The Writing On The Wall

Description:

Feature writer Marius Goubert takes a sideways glance at street art in Bristol


In a dispute which was almost like something out of Monty Python's Life of Brian, a group known as the PRSC (Peoples Republic of Stokes Croft) took up the cause of freedom and asked liberty lovers everywhere to join them in condemning the tyrannical behaviour of Bristol City Council. This came after the latest episode in an ongoing feud between the council and Bristol's prolific graffiti scene, which has gained international notoriety after the huge commercial success of the artist Banksy.

 

Things came to a head when a piece produced by two graffiti artists called Cheo and 3Dom was controversially erased by the council, even though the artists were given permission to create the work by the property's owner. This resulted in the council inadvertently breaking one of their own laws regarding graffiti removal, as it states quite clearly in their policy that: ‘The Council is responsible for removing graffiti from council owned properties, parks and highways.' So in a strange reversion, it actually became the council who took a rather militant step - sneaking in like Monty Python's Brian with his pot of red paint - and officially graffitiing the graffiti.

 

Needless to say, all of this seems quite bizarre, and leaves one wondering what happened to the good old days of politically conscious balaclava - wearing youths, running up to spray-paint some anti - establishment slogan on the walls of the town hall? What happened to the idea of rebellion, anarchy, sticking your finger up at the system? Everything seems to have turned on its head like some mad version of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The public no longer make a fuss about a piece of graffiti going up, and it is left to council to step into the role of rebels and illegally remove it. Then you have members of PRSC poring over council legislation and debating property rights like a bunch of government bureaucrats.

Chris Chalkey from the PRSC insists 'We are more rebellious than of yore' and states categorically 'the council have not made an apology' even though according to the PRSC website, council chief executive Jan Ormondroyd issued a statement saying that the council 'publicly apologises for the mistake'. In this flurry of claim and counter claim, it is difficult not to feel a tiny bit sorry for the council. They seem so incapable of making even the smallest challenge to Bristol's graffiti scene that one act of defiance sees public opinion slam down on them as hard as a slap from a John Cleese centurion. It is not surprising that they responded with such a full and frank apology which was speedily dispatched to the People's Front of Judea - I mean the People's Republic of Stokes Croft - to try and smooth things over before the entire council were forced into early retirement.

 

In just one example of the sheer scale of support which Bristol residents have for the city's graffiti scene, 97% voted for Naked Man - a piece produced by Banksy which depicted a naked man hanging from a window while his lover's husband peers out - to remain on the wall of the sexual health clinic. As Chris Chalky put it, 'there is a vision for the area and it comes from the bottom up' and in the face of such overwhelming support, no wonder the council are being forced underground and having to resort to covert sabotage.

 

Even Banksy, the angry young man who started his career making satirical jabs at politics and society, has now become this unstoppable, towering colossus in the commercial art world, which at one point he sought to reject and undermine. Even the anonymity of his identity seems to have gone from a political symbol - where he is a kind of everyman - to a gimmick, as he travels the globe selling his work at auction for five - figure sums.

 

Even his work has something of a contradiction about it. The intelligent, witty, left wing ideas he depicts regarding British culture: football hooligans, obesity etc find themselves displayed in deprived working class areas amidst a sea of take away boxes and ‘Say No to Unlimited Immigration' posters. Like so many things that have huge mainstream success Banksy's appeal reaches up into the middle class. Mothers and art historians - excited after a few glasses of red wine - name drop ‘the wonderful Banksy' at dinner parties, like their teenage children, who feign inner London accents and feel part of something working class and underground because they listen to Drum and Bass.

 

So, all in all, there is something quite sad about the Bristol City Council's total inability to combat the graffiti artists who, like Banksy, act less like the angry, rebellious young men they once were and more and more like part of the establishment. In a few years we will probably see signs up saying ‘If You Deface the Graffiti You Will Be Prosecuted' dotted around the streets of Bristol. Chris Chalky says of Banksy that his power is 'in his polemic', but you only have to switch on your television and see Johnny Rotten advertising Country Life Butter and Michael Palin doing BBC documentaries in the Sahara, to see that all the passion they once had has been sucked out, repackaged and served up to the masses like a McDonalds Happy Meal.


Marius Goubert is a freelance writer with his eye on Bristol and beyond.


The views expressed are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Guide2Bristol.