Urban Art Association

Vermin article in Art of England, by alsbabar on Oct 28, 2008 15:19:38 GMT 1, like a bad penny, they keep propping up

Article published in December 08 edition of Art of England. Piece isnt online so had to type it out again.

Smelling A Rat

Earlier in the year an announcement was made from the Banksy camp that a new and definitive authentication board had been put in place to help stem the tide of ‘fakes’ coming into the market. A glance at eBay, with its sudden deluge of ‘Banksy’ decorated road signs sporting the all too familiar tale of “I came out of a pub in Hoxton and tripped over this abandoned road sign” made it clear why such an operation was required. So ‘Pest Control’ was born and it quickly became clear that Pest Control was the start of a crusade aimed at taking ‘complete control’.

Collectors and punters who had been happy to ride the wave of ‘Brand Banksy’ were suddenly faced with a purge. What had begun as a seemingly noble and necessary attack on fakes suddenly and without warning became a witch hunt, dealers and auction houses received curt missives telling them what they could and could not sell ‘gifts by the artist/legitimately salvaged street works and works deemed not to accurately represent the artists body of work’. Many found themselves languishing on Pest Control’s cynically titled ‘Damaged and destroyed register’.

Bad enough that our ‘street hero’ had been exposed as one of us, but it was now becoming clear that a new po-faced side to his character was emerging as issued through his managements edicts. Forget the ‘street cred’ anti brand sloganeering of the glory days – brandalism “any advert in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. Its yours to take, to re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head”

. Suddenly a ‘decree absolute’ had been issued on all of the artist’s ‘Street works’, rendering them at a click of a mouse, all but worthless.

A new mantra was echoing through the forums of cyber space, that “we should respect the artist’s wish to have his works remain on the street” and that on removal ‘Banksy no longer considers them to be works of art”. Whilst a good number of us admire his work, it was widely known that a number of these works had been salvaged and changed hands through auction houses and galleries over the past few years for large sums (far fewer than have been lost to over-zealous council cleaners). ‘Graffiti writers we must respect your wishes’ – surely a strange paradox?

Enter ‘Vermin’ an entirely new and independent authentication board set up to protect the interests of collectors and owners who historically had been assured of the value of their investment in ‘Brand Banksy’ (by the very people who now deny the works).Vermin is a free non profit organization whose sold aim is to verify and certificate works from the street that have survived in order that they can continue to move freely through auction houses and galleries. Works submitted to Vermin for authentication are posted on their “Salvaged and saved’ register where they are open to public scrutiny. If after a period of one month no substantiated claim to ownership/authorship is made evident, it is a granted a ‘Vermin certificate’.

Much controversy and name calling has been stirred by the arrival of Vermin, but one thing is clear, they will not go away until the issue of ‘Street work’ authentication is resolved. Comparisons have been made between Pest Control and the Warhol Foundation, but it should be remembered that the foundation was set up after the artist’s death to control authentication issues, while the artist known as Banksy is alive and well. That he chooses to deny a work’s authentication put into the public domain on the basis he doesn’t want it sold, is a stance that Vermin strongly refutes. Put simply, if someone threw up on your door and then rang your doorbell to inform you that they would like you to preserve it as a personal statement to be enjoyed by all, you would very likely call that person vermin and ring for pest control.

V
www.verimincontrol.us