Banksy

So during the Christmas Holidays Graffoto among other broke some news over the recent Banksy Camden piece.  If you’re not sure which piece I’m talking about it’s below.

Now as it transpires, before Banksy put up his piece, the original piece behind it was from a well known, old skool writer from London called Robbo.  This piece is very historic, dating back to 1985!

Now spraying over another artists work is a big no no (Vandalog has a great piece covering this issue), and is frowned upon by all but there is more than meets the eye to what Banksy did on this occasion.  In the book  “London Handstyles”, there is a story from Robbo: ‘I was out one night with a load of old writers and got introduced to Banksy. He asked what I wrote and I told him, he cockily replied ”never heard of you” so I slapped him and said, ”you may not of heard of me but you will never forget me”.

Robbo has replied rather quickly, wittingly and in true style by again changing the Camden decorator piece..

So will this now be the end of the beef between Robbo and Banksy, or will Banksy strike again?  I for one hope he doesn’t as I’d hate to see quite possibly the most celebrated graffiti writer in a pathetic beef that takes the attention from the art and message normally involved in his works.

This story has also been picked up by a massive number of other online sources due to the Banksy involvement, which has probably raised the profile of Robbo.