Post by svenman on Jan 14, 2010 13:53:47 GMT -8
ken - i'm no expert on uk graf or writers either, but i do appreciate me some street art.
my interest in graf and street art goes back years, but only as i have always had an interest in subcultures - hip hop and the graf that came with it that goes back to when i was 10 years old and enjoying old school electro and spinning around on bits of lino and also punk and hardcore - spiking up my hair and pogoing about to what i thought was really punk shit at the time - it was a fun and exciting time to be growing up in the 80's! - but have been into street art more seriously over the last 6-8 years.
my very basic understanding is that graf writers generally don't have much time for street art. street art is, in my mind, an evolution of graf - and builds from the seeds and ideals that the early writers planted. some writers don't entertain street artists as it is not the 'pure' essence of what graf was originally about....
i hadn't heard of robbo before this, and i don't think i'd really missed out on much. the original piece was not much to look at, but i find it interesting that this piece had actually survived for 20 years without being fully tagged over or ever buffed.
obviously he has more standing with other writers and pure graf fans than banksy does due to his being there 20 years ago, so i think the point about street 'cred' is purely subjective to whichever side of the fence you are on - i'm sure banksy has more credibility with people who enjoy humour and originality in his art than taggers or writers do. one man's trash is another man's treasure though.
i'm not sure who is doing this 'team' robbo thing, but i would guess that it is not robbo himself, just some crew that feels that they can wind up the banksy loving public by taking cheap shots and spinning out publicity and essentially getting their name out there, which is back to what graf is all about.
i don't think it's shameless self promotion steve - it's just graf writers taking the piss a bit - writing their name on other people's property is what they do....
i guess we are propagating the buzz that 'team' robbo are creating for themselves by posting about it and discussing it here.
street art can carry a powerful message, but i guess that the message that pure graf writing carries is essentially someone's name. i'm not too interested in that other than from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, which is pretty much the same level of appreciation i had when i was 10 years old.
my interest in graf and street art goes back years, but only as i have always had an interest in subcultures - hip hop and the graf that came with it that goes back to when i was 10 years old and enjoying old school electro and spinning around on bits of lino and also punk and hardcore - spiking up my hair and pogoing about to what i thought was really punk shit at the time - it was a fun and exciting time to be growing up in the 80's! - but have been into street art more seriously over the last 6-8 years.
my very basic understanding is that graf writers generally don't have much time for street art. street art is, in my mind, an evolution of graf - and builds from the seeds and ideals that the early writers planted. some writers don't entertain street artists as it is not the 'pure' essence of what graf was originally about....
i hadn't heard of robbo before this, and i don't think i'd really missed out on much. the original piece was not much to look at, but i find it interesting that this piece had actually survived for 20 years without being fully tagged over or ever buffed.
obviously he has more standing with other writers and pure graf fans than banksy does due to his being there 20 years ago, so i think the point about street 'cred' is purely subjective to whichever side of the fence you are on - i'm sure banksy has more credibility with people who enjoy humour and originality in his art than taggers or writers do. one man's trash is another man's treasure though.
i'm not sure who is doing this 'team' robbo thing, but i would guess that it is not robbo himself, just some crew that feels that they can wind up the banksy loving public by taking cheap shots and spinning out publicity and essentially getting their name out there, which is back to what graf is all about.
i don't think it's shameless self promotion steve - it's just graf writers taking the piss a bit - writing their name on other people's property is what they do....
i guess we are propagating the buzz that 'team' robbo are creating for themselves by posting about it and discussing it here.
street art can carry a powerful message, but i guess that the message that pure graf writing carries is essentially someone's name. i'm not too interested in that other than from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, which is pretty much the same level of appreciation i had when i was 10 years old.
