Urban Art Association

Chequebook Vandalism - Urban Art, by Daniel Silk on Jul 12, 2008 10:25:44 GMT 1, free.financialmail.co.za/08/0711/life/clife.htm

Chequebook Vandalism

Some see it a s naive rubbish, others as a new form of folk art. Sean O'Toole charts the rise of urban art

This year might yet be remembered as the tipping point for urban art. In January, an online bidder offered R2,8m (£208 100) on website eBay for a piece of graffiti attributed to the anonymous English satirist and painter Banksy.

The work, which adorns a wall on Portobello Road in west London, shows a painter, palette in hand, adding finishing touches to red, graffiti-style lettering spelling out the name Banksy. The sale may have been an elaborate hoax.

On February 5, auction house Bonhams held the first-ever sale devoted entirely to urban art. A sort of contemporary folk art, distinguished by its use of rudimentary materials and techniques, urban or street art claims a diverse set of influences, ranging from pop art to the graphics spawned by skateboarding and hip-hop.

Like Jean-Michel Basquiat in the 1980s, Banksy is the current icon, buyers chasing after his work at the recent Bonhams auction. A Banksy silkscreen portraying Kate Moss - in the style of Andy Warhol's iconic rendering of Marilyn Monroe (1962) - fetched R1,3m.

It was one of the highlights of a 99% sellout sale. Though somewhat puzzling, this outcome wasn't entirely without precedent. In December 2002, Jeffrey Deitch, a prominent New York dealer, presented "Session the Bowl", an exhibition that celebrated skateboard culture and its role in "artistic innovation". The show, which included an architecturally designed skateboard bowl amid paintings and whatnot, drew large crowds.

Even fussy critics liked what they saw. The New York Times' Holland Cotter remarked on how most contemporary painting tends to be "catchy, well-schooled, but a bore". By contrast, urban art - which casually riffs on painterly conventions - showcased, for Cotter, "a kind of slacker finesse: earnest, anarchic, exquisite". Paradoxically, such high praise signalled the death knell for a cheeky scene proud of its delinquent pose.

Aware of the current fad for urban art, which counts Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as patrons, Tate Modern has decided to hitch a ride. London's austere temple to contemporary culture is showing new work by six urban art practitioners, their offerings installed on the museum's exterior facade.

Among the more engaging contributors are Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo, twin brothers from Sao Paulo who make affecting graffiti under the moniker Os Gemeos (The Brothers). Perhaps, in deference to the upstart spirit of this movement, Tate Modern will also offer works for sale on eBay? Or maybe not.