Creative Knife crime ads effective?

Okay, so the government seems rather proud of its newly dreamt up plans for it's anti knife crime ads. 

It cant be only me that believes these ads just go to prove how out of touch our government really is with today's youth.

Do they really think that by showing wounds of ill fated people that have fallen victim to knife crime will actually stop people from carrying a knife?

No way. 

People that have and use knives will definitely not be deterred by the images and those that claim to carry them for "protection" believe that they will never be the ones that inflict such a thing on others. It hasn't even crossed their minds that their weapon could be turned on them.

In the depressing world we live in where knife crime has shockingly affected 1/3 of us, I strongly believe it is more about making people fear the repercussions of their actions, with harsher penalties, and stronger policing powers.

It is going to take a lot more than a gory image of somone with a knife stuck in their chest to deter these people.

Is Banksy a sell out???

The unidentified guerrilla artist has struck again, but this time in an abandoned tunnel --once used only by taxis to get to waterloo station.

 

The artist created an exhibition throughout the tunnel with his infamous stencils that make a point about how messed up out society is.

 

The exhibition took place over the bank holiday weekend for a period of only three days, which saw about 28,000 people visit with approximately 600 adding their own work in the designated areas.

 

The exhibition saw he entire insides of the tunnel being coated with spray paints, stencils and grafitti murals, by artist from all corners of the globe including James Dodd from Australia, Bsas Stencil from Argentina, Artiste- Ouvrier from France, Faile from the USA and Dot Masters from the UK.

 

This area was said to have been chosen by the artists due to its colourful history which has been associated with theatre art and street drinking, which is excluded from most of the city.

 

Banksy so who once quoted as saying: “Win the rat race and you will still be a rat.”Has been seen as a sell out since his huge popularity has seen people paying around £200 thousand for his pieces with his celebrity collectors including Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt an many other A listers. But just because he is now somebody making a lot of money from is work does it still mean he is a sell out?

 “He always talks about making capitalism crumble and the poor being pushed out of the cities because of rent and yuppies. His work graces their walls and they move to areas where his work can be seen, like in Shoreditch and Hackney. I think he is a sell out. I’ sure he’s living that yuppy lifestyle now.” Said James, one of the visitors to the exhibition.

 One of the pieces at the exhibition was a stencil on the floor that said: “I have fought for wage increases. I have a plasma screen tv a big fridge and a new car. My life is bullshit.”

 “Well, I do not think Banksy is a sell out. Like most artists he is trying to put his message across and it isn’t his fault if people that don’t understand his work purchase it.” Said Gina, another exhibition visitor putting up her own stencils.

It seems as though the debate as to whether or not Banksy is a sell out or just misunderstood by many due to his recent entry into the mainstream art will always be surrounding his name. But regardless of that, it is certainly evident that he has a large amount of people supporting his work after the huge turn out of this exhibition.

blogs I rate

Irangraffiti.blogspot.com

This is one of my favourite blogs at the moment. Its great to see graffiti being appreciated as an art form instead of just vandalism. There is more to it than just spraying a desig on property.

thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Another amazing blog showing great style, and very visual. I love looking at the beautiful people

londonist.com

Great website for life in London, for arts and events and also for news. To me it is great for an leisurely read.

SAMO in Fashion

Uniqlo, the store that is renowned for its supposedly unique and low priced clothing has decided to launch a range of t -shirts with the works of Basquiat printed on them.

So far, I have only come across people's joy and praise of Uniqlo for doing this, but after looking at this through the eyes of an artist, I feel sickened and enraged.

Basquiat was an artist that stood for freedom and individuality which makes me wonder what he would think about his works being mass printed and sold on t-shirts throughout the UK and probably the rest of the world.


Basquiat clearly expressed how much he hated the prospect of his art being remade and even the fact that people would steal his graffiti from the front door where he used to live to the walls of city buildings. This cashing in on others fame, is currently being echoed with the works of Banksy being sold by people, and cheap replicas which I so commonly come across when wondering around Greenwich Market.

Everyone seems to be laughing to the bank, except the person that has put the time in to create their masterpiece.

Mostly fashionistas seem to love the idea of his art being on their t-shirt, it's all the rage at the moment, but I feel that some people are being robbed blind here.

Basquiat t shirts have been available for a long time through many foundations that stand for what he believes in. The money goes to a charity he supports (such as AIDS), not a big profit making industry.

The t shirts sell for approximately £14, though high demand has seen them sell on ebay for as much as £75. None of that money ends up going to the charity of the artists choice.