Posted on 01/27/2018 11:32:06 PM PST by nickcarraway
A local councillor isn't happy.
Earlier this week, Hull residents spotted a new mural on the city’s Scott Street Bridge – a black and white image of young boy waving a sword with a colander on his head, sat on top of a graffiti tag with the caption: ‘Draw the raised bridge’.
The similarity to street artist Banksy‘s previous work prompted speculation that the piece was his, which was confirmed when he posted images of the artwork on his official Instagram account yesterday (January 26).
Local Conservative councillor John Abbott has spoken out about the piece, calling for it to be removed, just as other graffiti would be.
“I think that should be cleaned off,” Abbot told the BBC.
“It should be photographed and the photograph kept because Banksy is not without talent.
“But to compare Banksy, for example, with some of the real art in the Ferens Art Gallery, which is quite mind-bogglingly brilliant at times, is, shall we say, to judge by two different sets of standards.”
He’s not the only one who’s unimpressed – despite it only appearing a few days ago, Banksy’s artwork has already been defaced, with another graffiti artist tagging over the top.
However, Stephen Brady, the leader of Hull City Council says that the local authority will take public opinion into account when deciding what to do with the mural – hinting that he’s a fan.
“I think it’s a good problem to have,” Brady told the Yorkshire Post.
“It’s nice to know he (Banksy) knows where Hull is.
“In terms of the work he has done in the past, from what I’ve seen, I think it’s very good…I think public opinion will be on the side of keeping it and if it makes the bridge look better, I don’t see the problem.”
Many locals are thrilled with the piece, and warned future vandals not to mess with it.
“We just saw it yesterday online and we used to live around the corner here so it is quite nice to see something like this happening around here,” local Peter Holthuysen told the Hull Daily Mail.
“You shouldn’t mess with Banky’s art.”
The area around the mural has now been fenced off.
A post shared by Banksy (@banksy) on Jan 26, 2018 at 11:45am PST
It’s been suggested that Banksy’s latest piece may be poking fun at Hull’s overwhelming ‘leave’ vote during 2016’s EU referendum, with 67.6% of the city voting for Britain to leave the European Union.
Back in September 2017, two new Banksy murals were spotted in London, appearing in a tunnel close to the Barbican Centre.
In the same month, the artist donated £205,000 from the sale of his ‘Civilian Drone Strike’ piece to anti-arms campaigners.
These followed Banksy’s Brexit-inspired mural in Dover, Kent in 2016.
What’s worse is he drew right over the artwork that was already there. I bet “trieky” is pissed.
The musician Tricky?
Could be. I don’t read cursive!
I lived there once. Major port to Amsterdam via ferry. A lot nicer place than South Yorkshire that was full of Pakis.
If the guy is so good, why don’t they commission him to do some murals? They could even commission him to decorate bridges.
He is good. Better than most graffiti.
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