Banksy – Melbourne stole all the Aborigines pencils
Interesting interview on Australian radio
RACHAEL : British artist Banksy is quoted saying that Melbourne’s laneways were arguably Australia’s most significant contribution to the arts since they stole all the Aborigines pencils. Would you agree with a comment like that?
TRACEY AVERY: I think part of Banksy‘s comment implies that what graffiti provides is a place for ordinary people to have a voice and that it’s a place where it’s not an art form that has to be recognised in a gallery but it’s an art form that can be recognised on the ground. I think people would recognise say in Hosier Lane that the works there more reflect an artistic sensibility and are social comment and are not just mindless vandalism.
RACHAEL BROWN: One might assume artists would applaud the protection of graffiti but Melbourne curator and artist, Andrew Mac, says it would fly in the face of what graffiti and street art is all about.
ANDREW MAC: The work is ephemeral. It’s not meant to last. It lasts purely as long as the weather and other graffiti artists allow it to last. When you interfere with what is an organic process like that, you actually make the graffiti stagnant and what makes graffiti thrilling and interesting to the public and to other graffiti artists is the fact that it’s a never-ending changing kind of living art form”