I thought this article in Telegraph.co.uk about grafitti in Bristol is really interesting. Could we do something similar in our town / park? Street art has come to stay, so why don´t we find a solution as to separating art and vandalism? Will
„Bristol City Council will put to the public vote whether murals which appear on buildings, walls and fences are street art or graffiti.
As part of a formal street art policy, the council’s street clean team will not take action if people decide the graffiti is nice and want to keep it.
The approach was prompted by a Banksy work which shows a naked man hanging out of a window while his lover’s partner looks for him.
When it first appeared on a council-owned building in the city’s Frogmore Lane in 2005 it sparked debate over whether it should be removed.
The council set up an online poll and said that 93% of people wanted to keep it.
Now they are extending the public vote to any other street art that appears across the city.
Although the council has pledged to remove offensive and unsightly graffiti, a street art policy will “seek to define and support the display of Public Art“.
The plan states that “where people tell us that murals or artworks make a positive contribution to the local environment and where the property owner has raised no objection“ the council will not remove the graffiti.
Councillor Gary Hopkins, cabinet member for Environment and Community Safety, said: “We have said informally that if it is street art that people like we will keep it but we want to formalise it now into a policy.
“People want us to keep up the war against the taggers so we have had to work out a way to differentiate between the taggers and the artists.
“Tagging is still removed but if it is art that people say they want to see they can take a photo and upload it on to our consultation website and we will ask people they think.“ „
Finally someone with a reasonable approach to the subject. Very good, Will!
Bob
it’s interesting to see the shift – thanks to guys like Banksy graffiti is becoming more of an accepted art form..nice.
just like you can expect a building owner to want to kick your ass if he finds you painting on his property you can expect a writer to want to kick your ass if you are painting over his work.. plain and simple
graffiti is not street art. know what you´re talking about before you start a discussion
I´ve found this explanation on the net, just to prevent a longer genre discussion…: Graffiti is a subculture. It has a certain tradition and history. That has to do with getting up and writing your name. „Street art“ is a bigger term. There’s a lot of gray area. Street Art includes things like stickers and stencils . Usually the imagery you see in street art is something people can relate to pretty easily without having to learn much about it. Steve Rotman
Graffiti is something that’s done on the spot, with the traditional tools. Street art is generally premeditated. It’s done in the studio and brought to the street, or it’s done with the intention of being installed, and it’s not so much concerned with the fame and the game that goes along with graffiti.
Chris Brennan
And both are vandalism
As I have said earlier, the young people in the occupied house have brought this into our park! These lazy unemployed people fill the whole neighbourhood with dirt and paint. When is the police going to do something about this house?? Seems like they have just settled with the idea that those bastards can keep the house. Now they have opened their doors for the homeless as well, mind you they are coming from all over town to sleep in that house and fill the park during the day.
well u saw what happened to anthony ..can u not try and b human?
They just use the homeless as an excuse to stay in the house. They should find themselves work and pay their taxes as normal people do.
Great article about street art. Maybe this blog could be a place where people vote for works they want to keep in our neighbourhood?
YES, Amiesunshine! Let´s contact the town council about this!