Banksy – Going for Mould
The 2012 London Olympics is only a few days away and to show his support, infamous street artist Banksy has uploaded two new pieces on his website, locations unknown. The organizers of the prestigious games aren’t happy with it though. Banksy isn’t the first street artist to have put new work up on the streets lately, and local councils are being ordered to cover that shit up! Congratulations, London, you’re about to lose decades worth of iconic street art that’s dated back to the days of The Sex Pistols.
Remember when the 2010 Fifa World Cup was held here in South Africa and those girls dressed in Bavaria orange outfits caused a stir at he Netherlands/Denmark game? Resulting in them getting arrested?! Well that’s because Budweiser was the official beer sponsor of the unforgettable football event, and when it comes to branding for big events like that, peeps get real anal about protecting their brand’s exclusivity. So in this case, since the street art isn’t approved by the Olympic committee or sponsored by a big corporation, it’s viewed as offensive and must be cleaned up for all the tourists visiting London.
Mau Mau – Clown Town
Now, apart from the fact that some of Banksy’s pieces are worth more than £400 000,00, it’s a bloody shame that London would even consider painting over these pieces, whether it’s work by Banksy or other “regular” street artists. Jonathan Jones of The Guardian UK put it like this:
“Tourists don’t come to London for shining perfection. They come for old and new in chaotic ungainly juxtaposition. And they come, partly, for Banksy… So how is the Olympics benefiting London by enforcing a clean-up of its most globally recognized art movement?
This is not just about the freedom of a few artists to mess up the pristine Olympic bubble. It is about the identity of London.”
Hackney Welcomes the Olympics
Again I go back to the 2010 Fifa World Cup, since we felt it, it was here – highways were improved, bergies were taken off the streets, cities were cleaned, (official) banners and flags were put up everywhere and South Africa was in tip-top condition.
All in light of welcoming our tourists, showing what a beautiful country we have. We cleaned up, but fuck, we didn’t shut down the shebeens or spaza shops. In fact, we embraced them! It’s who we are as South Africans and, whether eating pap ‘n vleis with my dad after every game or talking to tourists, it was one of the best times of my life! So what I’m getting at is that London is at risk of (as Jones put it), permanently losing it’s identity amid this push for “perfection”.
There is street art found in London that’s decades old, and that has been there for decades. Although not all of it is done by Banksy and not all of it super pretty, it still forms a part of London’s image. London has a reputation for holding some of the world’s most iconic street art. Once that’s gone, London will be a city even more boring than Dubai. I say this because in Dubai, there’s no life to it. All the buildings look the same. The word ‘pretentious’ doesn’t even cover it.
Here’s a solution though. All the corporations sponsoring the Olympics should commission the artists to just go back to their original works and add the corporate logos to it. Oh wait, sorry, only Banksy matters since he’s a contemporary art genius. Let me rephrase: “All the corporations sponsoring the Olympics should commission BANKSY to put their logos up. If he does a shit job of it, they’ll praise him for his message. His art is worth millions and therefore it’s a good investment by the corporations. Fuck the other street artists because they haven’t made their own documentaries, books and haven’t been in museums. Bad investment!”
All of this is like cleaning up before a dinner party. Sure, you wanna tidy shit up a bit and make your home look classy, but by no means does that mean putting your deformed brother who has 3 arms and a pizza face in the closet.
