Urban Art Association

Did many forum members get one then?

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Five or so held back from each edition though I think (for POW staff etc?). That certainly accounted for the prints at Berwick Street. Numbers 6-25 available in each of the three colours according to somebody on this thread.

Well, so much to say but as I’m now approaching 40 hours without sleep I’ll keep it short (EDIT: or not!). Here are some of my highlights (you’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned many of the downsides to the release, which I think have been covered enough):

- The evening started with a quick decision at 7pm, whilst at my desk at Bristol, to gamble and head to London, and with it miss a formal xmas party, basically on a wing and a prayer!

- Arriving in Soho at 9.30pm to a smaller queue than expected, before having the realisation again that no ‘solid’ information had been released and looking around at all the forum sheep and wondering whether we’re all bloody mad

- 10pm and rumours of a POW email – the iPhones come out and ... mass hysteria, with a few moments of no-one believing what they were seeing, to suddenly everyone quickly packing up and legging it. The ditherers were almost left behind!

- Then watching a dozen or so collectors running down the middle of Shaftesbury Avenue, dodging traffic, literally begging people for their taxi. Brilliant scene, I was giggling as I ran!

- Grabbing a taxi with three others, one of which offers to pay the guy an extra tenner to go like the wind ... and then lets Billysport pick up the tab. Sucker

- Getting our place in the new queue at around the 40 people mark, then watching taxis and cars arriving from everywhere, people running and cycling towards POW from all directions in the hope of getting the best spot possible – pillows, sleeping bags and wives being dragged behind.

- Watching Slammer arrive and taking on the big Russian mafia flippers (and their fun-draped wives!) at the front of the queue.

- Yapsey doing a count of the queue every 3 minutes (for the whole night ), the poor guy must have lost about 10 years off his life from the stress of it all!

- Spending hours explaining to the drunken curious that we were waiting for Vagna’s book signing!

- Passing the time helping Artyce with his homework, which consisted of drawing Big Macs and chicken nuggets!!

- Spending a very tense few hours trying to prevent a stampede (a big thanks to the guys who sorted that out, especially the chap that had almost certainly lost his voice by the end of the night and the Kiwi peacemaker!) but finally getting a ticket and with it a massive wave of relaxation.

- 10am: two in, two out. A slow, rather depressing period of watching the flippers go in first and walk out with their Turquoise prints (there’ll be a few or them on eBay soon!) and then walking off, smiling, all the way to the Banksy.

- 10:30am: start the long 4 hour journey home, clinging to the tube all the way (apart from the last leg in the car, for obvious reasons!)

Was it worth it? It certainly was, but mainly because I got lucky. There was some good banter with friends old and new, with mild weather. I would say that the night wasn’t nearly as bad as many are making out (agreed, the fight was a bit nasty but nothing out of the ordinary for 3am in most towns and cities in the country!). Put it this way, I had nothing to lose and had a far more interesting night that I would have had in lying asleep in my bed. There are a few photos below (I particularly like the irony of one of them – I’ll let you decide which one!)

Having said that, and to reiterate what most people think – in regards to a store release, I do think that the whole issue could have been avoided by (1) handing out tickets at midnight and (2) using some of the huge profits POW earn to employ 3 beefcakes and some barriers to control the queuing and prevent people jumping in and put a stop to any violence.

It was a stressful night, with tensions running very high, and I was in a decent position (around 70 in the queue) – massive commiserations to all those people who just missed out (I really do feel for you). 40 hours without sleep and still don’t feel tired – the joy of a Banksy release Nice to have a year to recover before the next!

I can't be arsed to look back through all that again.

Well done - shame - nice - oh dear etc

But are all 18 Different Colourways accounted for in terms of shop / online......?



www.streetartnews.net/2010/12/banksy-choose-your-weapons-prints-18.html

Pink, Bright Purple, Dark Orange, Gold, Green, Grey, Khaki, Lemon, Light Orange, Magenta, Olive, Red, Silver, Sky Blue, Slate, Soft Yellow, Turquoise and White.