Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Robbo a well known british graffiti artist who has crossed paths with the likes of Banksy, where for years and years both Banksy and Robbo have been at "art war" with each other. Robbo to me didnt exist until channel 4 created a street themed series which showed the ins and outs of street life which included free runners, video makers and Robbo. I was drawn to watch the show as ive always liked Banksy and wanted to know more about this "Robbo' who was ruining the famous pieces of work which have been well known for years and are known all over the world. Robbo appraoch was litteraly from his art being attacked by Banksy relentlessly. He decided to hit back by playing him at his own game. The show followed Robbo on his journeys around Britain to the iconic "stenciled" art work situated mainly around Bristol. He would litteraly paint over Banksys work to make them insulting or "team Robbo". Alot of Banksys work has been covered in perspex plastic to protect them from people like Robbo, but only he has the vendeta to do so. The art war is very underground and is straight one on one with these two, "What started off as tit-for-tat one-upmanship … degenerated into a wider battle of vitriol,"





An example of the battle is the one piece which is painted next to a canal bridge under a bridge, this painting has been monitered by police alot. This piece started off as a Robbo piece, but Banksy added to it and so forth, eventually it ended up making a fool of banksy as one of his pieces is a man painting "king robbo'. Either way this battle was thought to never end, until not long after the documentary, shortly after Robbo had been promoting a film with his art over seas, he was put into a coma. No one knows how this happened or who was to blame. Maybe this incedent was either sheer coincedence, but others think differently.


I find this story so facinating and never knew things were quite so serious with art and principle. It really shows how competitive the industry is, that even two famous artists have to compete with each other for recognition and pride.

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