Urban Art Association

"Ode to Banksy" limited edition sculpture, by Crime in the City on Jun 17, 2023 21:44:00 GMT 1,

Jun 17, 2023 21:34:02 GMT 1 Orange Gallery said:

Jun 16, 2023 19:12:26 GMT 1 met said:

I'll preface this post by mentioning I watched your unpackaging video for the Invader 3D Little Big Space sculpture.

You came across to me as calm yet enthusiastic. As a thoroughly pleasant and engaging chap. Someone with whom I would willingly share a few drinks.



That said, I also wince whenever members here support an artist on the basis that they're "a great guy". Because it conflates two separate things.

The personality traits of an individual have nothing to do with the calibre of the artwork they produce.


__________


Regarding this series of sculptures, I myself am not a fan.



First, the name of the series just seems fawning, and not in an amusing way.



But for the most part, my dislike is down to the artistic idea. It feels weak and random.

There are insufficient ties of interest between:

(a)  a particular 18th‑19th century German composer on the one hand; and

(b)  Banksy, Stormzy, Glastonbury, body armour, John Bull Britishness, and/or the Union Jack on the other hand.


The connections you've made, relating to rebelliousness and music, aren't strong enough to offer real conceptual coherence.


__________


What I would also criticise with one of the sculptures, Ode to Banksy (Triple Vicious), is the historical revisionism:






Why change the t‑shirt worn by Sid Vicious, as originally photographed by Steve Emberton?






However misguided or cretinous it may have been, even at the time in 1978, the swastika was the very point of that t‑shirt.

The intention was to shock, provoke and offend.

Changing it today to a prohibition sign or 'No' symbol is like replacing the text of a Seditionaries DESTROY shirt to "Peace & Love".


__________


I hope the candour and substance of my feedback will be of some assistance.

The intention isn't to dispirit, but to encourage an upping of your game in future projects.



Every artist should in my book ensure their social network includes a handful of friendly adversaries and contrarians.

To surround oneself with sycophants and yes‑men is tantamount to intellectual/spiritual death.



Good luck going forward.

Hey! I appreciate you taking the time to write your thoughts down. Also good to know you enjoyed the unboxing video.

I can't find any argument in your review I disagree with. But I should point out this is just a limited edition tchotchke. The background writeup was to explain the visual journey of putting the pieces together, not an artistic statement. This sculpture is a designer toy collectible without any deeper meaning, and it came out very nice if I say so myself.

I am not familiar with the word fawning, but I assume it's similar to pandering, or perhaps a combination of pandering and name-dropping. Using Banksy's name in the title is definitely to bank in on his fame. Coattail riding, as was pointed out in another comment. And I did lift his union jack on a vest idea. I can't think of a single artist who didn't use more famous people/images to advance their own fame and I am certainly no exception. I knew it was going to raise objections, but always doing the same thing is not why I make art.

I do get your objections though and I think you may appreciate some of my earlier work. I included some images from "The Gun Show (Age Three And Above)", an exhibition from 2017. It's driven by my fascination with how we collectively accept and go along with, without any real protest, giving children toy versions of actual weapons that exist only to kill other human beings with. To play killing games with. On some of these toys you pull the trigger and it makes shooting noises, and heroic yelling of "Go! Go!". I wanted to (but didn't get around to )replace the sound effects with screams from dying soldiers. I think you would've liked the show. Most of these boxes carry the advisory "For Age Three and Above". Here are some of the works of that show:

 









Interesting that you were also bothered by the crossing out of the swastikas on the Vicious stencil. Afterwards, I didn't care for that either. I lived in Singapore for too long, I think, and have gotten too careful. It bothered me to the point of putting stencil on another bust but without the red line. My wife was shocked the line was "gone". She thought the original had a red line through it also. She, like most people, is not familiar with what the reasons for those provocations were. The Uniqlo store sells Sex Pistols t-shirts, because people know next to nothing (nor care) about the actual point of that era. I decided to put that version on Catawiki to see if they accept it.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your well-crafted deconstruction of this particular work. Thank you for your good wishes too. I appreciate you taking the time to not only give your opinion but underpinning your positions.
I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful penship. Cheers

It was the Beethoven playing at Glastonbury for me...  

