Agreed Banksy was the 'in' for me into the whole scene, but i think its a testament to us for sharing information and Silky for the forums that has led me to have a wider knowledge as a whole.

As for the maturing of taste, well you could be into Micallef initially and mature into nothing but graf, it just depends. Unfortunately my tastes have matured into wanting multiple thousand pound prints and originals and that isn't healthy.

But on that point, there is a lot of plagerism in the UK stencil art I feel and a lot of politics. I understand there may be a political message with a lot of art, but i may not neccessarily want to see it or expose it to those around me, which is one main reason why I don't go for a lot of street art. Guns and bombs have been done done done, why do more? But still they come.

Chloe early paints beautiful urban landscapes with olympic swimmers going through diving routines on them, wheres the harm in that? Denning is overtly political but I can't think of many weapons in his pictures. His message is buried a lot deeper. Parla just paints sqiggles I thought, but when i got close to the caligrpahy squiggles, i never wanted to leave.

I guess what I'm saying is that I like the art that has a bit of indivuality and less in your face politics.

And when it comes down to it, I just like the stuff that I think will make my surroundings more beautiful and I find that most street art just doesn't do that for me. Sorry.

And by the way I hope no-one gets negged for talking openly and honestly. otherwise whats the point of having a discussion forum.

PS - understand now Carlo. JD price is out of hand

I agree with Mike, Tastes change.
Ive been Interested in art for years, I studied the Renaissance masters to current works from the likes of Sir terry Frost in the late 80's. I like all art but obviously have favorites, my street art passion started in the 80's whilst at art college when we used to read Spray can art and watch Beat street then go Bombing, as you do (or did).
I came across Mr B in early 2000 but did not buy stuff, not until his prints came along anyway.
Since then Ive got many favorite artist. For pure Talent (IMO) Matt Small is the Nuts, Connor H also has an amazing talent which I love. As for micallef he has a completely different style to othersand seems to have a wild imagination to come up with the stuff he paints, which is stunning. As for Neate, it's taken until the Pots and Pans show to get the feel for his work, after which my mind has been swayed by the sheer ability of the man. But for me its not just about street art, I go to all Galleries across the country and even the world when abroad, whenever I can just to see the sheer diversity of the art in the world.
One of the most amazing places Ive been to for art was Brazil, the works were just phenomenal out there.

Ok I shall come clean about the artists that don't do it for me. One is Micallef. But not all of his stuff. I think Shibuya crossing is great and My walk in Hajaraku. I quite like Dirty Deluxe and 21 CL. I'm not keen at all on much of the laz stuff and all of the POW prints he has released to date. Guns and bombs and all that stuff in the main just don't do it for me.

The other artist I don't like or get is Dface. I have yet to see much by Dface that has been in the slightest bit appealing to me, although Cli-Che was OK. I do like the HATE's but that is about it.

I'm not sure about maturing of tastes and whether Banksy is art or not. I like lots of "contemporary fine art" as well. When I mention the artists in the broader genre that I like on this board - ray richardson, susie hamilton, donald hamilton-fraser, peter blake, lawrence weiner etc they rarely attract comment or any interest.

For me the beauty and skill of banksy is in the simplicity of the image and brilliance of his juxtaposition. That for me is why I love his stuff.

I also love Adam Neate, Eine, Faile and David Choe is really beginning to grow on me as well.

Im with you all the way with the Contemporary fine art Pez.

I appreciate the talent necessary to create but my personal taste just does not move towards Micallef. I just dont get it. Not knocking it but it does not appeal to me.
What I will also say is that just because I do like a particular artist, does not mean I like all of their work. An example of this is Morons. The longer I look at it the more I feel like I wasted my money. On the other hand, I love my Jack and Jill and GR as well as many others I have and dont have. Also, I really dont care for the Rats. I think they are interesting, but I dont really want them on the wall. Really like some of the Denning work, think others are horrible. Really liked two of the recent Faile releases, could do without the rest. Bottom line is that I look at each piece individually almost without regard to the artist.

and if you don't like it anymore, you can always give it to someone who does.

Vazie - ask your son if he thinks this is suitable for a 'little princesses room' !! Or a nursery maybe. ;D

I really love political street art and stickers, whether or not I agree with the politics of what they're saying- if it makes me stop and think or ideally laugh, I'm glad its there. I wouldn't want it in the house though and I'm not a fan of political statements in a frame- preaching to the converted it seems to me.

So for me Beejoirs work, though I think hes said the most this year, wouldn't make it onto my walls. Would love it on a wall outside as I walked to work though.

By the same token none of the Micallef guns/globalisation pieces would get wallspace. Dirty Deluxe might.

I terms of changing tastes I've been exposed to lots of new things care of the forum, some of which I've bought, some I've thought was technically good but not my kind of thing and some of which I just didn't get.

The one I love the most though is my flying copper- which was the first one I bought and how I found the forum. Its roughly executed but theres something about it that makes me smile almost everyday. Probably something to do with my formative years including the miners strikes, poll tax riots, rave, the outlawing of a series of repetitive beats and the general prohibition of fun (yes cbl I've taken the pledge )

For me it's the physical print quality that determines if i like or love a print that i buy.
The image is often secondary to the technique used to me...

My feelings for non-stencil based contemporary artists like Neate, Micallef, Matt Small et al are indifferent. I love Banksy (obviously) and the like work of Eine, D-Face and other stencil based artists.
The only thing I HATE is bad Banksy clone artists and Dan Baldwin, although I don't think I'm the only one here.

Certainly not joking about the "Image vs Technique" statement goffyxtc...
Bit of a shocker to a few people maybe, but thats just how i feel about some of my prints.