Seven Years with Banksy Read online

  EPILOGUE

  And so, now we close. I’ve been over in Sweden having some kids and roaming the Nordic wastes for another seven-year cycle. I’m often back in England and I’ve observed Robin’s continued ascendancy, the endless newspaper coverage and the ‘looking for Banksy’ hysteria. The kid is front-page news. His incursion into museums, his movie, he follows a line from Chatterton to Cary Grant, a lone rebel genius from the city of Bristol. He’s shown you can be famous without being known and that has got to be the best sort of fame – a whole spectrum away from cheap, gaudy, desperate celebrity. He shows up the complete and utter vacuity of celebrity. I would never wish that kind of fame on him, it’s like a curse, Coleridge’s albatross, weighing you down. It’s just not worth the money.

  The establishment want to take bites out of him although they could hardly give a fuck about his messages. Where there’s money to be made, who cares?

  I’ve seen, too, on the other side of things, his work trashed by holier-than-thou street politicos who believe his graffiti brings with it gentrification. He moves all sides into a fervour, that’s quite an accomplishment.

  Now, someone like me is obviously going to defend him. I’ve always loved his appropriation of images from the news only to transform them into iconic images of insurrection. I’ve always loved his humour and its dark, melancholic edge he can’t shake off.

  But now he’s through the mirror, on the other side. It’s where he wants to be yet I don’t think he should become too comfortable with that, to lose sight of himself, to forget those who supported him, who would not reveal his identity for any kind of money. He doesn’t owe anybody anything, that’s not it. Simply due to their acceptance of him, he has become part of the establishment, but they don’t deserve him and from my corner he should rock their boat more than ever. There’s a lot of us that don’t want him to become ‘flavour of the month’ only to pass on into oblivion. That’s the way the establishment will treat him. He’s worth more than that. Not just another pop icon to be worn on a useless T-shirt.

  I hope his clear-sighted irreverence continues if only because his work brightens up the Ballardian nightmare we reside in. What a shame it would be for us if he lost his vision, by being cosseted in success. We want him to live out his artistic potential for the rest of his days, because he’s got it. He’s got the right stuff.

  Can Banksy live up to his reputation? That’s the final question and I have faith, perhaps due to the countless number of times I would meet him and he started the conversation by saying, ‘Fuck, I was being chased by the law again last night. A real hard chase, over bridges, railway lines, across roofs and roads… they nearly caught me this time – they nearly had me!’

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Johanna Köhlin-Clarke, Elisabeth Mary Clarke,

  James Clarke, Jamal Chalabi, Ryan Broom,

  Paul Horlick, Simon Doling, Simon Adams RIP

  Thanks for your help.

  PICTURE CREDITS

  Page 1 Åke Eson Lindman

  Page 2 Åke Eson Lindman

  Page 3 Johanna Köhlin-Clarke

  Page 4 Elisabeth Clarke

  Page 5 Elisabeth Clarke

  Page 6 Elisabeth Clarke

  Page 7 Elisabeth Clarke

  Page 9 Johanna Köhlin-Clarke

  Page 10 malcolmfreeman.com / Alamy

  Page 11 Zak Waters/Alamy

  Page 12 Johanna Köhlin-Clarke

  Page 13 Johanna Köhlin-Clarke

  Page 14 Luz Martin/Alamy

  Page 15 Johanna Köhlin-Clarke

  Page 16 Ian West/Press Association Images

  Page 17 Wesley Johnson/Press Association Images

  Page 18 Main Sophie Duval/Empics Entertainment/Press Association Images, Johanna Köhlin-Clarke

  Page 19 Johanna Köhlin-Clarke

  Banksy´s foyer at the Carlton Arms in New York.

  One of the corridors at the hotel by New York artist

  Andre Charles.

  The Williamsburg bridge rising to meet the city: my way to work.

  Banksy working on his piece at the graffiti festival he organized in Bristol. His tag is in an operating theatre being dissected by surgeons and watched over by suited spooks.

  More from the graffiti festival Banksy organized.

  And even more from the Bristol graffiti festival.

  A not-yet-acted-upon ‘Designated Graffiti Area’. Official-looking emblem from a fag packet. Note – ‘Please take your litter home.’

  Mona Lisa carrying a bazooka first seen by me in the middle of a riot.

  Rodin’s The Thinker becomes Banksy’s The Drinker, commissioned and plonked down at his own expense in a London square.

  Banksy’s monkeys – a recurring motif.

  West Country = Cider.

  Typical dark humour.

  My Harley shipped back from New York.

  Another left-field idea becomes a reality.

  Playing with iconic images of New York.

  Classic take on Pulp Fiction in Shoreditch, London.

  Paradise Quarry, Somerset.

