Mr Brainwash London Olympics show

Mr Cliche, I mean Mr Brainwash, is hosting his first ever UK solo art show in London on August 5. This is during the London Olympics.

I can't tell if this is to milk "Olympics" "London 2012" "Pippa's bum" keyword search hits, or whether it's to cash in on wealthy European art buyers who will flood the city during the British summer. The British summer is equivalent to the Australian winter in terms of rain and cold and shittyness.

As you can see in this digitally altered image, MBW has used/borrowed/pilfered Banksy's use of British iconography - such as the Queen and the beefeater - while smothering it in bloggable irony, juxtaposition and satire.

Would you see the Brainwash art show, or will you be too busy seeing non-nonymous people achieve incredible feats in stadiums?

Banksy beefeater stencil, London

I use stencils like the Banksy pissing beefeater for comic relief when the street art news cycle makes me tired and apathetic. Keeping abreast with every new wall and publicity stunt can be a full day's work.

I wonder what Banksy's plan for bombing London will be when the Olympics rolls around. He's depicted kids in recent stencils and AM is hoping he returns to the Evil Corporations narrative.

What stencils do you want to see? Old skool biting-wit Banksy, or something gentler? Which Melbourne laneway do you want to see it removed from?

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■ Street art is made for the internet
■ Street art of 2011
■ Banksy plane stencil
■ Banksy trolley stencil
■ Banksy destroyed

Banksy trolley stencil, London

This unconfirmed Banksy stencil - now buffed from central London - will become authentic with enough circulation on the internet.

It will take on a life of its own and become something unto itself.

It will live on through hack blogs like Acid Midget, to the point that no one really cares whether #Banksy made it or not.

All that matters is the ability to generate trending topics on Twitter, headlines on Huffington Post and website traffic through farming highly bloggable content by the famous street artist @Banksy.

Photo credits: 1, 2.

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Banksy artwork destroyed in Bristol :(

Murdoch phone hacking scandal

(Source)

Dr. D posted this satirical ad in London as part of a wave of criticism News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch and his staff are facing over the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

Staff at the 168-year-old tabloid newspaper - which was recently killed off - have been accused of hacking phones of British celebrities, royals and a even dead teen.

Dr. D's ad is a play on words, with references to Hitchcock's film Dial M for Murder and a more recent TV series called Dial M for Murdoch.

The show's plot is summarised thus:

"A telephone operator becomes an amateur detective after overhearing a woman apparently being killed."

And art becomes life.

Also in the ad, a police officer also wears a phone where a badge would normally be. This references British police who were allegedly complicit in the scandal and took bribes from Murdoch employees.

Unless corrupt news makers are reined in, Acid Midget may eventually become a 'street art blog made with a hacked iPhone'.

Graffiti artist Tox jailed for 27 months

(Source)

Graffiti writer Tox has been jailed for more than two years are being found guilty of seven counts of criminal damage.

British Transport Police released a statement describing how Tox, aka Daniel Halpin, was an"unemployed student" and caused "disruption to passengers" through his vandalism of property across England.

The press release stated:

"Daniel Halpin (24), of Camden, North London, was jailed at Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, 15 July after he was earlier found guilty of seven counts of criminal damage."

The 27 month sentence came after Banksy created a mural at Camden in Tox's honour.

Will throwing Tox in the slammer deter other 'unemployed scumbags' from tagging?

Or is it justified because "he is no Banksy"?

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Banksy Tox Graffiti

LONDON: Banksy Tox graffiti

(Via Unurth)

Popular yet unknown street artist Banksy has produced this stencil to generate publicity from the hype surrounding the imprisonment of graffiti writer Tox.

A jury has found Tox, aka Daniel Halpin, guilty of criminal damage. He now faces possible prison time.

In an ironic gesture toward judicial bias and Banksy's public persona, this latest piece comes after the Guardian reported that prosecutor Hugo Lodge told a jury:

"He is no Banksy. He doesn't have the artistic skills, so he has to get his tag up as much as possible."

Glad we cleared that up. Obviously the law permits 'culturally significant' vandalism if it makes a wall on your property worth more than the property itself - or if it raises the profile of small villages like Bristol.

There are stark paradoxes in the way graffiti and street art are simultaneously lauded and loathed. Public and bureaucratic perceptions of these art forms are polarised, but then sometimes not.

Meanwhile, artists like Banksy become wildly popular, and trashy graff writers like Tox are sent to prison.

The difficulty in placing graffiti and street art within the art history canon, the complexity in taxonomising them, means more arrests and more shocks are likely.

LONDON: Mobstr natural expression stencil

(Image source)

Anti-authority hero Mobstr has hit a wall in London telling pedestrians they are living in a concrete jungle and should off themselves.

His overwhelming pessimism is a refreshing juxtaposition to the blind optimism in advertising, which litters the streets and clouds your mind with versions of yourself you'd like to become.

Mobstr is a bullshit anchor. Let him drag you down to earth.

He posted this dialogue with the image:

Nothing is sacred

"Hey, what you doing?" said an angry Irish voice.

"I am painting this wall," was the reply.

"I am gonna have to report you. That's graffiti."

I finish off painting and respond, "Please don't."

More Mobstr here.

slinkachu

(Wandsworth Bridge, London)

In this installation a little bro is struggling to "get it up".

His kite is "gravity's bitch" and the slight hunch with which he stands suggests he's a bit fed up.

"Fuck this kite, mang,'' he says.

"I'm gonna go to Maria's house and face my infidelities. I've been a little bit bad."

Then the wind begins to pick up.

This was shot further back from the installation.

Created by Slinkachu, this shows not all street art needs to be subversive, cynical or "bomb" for effect.

Makes you realise so much goes unnoticed in the streets.

Via Little People.