Get Banksy to repainted It afterwards.
Get Banksy to repainted It afterwards.
Gididi Gididi Goo.
I was about the only person on a Flickr site who thought the face looked like a cat.
I suspect that the trendies think it's more "sexy" to call it a rat.
Some kids once called my dog (see my avatar) a "rat on a rope", which made me smile.
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Row escalates over cover-up of graffiti artist Banksy’s 30ft rat
Jan 10 2008
by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post
AN ART festival director has defended Liverpool Culture Company’s decision to cover up part of a public artwork at the start of 2008, saying the mural still looks “fantastic”.
Britain’s biggest creation by renowned graffiti artist Banksy adorns The White Horse pub, on the edge of the city’s China Town on Berry Street, and is regularly snapped by tourists.
But the bottom half has been covered up by the Culture Company with hoardings because the building has fallen into disrepair.
Some visitors to the city have complained the wooden supports are covering up an interesting and exciting piece of art at a time when Liverpool should be capitalising on such pieces.
But programme director for Liverpool Biennial, Laurie Peake, said: “I was actually pleasantly surprised by how it has been dealt with. I think it still looks fantastic and I do not see what else they could have done.”
The mural of a 30ft rat was created in 2004 during the Biennial festival and although the art event did not commission the work it was widely incorporated into the celebrations.
Bristol-based Banksy has since conquered the art world with his unique urban art exhibitions and counts Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie among his fans.
Last April, a new record price was set for a piece by the artist when Space Girl and Bird reached £288,000 at London auction house Bonhams.
Shortly after, Banksy won the award for Art’s Greatest Living Briton.
A Liverpool Culture Company spokeswoman said: “The Banksy rat is being covered because we are striving to improve the appearance of high-profile grot spots.
“Since the Biennial, it has been preserved as much as possible with painting – but the bottom half of has been falling into disrepair. The decision was made that it was beyond repair and we felt we had no choice but to erect the hoardings.
“We consulted with figures in the city’s artistic community before taking this action and believe we have found the best possible solution in terms of preserving what we could of the artwork.”
Event management specialists Purple Revolver, who are hosting an urban art festival this year, think the action is short-sighted.
Director Amber Tan said: “Instead of covering up a real tourist attraction, they should be shouting about the fact that Liverpool has got the biggest piece of Banksy graffiti in the country.
“They should be preserving it – it's not hard to touch it up with a lick of paint.
“You can often see people stopping to take pictures of it. There is no reason why the graffiti could not be worked into any future renovation scheme for this building.”
Source: Liverpool Daily Post
I think the big question remains, why is LCC still trying to disguise buildings now that we're actually in 2008. Couldn't they have at least done this in 2007 and avoided publicity?
Hi Cadfael
It would appear to me that the same controversy would have arisen if the Banksy artwork had been covered up in 2007 or 2008. It occurs to me though that the stink about it is good and that enough people are speaking up for preserving it and fixing up the building, that this might actually happen. I sincerely hope so.
Chris
Christopher T. George
Editor, Ripperologist
Editor, Loch Raven Review
http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
Chris on Flickr and on MySpace
who would fix it up and why?is it really of any use or just sentimental value, sometimes there is a feeling that sometimes old things should be preserved just because they are old, if this was the case the world over there would be no progress, realisically if no-one has been interested in the use of the building and the only way to get them to use the building is to tell them they SHOULD be interested in it because it's old then this is not right in my view
Well, I'm glad it's been pointed out at last that it looks like a cat !
I thought It was just me .... 'cos not another soul has mentioned it - all the time it's been there.
it is like the 'Emperor's New Clothes' ... no one said anything ! Ha!
I always thought it looked like a cat, but no one else seemed to notice .. I could see a rat's tail .. and I thought perhaps the rat has been painted out or something .. or is it hiding behind the black & white cat !
Christopher T. George
Editor, Ripperologist
Editor, Loch Raven Review
http://christophertgeorge.blogspot.com/
Chris on Flickr and on MySpace
All the lower parts are painted on rough boards and are not wearing well, and the one that had Banksy's signature on has been stolen.
sorry mate it's just my view, i've never heard of him till this thread and his medium seems to be quite temporay for it or part of it to be preserved, his pics don't even seem relative to the buildings they are painted on,m maybe if he stuck another cat on st georges hall or a cat on top of st johns beacon ( similar to the goodies )
then maybe the 2 could go hand in hand, but if you paint a picture on a dog turd it always looks like a dog turd with a bit of paint on it.
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