…Exploring the role of the prankster as artist, activist and social observer and the significance of the prank in society.
From Melbourne Art & Culture Critic, May 2, 2010:
Pranksters struck at one of Melbourne”s train stations again. This time they altered a ticket machine”s instructions to dispense university degrees. The alterations used stickers of the same color and typeface, cut to fit over the existing information, it was so subtle that staff at the station didn”t notice them until informed by a confused customer. (Thanks to Jane for the photos.)
Close-up view:
City does give a rat’s for Banksy’s wiped-out art
by Raymond Gill
theage.com.au
April 28, 2010
The curator of Citylights Projects in Hosier Lane, where the Banksy graffiti was erased, says the council is remiss.
Melbourne City Council sent the cleaners into Hosier Lane on Thursday to tidy up the rat-infested garbage, but they caught the wrong rat.
A request by deputy lord mayor Susan Riley to clean up the laneway, world famous for its colourful street art, inadvertently resulted in the painting over of a stencil of a rat by the celebrated British graffiti artist Banksy.
”I went down there on Thursday and saw the cleaners and said: ‘You realise you have just painted over a Banksy?’,” Hosier Lane resident Kerry Butcher told The Age yesterday. ”And they said: ‘We are just doing what we’re told’.”
Banksy, who created several stencils in Melbourne on a visit in 2003, is regarded as the world’s foremost street artist. In 2008, a London wall bearing one of his stencils allegedly sold on eBay for $472,528. His works on paper sell at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Last week lord mayor Robert Doyle was pictured in The Age under a stencil of himself in Hosier Lane as he praised its street art as a ”legitimate expression of artistic intent”. Continue reading “Melbourne Hopes Banksy Will Return to Re-Defile Their Streets”
Banksy graffiti feud given a fresh coat
by Alexandra Topping
guardian.co.uk
23 April 2010
Banksy alters King Robbo ‘tag’ on Regent’s canal “¢ King Robbo retaliates but some cry publicity stunt
The history of art has been coloured by fierce and often glaringly public feuds between celebrated artists of the day. From Turner and Constable to Whistler and Ruskin, long-standing and public battles have kept generations of art lovers engrossed, outraged or simply amused.
But few artistic spats have been played out in such a public manner as the current standoff between Banksy, the internationally renowned bestselling graffiti artist, and King Robbo, one of the founding fathers of London’s graffiti scene.
The battle, which started on the banks of the Regent’s canal in the capital before Christmas, has stepped up a gear with the Bristolian apparently launching a new attack on King Robbo’s work. Continue reading “Banksy & Robbo Up the Anty. Perfect Timing.”
Midnight Knitter Pulls the Wool Over NJ Shore Town
1010WINS
March 10. 2010
West Cape May, N.J. (AP/1010 WINS) — Someone is spinning quite a yarn over one New Jersey shore town.
Dubbed “The Midnight Knitter” by West Cape May residents, someone is covering tree branches and lamp poles with little sweaters under cover of darkness. Continue reading “Guerrilla Crocheting in Cape May”
NYPD: Rooftop Figures Just Art, Not People in Distress
1010WINS
March 9, 2010
New York (AP/1010 WINS) — The New York Police Department wants the public to know that the figures soon to be gazing down from buildings near a midtown park are an artist’s body casts — not residents in distress.
The department was worried the upcoming outdoor exhibit might spark 911 calls of possible jumpers, so it wanted to alert the public, said police spokesman Paul Browne.
On Tuesday, the first sculpture of the installation, called “Event Horizon,” was placed on top of a building that houses Pentagram Design’s New York offices.
“We have a new staffer here at our offices at 204 Fifth Avenue; he doesn’t say much, and spends most of his time up on the roof, gazing at the skyline,” the company said on its Web site.
By nightfall, the figure was a dark sillhouette against the sky.
The work by British artist Antony Gormley consists of 31 life-size figures of the artist’s body cast in iron and glass fiber. The sculptures will be installed on pathways, sidewalks and rooftops of buildings surrounding Madison Square Park for an exhibit beginning March 26…
The installation will be on view through Aug. 15. Read the rest of this article here.