I don't live in New York. Or anywhere near New York. I couldn't be further away from New York.
Therefore, I will never be happy.
I have tried everything: Yoga, Retail Therapy, Amateur Dramatics; I even moved out from home. And albeit that move being into literally The Coolest Most Affordable Penthouse flat in one of the hippest areas of Merseyside, I am still not happy. People are now impressed by me.
But me? Still not happy.
I have been to the shockingly good Barcelona, the breath taking Grand Canyon, the inimitable London and the other worldly San Francisco but New York is officially the most awesome place on Earth. And it's because of things like this that make it so.
For this month, street artist Banksy (for whom I appear to have accidently become an unofficial writer for), is creating a daily mural/ piece/ installation around the city of New York. The "exhibition", for which I will now on refrain from using quotation marks, is called "Better Out Than In".
Most pieces have an accompanying toll free number next to them for observers to call, and get an audio guide relating to the piece. The recordings for, which happen to be a little too knowing, refer amusingly to the artist as Ban-sky.
Flaws aside, this is an astonishingly good idea. The streets of NY have become a gallery, and each day fans await which created piece they will be able to visit next.
Some of the works created this month are at least as good as classic lost pieces like Child Labour, but they are also in New York as well, so kind of get more plus points for that.
At this halfway point through the month, and also the exhibition, I would just like to highlight a few of my favourites.
This nicely detailed piece, recalls Every Little Helps for it's amusing interaction with the surrounding environment. It depicts two 1920's style street kids helping one another grab a spray can hidden behind an anti-vandalism warning. I would very much have liked to have seen this work for real, however, it was sabotaged and painted over just hours after its location was revealed. The sign too was also rather pointlessly taken. Pictures from those people luck enough to get to it first are nice though.
Obviously a quick one this, with two others appearing around town, using exsisting tagging to create some inspired proposals for musical titles. Occupy! is my favourite of the three, and encourages an amusing brainstorm of what that actual show would be like. I can imagine the V for Vendetta mask chorus line opening with a campy Al Jolson style "We took St. Pauls, and then Wall Street, we've packed our tents up cos tonight we dine on Braaahdwaaay". Please send any donations to help make these ideas a reality to the Finance Office. I put this pitch to a group of Anonymous V mask wearing protestors in Birmingham this week (see above), and they just told me they weren't interested in merchandising. Shame.
Floating prettily across a Brooklyn wall is this strikingly lonely image. Possibly referencing the outstanding Balloon Girl in London some years ago, there is a hint of nostalgia to this piece and it is weirdly direct in its reference to a previous work. In writing the last three lines this has grown on me very quickly, and is a shame it was obliterated by tagging not long after its creation.
The first of two installations that have made this list. I have to admit, call me immature but I found this irresistibly funny. Come on, the stuffed toys actually move!
Touring around the Meat Packing district (were New Yorkers pack meat), this van full of bleating cuddly farm animals bought smiles of glee and grimaces of alarm to children across the city. I am going to argue that this is NOT art, but for pure fun it beats anything involving animals created by Damien Hirst, surely? A joy.
Sorry to rub salt in the wounds guys if you actually seen this installation, but this was an absolute gem.
Set the scene: when you visit a high level tourism area, how many little stalls are normally laid out along the walkways, selling everything from caricatures of celebs, I Heart wherever merchandise, lighters, Banksy canvasses...And how many do you just glance at and walk past?
Most of them? Well, what if you later learned that one of those stalls had been selling actual authentic canvasses possibly worth thousands for 40£? This is exactly what happened here.
Only eight canvasses were sold, and that was only between three people too:three very lucky people.
I like this incident because if you watch the video, it really could have been you who picked one up. They really were there for the taking: you didn't have to break an inch of wall away, nor bid one million pound at Christie's; you could just buy one for the price of a regular canvas.
Certainly, I suppose this is just a reinterpretation of the old, millionaire stands on roof and throws out thousands of bank notes, but imagine how cool that would be in real life?
Most importantly, this makes me quite glad I don't live around New York, as I just know I would have been near this, and completely ignored it. One of those (real!) Keep It Real Chimps would look superb in my flat, and missing this would have howled of a missed opportunity.
But I didn't miss it. As I don't live in New York.
Now I am happy. Thank You, Banksy.
To see the full exhibit so far, go to Banksy's brilliant website.
For more from Methods on Banksy around the world, check out the following links:
http://methodsofmodern.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/banksy-in-britain-london-part-1.html
http://methodsofmodern.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/banksy-in-britain-london-part-2.html
http://methodsofmodern.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/banksy-in-britain-london-part-3.html
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