Yes, I also agree with that. To be honest I find the suggestion that we should only buy work by artists who agree with our own political/ social/ religious beliefs ridiculous. Art should challenge what we believe not endlessly confirm it.

yes, but Blek is not a great artist, is he?

Banksy supported Ken Livingstone - will all of you who voted or supported Boris please now sell your Banksy prints to me .....

Seriously - have you ever looked up Dali's politics - he love Franco! Should all the major galleries sell up.

There are two sides to every story - and moist pictures have something to say.... why are you lot suprised and more shockingly does a perceived meaning being different to your own mean you can no longer enjoy and image .....

for god's sake

Good will to all men - Happy xmas

PS I own Blek and like it - his politics is irrelevant to me...

HEADLINE: Artist holds opinion - shock!

.....hopefully some people might get an Art History book in their stocking for Christmas.

Funniest thread in ages.

what a load of wagon jumping bull on this thread.
the blek haters throwing eggs as usual.
At least the guy is honest so much cloack and daggers in the world that when someone tells there side for once the look of shock is amazing.

sit in the pub say there isto ,much immigration you will be a racist so sssssshhhhhhh
some big rich indian buisness man says stop immigration for 10 years thats racist noit cant be (heard that on lbc 97.3).
Whenyou all grow up and stop reading and watching what they want you to see you will realise the media is a powerful tool (credit cruch) which is ooften minipulated to give what what they want you to see. The real news is very quickly forgotten.
Do you think your/our goverments never sold weapons to each other, funded each other corruption is every where.
Radio 2 yesterday about recycling how petty it has all become because of contamination answers given were
1 more laws
2 more teaching in school
3 more fines
What about the council. How can a buisness that has been running for so long still be so poorly run. did forget the money they lost in iceland (or not as they got baled out by you and me. Get the unemployed and the prisoners to sort the rubbish its not that hard.

phew glad thats over better get up and start the day

noy saying you should just saying there is corruption and lies all around you buy into by mistake or through unknown choice blek has given you the choice good for him atleast hes honest.
doesnot make it better

what if banksy is in the bnp

60+ years or ethnic cleansing and human rights violations, Israel has more UN resolutions condemning it then Saddam ever had...even with the US veto...........Behave.

All these comments from people who have never been to the middle east. Most just seem to have sided with Banksy as a way of understanding what he is about.

You can love art/artists without agreeing with their every viewpoint.

WOW YOU'RE THAT MUCH OF AN IDIOT!? NO BELIEFS OR NUTTIN'? PEOPLE DYING ALL OVER THE WORLD BUT WHO CARES RIGHT?

i can see why people would have a different feeling to the print when they find out the message behind it, but lets face it, im sure every artist has views that not everyone agrees with

all this 'bleks views on israel made me so angry i just had to sell all his prints on because im so righteous' stinks of shit, if ur feelings are that strong, destroy the prints - selling is just the same as passing the message to one more person

I wrote near the start of this thread, when I was responding to some outrageous statements about killing artists for possibly supporting Israel, that I would not add further comment. This is the first I've written since then.

Some of the more balanced and even-handed views expressed on this thread do make me breathe a sigh of relief and I'm impressed by some considered and thoughful input.

The Israel-Palestine conflict is extremely complex; and there have been wrongdoings on both sides going back over many years. There is also a desperate need for peace, and such peace is only possible with mutual understanding and compromise by the people in the region, as well as most critically a cessation of violence.

Painting the situation black and white and making heavy-handed and poorly-researched accusations against one side whilst ignoring the other's acts is misguided and does nothing at all to support peace.

Whilst there is always a role for art in politics, I would criticise both Banksy and Blek for diving into situations that they have little involvement in and attempting to apply fashionable and dare I say trite art messages. In fact I think Banksy has been more irresponsible in that regard. (Though supporting education in the region is always a good thing provided the funds have been applied responsibly).

I repeat, the only route to peace is acceptance, knowledge, understanding and forgiveness on both sides. Anyone pushing a message in favour of one side is supporting and propagating a war. You have to ask yourself why would they want to do that?

(Forgive me if once again I quietly bow out of this thread - I can't get involved in lengthy discussions at the moment).

check the news today people.. the endless circle of tit for tat continues in the middle east - no one has clan hands in this spiteful little conflict. another 200 + dead one one side begats another barrage of indiscriminate revenge violence. Im sure Jesus wouldnt be too happy about it, given its his birthday

this thread is thorughly shameful and gave me thought for quitting this forum.
There are people on here of all different race, religion, creed and beliefs.
We are all drawn together for the love of art (or in some cases - the profit for selling it!) anyway, I can not stand back and see such shameful postings as I have read on here. I was tempted to come in blazing with both barrels but I will not lower myself to the neanderthal comments posted here.
People, please think before you post,

every time an individual posts, you've got to remember it's only their opinion

if you disagree, fine, but don't insist they're wrong as your post is only your opinion too

people experience things in life that form their opinions so show some respect

if you're knowledgeable on the subject & feel the need to contribute, curate an intellectual post, but don't beat a man down for having the opposite opinion to you

I have no problem with Alsbabar stating his 'findings' but I do have a problem when posts are deleted and others were saying 'rid the paris streets of vermin'.
And by the way, I would not buy anything from Hitler nor Mugabe.

My issue is with the short-sightedness of some people who think something like the Middle East conflict is easy to comprehend.
I also have an issue with people on an art forum stating anti-semetic views because they do not agree with an artists statement. Some of these have now vanished, been removed or edited but it makes me sick to read such crap on here.

I suggest this thread gets deleted or moved to the graveyard of un-wanted threads. It will stir up to much hatred.