  INDEX

  A

  advertising, ref1

  anarchists, ref1, ref2, ref3

  animals, ref1, ref2, ref3

  artworks, Banksy’s

  at Barton Hill studio, ref1, ref2

  for Blur release, ref1

  Boadicea statue wheel clamped, ref1

  ‘Bombing Middle England’, ref1

  in Bristol, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

  at the Carlton Hotel, New York, ref1, ref2

  cars at a Somerset quarry, ref1, ref2

  for DJ Shadow release, ref1

  grim reaper on The Thekla ref1

  ‘Liberty’ as prostitute, ref1

  in London, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

  ‘Mona Lisa wielding a Bazooka’, ref1

  monkey riding a bomb, ref1

  at organised graffiti event, ref1

  painting farm animals ‘Wild Style’, ref1

  plans for London Zoo, ref1

  ‘public graffiti areas’, ref1

  ‘Queen Victoria’ in suspenders, ref1

  rioter throwing flowers, ref1, ref2

  sales, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

  stenciling, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

  ‘The Thinker’ with bollard, ref1

  Welsh Back warehouse, Bristol, ref1

  Ashton Court Festival, ref1

  B

  Banksy, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6

  anonymity, ref1, ref2, ref3

  at Ashton Court Festival, ref1

  at author’s stag party, ref1

  Barton Hill studio, ref1, ref2

  character and bearing, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7

  and Damien Hirst, ref1

  encounters with police, ref1, ref2

  at Glastonbury Festival, ref1, ref2

  in London, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7

  and London Zoo, ref1

  a long night out in Somerset, ref1, ref2

  name / tag, ref1, ref2, ref3

  at organised graffiti event, ref1

  and ram raid, ref1

  in Red Hook, New York, ref1

  and stenciling, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  visits art exhibitions in New York, ref1, ref2

  see also artworks, Banksy’s

  Blur, ref1

  Boadicea statue wheel clamped, ref1

  ‘Bombing Middle England’, ref1

  Bristol, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  bands, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6

  Banksy exhibitions, ref1, ref2

  Barton Hill studio, ref1, ref2

  graffiti, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6

  historical background, ref1

  organised graffiti art event in, ref1

  Welsh Back warehouse, ref1

  Bristol City Museum, ref1

  C

  Carlton Hotel, New York, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, re
f8

  Chiapas, ref1

  Clarke, Robert (author)

  anarchy and politics, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7

  and attempted mugging, ref1

  and Banksy at Ashton Court Festival, ref1

  as Banksy’s lookout, ref1

  as a cycle courier in New York, ref1

  dreams about Banksy, ref1, ref2

  first meets Banksy, ref1

  girlfriend, Johanna, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9

  and Glastonbury Festival, ref1, ref2

  and Harley Davidson, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  a long night out with Banksy, ref1, ref2

  on millennium eve, ref1

  purchases work from Banksy, ref1

  and stag party in Camden, ref1

  see also Carlton Hotel, New York; London

  D

  dreams (author’s), ref1, ref2

  E

  Easton, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  exhibitions

  of anarchist propaganda, ref1

  Banksy at Bristol City Museum, ref1

  Banksy at the ‘Severnshed’, ref1

  Damien Hirst in NYC, ref1

  graffiti art in NYC, ref1

  F

  fame, rejection of, ref1, ref2, ref3

  festivals, ref1, ref2, ref3

  G

  Glastonbury Festival, ref1, ref2

  graffiti

  by 3D, ref1

  by Banksy at the Carlton Hotel, ref1, ref2

  Banksy bombs a Somerset village, ref1

  by Banksy in London, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

  Banksy’s tag, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  in Bristol, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6

  exhibition in NYC, ref1

  at Glastonbury Festival, ref1

  and the law, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  in New York, ref1, ref2

  organised event in Bristol, ref1

  ‘public areas’, ref1

  stenciling, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  see also artworks, Banksy’s

  Greenleaf bookshop, ref1

  H

  Hirst, Damien, ref1

  I

  installations, Banksy’s, ref1, ref2

  International Brigades, Anarchist, ref1, ref2, ref3

  J

  Jesse (author’s friend), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

  Johanna (author’s girlfriend), ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9

  K

  Koch, Mayor, ref1

  L

  law enforcement, graffiti and, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  ‘Liberty’ in suspenders, ref1

  London, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8

  London Zoo, ref1

  M

  Mark Stewart and the Maffia, ref1, ref2

  Massive Attack, ref1, ref2, ref3

  media, ref1, ref2, ref3

  Millennium Dome, ref1

  millennium eve, ref1

  Mobb Deep, ref1

  ‘Mona Lisa Wielding a Bazooka’, ref1

  monkey riding a bomb, ref1

  Mookie, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  Moonflowers, ref1

  music and bands, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10

  N

  New York, ref1, ref2

  newspapers, ref1, ref2, ref3

  P

  ‘Paradise Quarry,’ Holcomb, ref1

  police, ref1, ref2

  Portishead (band), ref1, ref2

  propaganda artwork exhibition, New York, ref1

  ‘public graffiti areas’, ref1

  Q

  quarries in Somerset, ref1

  ‘Queen Victoria’ in stockings, ref1

  R

  ram raiding, ref1

  rap, ref1

  record / music release covers, ref1, ref2

  Red Hook, New York, ref1

  S

  sales of Banksy’s art, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

  sculptures, ref1, ref2

  Severnshed exhibition, ref1

  Shadow, DJ, ref1, ref2

  Slam Poetry, ref1

  South America, ref1, ref2

  Spanish Civil War, ref1

  stag party (author’s), ref1

  stenciling, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6

  studio in Bristol, ref1, ref2

  subways, New York, ref1

  T

  tags, ref1, ref2, ref3

  Telecom Tower, London, ref1

  ‘The Thinker’ with bollard, ref1

  Thekla, The, ref1

  3D, ref1

  Tyler, Mike, ref1

  W

  Welsh Back warehouse, Bristol, ref1

  Wild Bunch, ref1, ref2

  ‘Wild Style’ animals, ref1