Take it you didnt get one PA?

For those asking about the book im pretty sure Blek said he'd be at the gallery again tomorrow. Give them a call to check. Got myself a copy - he was more than happy to sign and doodle

Will try and stick some pics up later, good day trip to London!

Proper print as in not hand finished or screen printed? Well i have some cracking Ian Francis 'prints' which dont fall into that category.

I think its great to unleash a 100 prints and then charge for the rest. It keeps the flip element down as you can still buy from gallery at x price.

Did anyone else see an inquisitive James Khan (off Dragons Den) pull up in his Farrari at 7am. His number plate JCLION...er....

Just communicated with opera gallery twitter.com/#!/OperaGalleryLDN Blek will be there tommorow. It is confirmed. ;D Happy Days.

I agree PA. I know he's the god father of stenciling, but I feel there is a lack of effort in the majority of his recent work. The only pieces I think that are half way decent are tango and beggar.

Back home had a bit of a sleep and still really happy, with my luck today I will be carefully studying the Euro Lottery draw later this evening

Anyway to make comment on some of the posts in this thread, firstly I sympathize with anyone who stood nearly four hours today and didn't get a free print, but it was inevitable that there were going to be a few that missed out on these. Regarding the 100 that were given away I knew all along that the line between getting one or not was going to be very close to where I was in line, fortunately for me I was just the right side of it. But for those that were the wrong side there was no need to go away completely empty handed, firstly there was the chance to get a signed print for £300.00 and although not as attractive as a free one IMO still a great price for a Blek, then there was personally dedicated signed and doodled books at £65 and finally for those who couldn't afford one of these there were signed and doodled show cards and leaflets, I know at least a couple of people had pieces of card that Blek had sketched on and signed specially for them.

Regarding the competence Blek and the gallery had shown on this giveaway / show opening, I believe despite perhaps a it being a little naive, the whole thing took them a bit by surprise and yes there were a few things they could have done to make things a little fairer for some or better for those who managed to grab a free print, but it should be noted that they gave away somewhere between £30,000 to £60,000 worth of free prints today and for that alone I think they should be applauded. Yes they could have thought about giving tubes with the prints or even a bag to wrap around them, but unfortunately it was not thought about and they didn't, but I am sure they will think about this if there is a next time, they did appear to me as a gallery that cared and wanted to please. They also could have handed out tickets to people on arrival or sometime during the wait, again an oversight, but even that is not completely without its problems as there were people coming and going for toilet breaks and a coffee and if tickets had been handed out while they were away there would have been quite a few other equally unhappy people saying it could have been done differently. As it was though and although of course I am going to say this because I did get one, I believe the gallery did not make to much of a bad job of it today, they were very friendly and really a load of odd looking people (me and the misses included ) standing around for several hours blocking the entrances to the neighboring shop and cafes and leaving litter was probably not the image that they wanted to give.

As for the queue jumping I am not sure how much of it there was, I made an obsessively amount of head counts during the wait and even allowing for empty chairs and two in a tent I consistently made my position somewhere between 86th and 91st in the queue but in the end I was the 100th. as it was I am sure there were some queue jumpers but probably not 10-15 as my head counts would suggest, as I am sure there were quite a few people coming and going for coffees and such while I was counting. There was also those which I don't know if you would class it as queue jumping, that had turned up the night before left their chairs with a mate while they had gone home or somewhere for a nights sleep to return in the morning to take their place in the queue. Myself I did see a few who seemed to arrive and take a place in the queue in front of me, but I wasn't sure if they had already been there before me and were just retaking their places after a stretch of their legs. There were also a couple of groups of about ten in each group of foreign looking and speaking individuals and I don't know if there is a type, but to me didn't look like the sort who who be Blek fans, whether that should make any difference to their right to get a print each I wouldn't want to say as at least one of the groups didn't grow as time went by and they had braved the weather much longer than I. I must admit though to be a little frustrated to see them coming out with a print each obviously not having a clue what it was as they rolled it up tightly and shoved it carelessly inside their jackets or openly carried it in the rain (eBay buyers beware!), saying that though maybe they deserved and needed the windfall much more than many and I am sure any money made will be well spent on English language courses

