Art Market Monitor

Can Graffiti Art Ever Be Tamed?

The New York Times re-does the NY Sun story on the Angel Ortiz tagging the reconstruct Keith Haring commemorative mural just put up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Which reminds us of this Time magazine story (from whence this lovely Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters photo hails) from a few weeks ago that neatly summarizes the career of and controversy around graffiti-star-of-the-moment Banksy (For those of you with Banksy on the brain, Gawker shares your obsession.) But these glamorous and relatively glitzy stories are a far cry from the real graffiti battles like the one taking place in New Orleans that reminds us of New York’s own graffiti wars dating back to the 1970s. Samo, Samo.

Vandalism or Art? (The Times-Picayune)

Little Angel Was Here (The New York Times)

Keith Haring’s ‘Silent Partner’ Speaks (New York Sun)

Banksy: An Artist Unmasked (Time)

Also of Interest:

• Is Graffitti Art?
  Martin Gayford tries to solve the riddle what to do about graffitti. In one accepts the sensible interpretation that graffitti...
  
• Speculators Preserve Banksy
  Banksy is back in the news dur to the premiere of his new movie. But his old work is still...
  
• Banksy Voted Down by Tagger
  With surprising speed, this BBC News report about a local vote on whether to preserve a piece of Banksy graffiti...
  
• Bansky Revealed?
  Did Britain’s Mail on Sunday Un-Mask the Graffitti Sensation? After exhaustive reporting by the newspaper the Mail on Sunday here...
  
• Simon Cowell, Secret Art Collector
  The UK’s Mirror has a story on Simon Cowell’s Christmas gift: A Banksy spoof on Degas. Why? Turns out Cowell...