would be monumental.
But these pieces are there for you to see, for free, 24/7.
Go and see them.

For Part 1 of this blog: click here
For Part 2 of this blog: click here

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