So, (as Radio 4 contributors like to to start any explanation) imagine you're wandering around a marketplace in Goolagong or Quirindi and you come across this piece of aboriginal art. Imaginative, colourful, unusual, a talking piece. Worth schlepping out a few dollars for.
So, imagine you're wandering round Dunelm Mill and there's dozens of them. Bargain at £9.99.
So, if I show you the original piece of cave art found deep within a labyrinth of tunnels underneath Ayers Rock does it make it special again?
Well no, no it doesn't because you know as well as I do, that it is the same picture manipulated. But it is a genuine question - why is it that pictures, wall decorations, sculptures, features that are up for sale in a furniture (or soft furnishings) store are decidedly not art, when the same or similar item in a gallery or maybe a craft fair or village market might be. Is it simply because it is mass produced?
The piece below, 16 Tones, is a one off, not available in any soft furnishings store. If you want a copy, save it, print it off and selotape it to your fridge. Any other method of display contravenes the terms of this generous offer and will not be tolerated.
 |
| you load 16 Tones and whaddya get |
Update: So, (again, so,) on the day I post this Banksy has a little fun with the people of New York by offering original, signed, authentic Banksy's for a knockdown $60 (instead of the suppposed £20,000 the same pieces might go for elsewhere) and only sells a handful. But what does this say about Banksy's work? The previous day hucksters were charging passers by $20 to see an original Banksy on a wall in East New York.
These are two Southampton Banksy's. No Future is by Banksy and lasted 24 hours before it was whitewashed because the owner thought it was an act of vandalism. Abandon Hope is a "fake", a copy (using the same stencil presumably) but still there a year or more later.
No comments:
Post a Comment