What an inspiring book! Although not being a major fan of graffiti art after being bombarded with it in Berlin this year, the stories in this book really are a brilliant read. A small selection of my favorite ones: Witnessing crimes whilst being out in the middle of the night spray painting the icon Che Guevara onto a bridge in London. Smuggling pieces of artwork into museums, hanging them and seeing how long they last before being taken down by the museum staff. Spray painting famous tourist attractions with ‘This is not a Photo Opportunity.’ These three are the ones which really made me laugh but there are so many more which don’t fail to inspire.
I came to think about Banksy and his work during my Exploratory Print Project, I received some print samples off a company called ‘Bracketpress’ they had placed the samples inside a ‘pick n mix’ bag which they had printed onto - Taking the sweet bag into a different context. This got me thinking about artists who print on unusual surfaces. Banksy prints on walls as a form of expression, arguing the fact that walls shouldn’t just be used for advertisements. His aim is to make standing at the bus stop exciting because there is something different to look at.
Thinking about how Bracketpress and Banksy both bring different contexts to everyday objects got me thinking about the power of words and communicated messages. I thought into how I could change the concept of an everyday object by simply using print. Whilst completing my paper making there were some shreds of paper which I didn’t use, rather than putting them to waste I wanted to experiment with this practice of changing the context of an item. I took the shredded paper and made a collage - commenting on the ways of society and the recycling system. Paper is wasted everyday, I wanted to put a use to this waste by creating an abstract piece of art work.