Jun 17, 2023 21:34:02 GMT 1 Orange Gallery said:

Jun 16, 2023 19:12:26 GMT 1 met said:

I'll preface this post by mentioning I watched your unpackaging video for the Invader 3D Little Big Space sculpture.

You came across to me as calm yet enthusiastic. As a thoroughly pleasant and engaging chap. Someone with whom I would willingly share a few drinks.



That said, I also wince whenever members here support an artist on the basis that they're "a great guy". Because it conflates two separate things.

The personality traits of an individual have nothing to do with the calibre of the artwork they produce.


__________


Regarding this series of sculptures, I myself am not a fan.



First, the name of the series just seems fawning, and not in an amusing way.



But for the most part, my dislike is down to the artistic idea. It feels weak and random.

There are insufficient ties of interest between:

(a)  a particular 18th‑19th century German composer on the one hand; and

(b)  Banksy, Stormzy, Glastonbury, body armour, John Bull Britishness, and/or the Union Jack on the other hand.


The connections you've made, relating to rebelliousness and music, aren't strong enough to offer real conceptual coherence.


__________


What I would also criticise with one of the sculptures, Ode to Banksy (Triple Vicious), is the historical revisionism:






Why change the t‑shirt worn by Sid Vicious, as originally photographed by Steve Emberton?






However misguided or cretinous it may have been, even at the time in 1978, the swastika was the very point of that t‑shirt.

The intention was to shock, provoke and offend.

Changing it today to a prohibition sign or 'No' symbol is like replacing the text of a Seditionaries DESTROY shirt to "Peace & Love".


__________


I hope the candour and substance of my feedback will be of some assistance.

The intention isn't to dispirit, but to encourage an upping of your game in future projects.



Every artist should in my book ensure their social network includes a handful of friendly adversaries and contrarians.

To surround oneself with sycophants and yes‑men is tantamount to intellectual/spiritual death.



Good luck going forward.

Hey! I appreciate you taking the time to write your thoughts down. Also good to know you enjoyed the unboxing video.

I can't find any argument in your review I disagree with. But I should point out this is just a limited edition tchotchke. The background writeup was to explain the visual journey of putting the pieces together, not an artistic statement. This sculpture is a designer toy collectible without any deeper meaning, and it came out very nice if I say so myself.

I am not familiar with the word fawning, but I assume it's similar to pandering, or perhaps a combination of pandering and name-dropping. Using Banksy's name in the title is definitely to bank in on his fame. Coattail riding, as was pointed out in another comment. And I did lift his union jack on a vest idea. I can't think of a single artist who didn't use more famous people/images to advance their own fame and I am certainly no exception. I knew it was going to raise objections, but always doing the same thing is not why I make art.

I do get your objections though and I think you may appreciate some of my earlier work. I included some images from "The Gun Show (Age Three And Above)", an exhibition from 2017. It's driven by my fascination with how we collectively accept and go along with, without any real protest, giving children toy versions of actual weapons that exist only to kill other human beings with. To play killing games with. On some of these toys you pull the trigger and it makes shooting noises, and heroic yelling of "Go! Go!". I wanted to (but didn't get around to )replace the sound effects with screams from dying soldiers. I think you would've liked the show. Most of these boxes carry the advisory "For Age Three and Above". Here are some of the works of that show:

 









Interesting that you were also bothered by the crossing out of the swastikas on the Vicious stencil. Afterwards, I didn't care for that either. I lived in Singapore for too long, I think, and have gotten too careful. It bothered me to the point of putting stencil on another bust but without the red line. My wife was shocked the line was "gone". She thought the original had a red line through it also. She, like most people, is not familiar with what the reasons for those provocations were. The Uniqlo store sells Sex Pistols t-shirts, because people know next to nothing (nor care) about the actual point of that era. I decided to put that version on Catawiki to see if they accept it.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your well-crafted deconstruction of this particular work. Thank you for your good wishes too. I appreciate you taking the time to not only give your opinion but underpinning your positions.
I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful penship. Cheers

It was the Beethoven playing at Glastonbury for me...