With quite a cult following here in Sydney, Numbskull joins an array of street artists taking their art back off the streets into a more formal mode of presentation ie the gallery. What does this mean. It means you dont make a buck from your work by spraying the streets, unless you are like minded with a friend of mine in London who is convinced if he sledgehammers, saws or bulldozers prized Banksy pieces from their resting grounds he will make it BIG time in the future. Also I remember a story about a well known female New Zealand designer who actually knocked off a piece from the streets in Auckland city and put it in her home - which I thought was pretty fkin rude actually.Now who was that..? I digress. The old arguments about the gallery as an institution lie buried in the 70's its actually cool again to show in them. For eg " I am having a cool show in this gallery" or " I went to see this cool show at a gallery" What is important I think is the effectiveness of place with images. Taking something that strikes hard on the streets out of context can easily become somewhat dumbed down on a canvas. I enjoyed the imagery of Numbskulls pieces but up close and personal it just wasnt the same >
Banksy's gallery stuff doesn't do it for me sorry. Agree with you about Numbskulls too. The wall is such an important part of street art... Part of what makes it cool is the anonymous urge to create outside of any system. Once the artist sells Teshirts - like Shepheard Fairey's obey label (one of the most popular pirated brands in Singapore - well Far East Plaza at least) - things go downhill.
And Simon you have to tell us the name of the designer. No one is listening...
Posted by: Barnaby | February 24, 2006 at 01:15 AM
who is this "Simon" ?
Posted by: sdc | February 24, 2006 at 06:50 AM