Urban Art Association

Not as rough a week as Banksy will have between this and Guess. Is it even Brandalism this time as with NFTs it could be some other scammer.

Not sure where you are going with this, but I don't work for VeVe.
I do own other NFT's in VeVe, but asking these questions is not making me
any new friends over there.....

So if anyhting this is working to the contrary.

The real BAnksy experts like met are here.
So I really want to know more about Medicom and Brandalism/Brandalised.

I am asking, because I am explaining thousands of VeVe fans
that these are NOT Banksy NFT's. Which they clearly do not want to hear about.

And although I am a big fan of VeVe I am still questioning the company for
releasing these. I believe release items without approval of the artist is not a good move. 

So I do want to educate myself more then just "I know because I know".
I need solid arguments if I want to convince them to move away from this.

Has Banksy ever made a statement about Medicom statues?
He clearly does not approve of Brandalised.

To be fair, Brandalism (http://brandalism.ch/brandalism-strike-installation-banksys-dismaland/) is entirely different from Brandalised / Full Colour Black and they apparently worked with Medicom on their Banksy ‘inspired’ collectibles (https://hypebeast.com/2015/6/medicom-unveil-brandalism-collaboration-at-annual-exhibition). I doubt however that this NFT has anything to do with Banksy and is instead Medicom allowing an NFT of a product it made

Okay, my bad. Thanks.
Brandalism good - Brandalised bad !

Would be weird if Paul Insect , Gee Vaucher or Ron English would be involved in this in a bad way..... Ron English is actually one of the licensed artists on VeVe,
so I am very curious about his take on this.....

Brandalised as a name was probably chosen (stolen) from Brandalism to cause more confusion.... (Worked on me....) 

I agree with you on all of that Met. I was just pointing out the distinction between Brandalism and Brandalised given both had been mentioned interchangeably earlier in the thread

Dive Jedi

I previously didn't bother commenting on the NFTs, because at the time it seemed unnecessary on this forum, like preaching to the choir.

But in hindsight, that may have been an error on my part.


If you are able to get some Banksy-novice VeVe members to read this thread, I've set out a few thoughts below.

What follows is of course just one person's views and perspective, though I suspect it will in large part be shared by many other informed Banksy enthusiasts.



1.  "Banksy" NFTs

Anyone who believes Banksy would have anything to do with NFTs has little knowledge or understanding of how Banksy operates, or where his interests and priorities lie — as evidenced by the artist's body of work and projects, as well as the causes he openly supports.

That individual would be kidding themselves, simply believing what they want to believe. In other words, they'd be a victim of their own wishful thinking.

Cf. self-delusion, confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, rationalisation.



2.  "Banksy" x Brandalism / Brandalised / Full Colour Black Ltd*

Anyone who believes Banksy would have anything to do with the parasite business that is Brandalism / Brandalised / Full Colour Black Ltd (as opposed to Brandalism proper, i.e. Brandalism.ch, the anti-advertising movement) has little knowledge or understanding of how Banksy operates, where his interests and priorities lie, or the litigious history that exists between him and that company.



3.  Third-party use of Banksy imagery

Anyone who believes Banksy is, without qualification, okay about people, commercial brands and corporations stealing his imagery, because "Copyright is for losers", is failing to consider the multiple times the artist has made very clear distinctions (on his website and in comments to the press) between:

(i)  non-commercial, personal use of his images (advance consent given = fine); and

(ii)  unauthorised commercial use of his images (artistic theft = not fine).



4.  Banksy's frequent non-enforcement of his IP rights

Anyone who believes that, if Banksy really were bothered about corporations stealing and profiting off of his images (and quite often misleading the public into believing that such commercial use was sanctioned), he would do something to stop it, probably has little or no understanding of:

(i)  the artist's desire to remain anonymous;

(ii)  the artist's desire to prioritise his profession and quality of life over a myriad of drawn-out legal battles — the act of creating being a far more fulfilling way to spend one's limited time on earth; and

(iii)  intellectual property law, including, in terms of purposes and parameters, the basic but crucial differences between copyright and trademark — and the requirements that must be satisfied to protect either of these sets of rights (the enforcement of an artist's copyright, for example, being incompatible with the retention of their anonymity).



5.  "Banksy" NFT hypesters

Anyone promoting "Banksy" NFTs is quite likely to fall within one of two categories of individuals:

(i)  the ignorant; or

(ii)  the cynical — Specifically, those who know the NFTs have nothing to do with Banksy, but are nevertheless looking to push the false narrative of there being some connection with the artist — presumably to help create a market of fools and dupes, onto which they'll be able to offload at a profit.



CONCLUSION

The sale of "Banksy" NFTs is a car crash waiting to happen: Tears for most; dirty earnings for the corrupt, scamming few.

Yet it is all so foreseeable, so predictable, that it ceases to be interesting.

For spectators, the absence of any potential surprise element means that waiting around for the actual crash itself hardly feels worthwhile. There are better-quality rubbernecking opportunities elsewhere.

Thank you, met.
You might have noticed I liked all those Tweets as well.

We actually had a fruitful discussion with above mentioned Sam Ellis.
It appeared many agreed this was not a direction VeVe should take,
but that was 60 people in a virtual room from a community of 500,000 VeVe Fam.

VeVe does listen to their community, so I still have faith we can change their minds
and reconsider this. VeVe is all about supporting artists, so going against an artists wishes
is not the way to go.

I'll keep you posted.

If you could eloborate why Banksy wouldn't release NFT's on his own.
Perhaps if he could find a clever way to deliver his message digitally
and raise money for his charities doing so. It's just another way medium for art.
NFT's do have the ability to keep generating income for an artist/cause, since
you can establish royalties with every sale and resale. Perpetual income for charity.

Bottom line is people will believe what they want and do what they want , it is only until rugs are pulled that lessons are learned.