Banksy on the tube July 2020

[700007]

Apparently Banksy has put his artwork / graffiti / whatever you call it on the London Underground today, unit 21403/21404 S7 stock. Remains to be seen what LUL wants to do about it.

 

[Domh245]

I was under the impression it's already been cleaned off!

 

[trebor79]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53407715

Banksy has returned to the London Underground with a piece encouraging people to wear a face mask.

A video posted on his Instagram page shows a man, believed to be the enigmatic artist, disguised as a professional cleaner.

He can been seen ordering passengers away as he gets to work, stencilling rats around the inside of a carriage.

Headline "New Coronavirus Inspired Artwork appears on Tube".

This is just vandalism, isn't it? Why are the BBC lauding it?

 

[John Hunt]

I was under the impression it's already been cleaned off!

Hope so!
(Auntie Beeb already has the story.......)

Banksy: New coronavirus-inspired artwork appears on Tube

The enigmatic graffiti artist returns to his Underground roots for his new pandemic-inspired piece.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[700007]

To be honest it doesn't look that nice... Not like a huge Banksy fan or anything but he has done far better. This looks closer to the regular graffiti drivel that you see.

 

[Peter C]

I think some of his work looks quite nice, but this doesn't. It's probably a combination of some not-nice-looking (in my opinion) artwork and the fact he's defaced a train to do it!

-Peter

 

[WatcherZero]

It sets a dangerous precedent and could encourage copycats, if we are not careful we end up with the rolling stock of New York city at the end of the last century. Though I am wondering if he had some official co-operation as far example the bit where theres a message on the wall and the doors close to see another message on the door would have taken longer to to set up than your average station call.

 

[ainsworth74]

Normally I'm a fan of his stuff so I'm wiling to turn a blind eye to the fact that some of it is perhaps less than legal but have to say that this is not impressive.

 

[scotrail158713]

I’d agree. Although everyone has different tastes in what is art.

 

[Bevan Price]

It is criminal damage. Whoever did it should be prosecuted - infamous or otherwise - and then made to remove the mess.

 

[matt_world2004]

It happened four days ago. Photographed and cleaned off as per standard procedure.. now banksy has come forward and identified himself as being behind the artwork. London underground have burned the CCTV off the carriage and are in the process of handing the footage to the BTP

 

[PeterC]

What annoys me is that when somebody puts one of their tags over his graffiti it is called "valdalism" rather than regarded as a valid artistic comment.

Either its all art or all vandalism

 

[MB162435]

This one doesn't look good at all looks like it was just vandalised at night or something, which I'm afraid it might unintentionally encourage, I expect he done it with good intentions, but it's not helping his or street artists reputations by basically graffiting a tube train

I'm no lover of street art but Banksy's work does normally look quite impressive, like the one I believe he done of Santa and his Raindeers in Birmingham that was featured on ITV's Trouble on the Tracks which looked amazing, and locals were rightly protective of

 

[Jonny]

It would not surprise me in the least if someone (maybe even management) at TfL was in on the stunt!

 

[furlong]

BTP / LUL are usually very sharp on incidents like this - I expect nothing less than a prosecution and whoever did it is no doubt ready for that. If anyone on the inside was involved - however senior - then expect to see them out of a job and in front of the courts too.

 

[duncanp]

I don't know if it's just me, but people like Banksy really p*** me off.

Who the hell does he think he is, spray painting his so called "artwork" on to private property (such as the inside of a London Underground train carriage), leaving it for someone else to clean off.

Some people may see graffiti as "street art", but it should only happen where the owner of a property has given permission for their wall etc. to be used in this way.

I hope "Banksy" is prosecuted, fined and banned from using the London Underground ever again.

 

[philthetube]

seconded

 

[John Hunt]

I don't know if it's just me, but people like Banksy really p*** me off.

Who the hell does he think he is, spray painting his so called "artwork" on to private property (such as the inside of a London Underground train carriage), leaving it for someone else to clean off.

Some people may see graffiti as "street art", but it should only happen where the owner of a property has given permission for their wall etc. to be used in this way.

I hope "Banksy" is prosecuted, fined and banned from using the London Underground ever again.

I totally agree, with one extra condition - that 'Pest Control' (a website/office that authenticates works that are indeed by Banksy, so collectors and would-be collectors don’t become the victims of fraud) is thoroughly investigated as a possible 'accomplice' to his actions.

 

[Belperpete]

If TfL had their wits about them, they would replace the graffitied panels, and auction them off. Could make a significant sum. Although these don't look particularly impressive.

But totally agree that it is just graffiti, like any other. Unfortunately actions like that of Railtrack in Birmingham of protecting it, only legitimises it. If they had wiped it off, it would have sent a strong message that graffiti is unacceptable. Instead they chose to give the message that if you're good enough, go ahead.

 

[John Hunt]

If TfL had their wits about them, they would replace the graffitied panels, and auction them off. Could make a significant sum. Although these don't look particularly impressive.

The only downside to this is it would only encourage more of his graffiti.

 

[Mojo]

If TfL had their wits about them, they would replace the graffitied panels, and auction them off. Could make a significant sum. Although these don't look particularly impressive.

But totally agree that it is just graffiti, like any other. Unfortunately actions like that of Railtrack in Birmingham of protecting it, only legitimises it. If they had wiped it off, it would have sent a strong message that graffiti is unacceptable. Instead they chose to give the message that if you're good enough, go ahead.

Too late, as posted by another contributor above, and also as shown in the BBC news article linked; the train was cleaned in the depot a couple of days ago.

 

[Vespa]

Right message, wrong place he is obviously pushing to see how far he can go.

Tube trains is not the place for pushing a message..

 

[rebmcr]

Right message, wrong place he is obviously pushing to see how far he can go.

Tube trains is not the place for pushing a message..

However right you are, responses like this are part of his art, and by design unlikely to ever be disentangled.

 

[Ladder23]

Graffiti artists will be slammed with negativity and when caught given hefty sentences yet this banksy does the same thing on a tube train and people love it, it’s unfair. How can this guy be praised is beyond me.

A lot of stuff I see on my travels is very impressive, I ain’t saying I agree, that’s a whole new debate.. but this baffles me.

 

[Ladder23]

If TfL had their wits about them, they would replace the graffitied panels, and auction them off. Could make a significant sum. Although these don't look particularly impressive.

But totally agree that it is just graffiti, like any other. Unfortunately actions like that of Railtrack in Birmingham of protecting it, only legitimises it. If they had wiped it off, it would have sent a strong message that graffiti is unacceptable. Instead they chose to give the message that if you're good enough, go ahead.

Exactly! I agree..

I imagine this will possibly trigger a increase in graffiti on the network.

 

[Mag_seven]

He is a vandal plain and simple.

 

[Ladder23]

He is a vandal plain and simple.

Yep, in my eyes he is another Tox.

 

[philthetube]

Right message, wrong place he is obviously pushing to see how far he can go.

Tube trains is not the place for pushing a message..

Tube trains are the right place for this message, just not pushed in this form.

 

[mmh]

Yep, in my eyes he is another Tox.

His stuff is horribly clichéd to me but even disliking it he's quite obviously completely different to Tox.

 

[Vespa]

Right message, wrong place he is obviously pushing to see how far he can go.

Tube trains is not the place for pushing a message..

Tube trains are the right place for this message, just not pushed in this form.

When I said that, I meant spraying it inside a tube train is not the right way to get a message across.