As for the time you needed to be there, I was fortunate in as much as some who might have been there before me decided they wouldn't get one and had stayed at home I got up at 3 am checked the forum and read there were 65 there already, not being sure if it was a wind up designed to put people off going I texted a few people hoping there maybe someone I know queuing, I fortunately found there was someone there I knew but disappointingly they confirmed that the figure of 65 was about right. I then thought it over and decided to risk it and set off from Leicester at about 4 am, fortunately it was the right decision but I was fully expecting to turn up see around 150 already there and just turn around and go home rater than wait 4 hours for the show opening. As it was after a two hour drive I arrived at 6 am precisely and knew it would be close, but waited and hoped ;D

As for the image itself, well for a start I am a Blek fan and this was a chance to get my first Blek so whatever the image I was keen to get it as I was pretty sure I would like it, in the end this was to me the best image in the show so I was well happy I love it and the piece it is based on to me was an incredible piece of work to see in the flesh. I have though IMO disappointingly seen a few negative comments about Bleks work, Yes, I understand there maybe quite a lot of folk on here who don't like Bleks work, fortunately we all have our likes and dislikes so fair enough, but I think some of the comments are missing the point. As mentioned some of these works (or some of Bleks street work) could be mistaken for the work of Mr Brainwash and IMO many more including Banksy, Dolk, Eelus, Nick Walker and Shepard Fairey, but the thing is without Blek we may have arguably never heard of many or even any of these. It may be said that Bleks work lacks imagination, skill, detail, humor, development, or any message (I would disagree on many of these), but what it is does have though is originality as (again arguably) Blek is the originator of this type of work and inspiration to all who followed and should IMO be given the respect he deserves as the grandfather of Street Art.

Spot on gibbin82

Pictures from today excuse the crap iPhone pictures (didn't think to get a picture of Blek :































And just around the corner this is still there and untouched

Quite funny seeing Blek's work followed by the Banksy street piece (which in my opinion is quite average). Forefather or not the examples of Blek's work in this thread are fucking dross

gibbin82, happy for you but i think it's absolutely mad people queue up for a print that they don't know what it looks like! i think that's pretty much the worst part of the scene. and yes, i know people would queue for a banksy without knowing the image and i think that's just as ludicrous.

let's be honest, whatever the image was, if you queued up people were going to come here and say they liked it for three reasons. 1 - need to justify the time spent in the queue. 2 - want to pump up the value so they can sell the one their gf got or 3 - they have been following blek's career and like the image.

however, if you really like blek and respect him as a pioneer why not by this OG (not mine) for a reasonable (if prints are going for 300 from the gallery) 400 quid: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Blek-Le-Rat-signed-artwork-wood-not-print-OG-Spraypaint-w-Banksy-sticker-/310392956818?pt=UK_art_prints_GL&hash=item4844dca792

Thanks for the heads up on the Blek OG, but if I was to buy anything by Blek anytime soon it would probably be Last Tango in Paris. I do see your point about the madness of people queuing for a piece they have no idea what it will be, but then a lot are not interested in the image just the profit which is really sad. Myself it was a calculated gamble, one was I going to get one and two (much less of a gamble) would I like it if I did? But today was much more than just queuing up for a freebie, there was the chance to meet an artist I admire, then there was the excitement of was I going to be very lucky or not quite so lucky (still would have been plenty of positives had I not got one) I also met a lot of really nice people and in my opinion got to see some great art and finally it was so much better and a thousand times more memorable than the day at work I would have had if I had not been at this show.

Personally I agree its a calculated risk, it's a q to get the chance to get a piece by a true legend of a scene and movement,

That being said I decided not to q after waking up at 2 checking the forum and deciding I may want a blek but not as much as someone who wants to sleep on the streets, I guess this doesn't annoy me too much but something I really wanted would annoy much
More.

Not even sure what my point is but I guess it's about money even when it isn't even there

www.flickr.com/photos/s-butterfly/7118840423/in/photostream

was stik painting there? looks proper scruffy if not

Deptupydawg, serious question - when did Blek's last produce any work worth discussing?