2023-12-14 10:36:03
Bristol is doing it colorfully in the truest sense of the word. Although murals and graffiti can be found in other places around the world, the university town in the southwest of England claims to be the secret street art capital of the world.
Nowhere else is street art on house facades, walls and walls as widespread as in the 470,000-strong community on the River Avon. With the Upfest Bristol even puts on the largest street art festival in Europe every year in the Bedminster and Southville districts.
One of the scene’s most dazzling figures is the global guerrilla artist Banksy, whose first murals appeared in cloak-and-dagger operations in his hometown of Bristol. He is now also famous in the international art collecting scene and his works sell for millions at auctions.
Banksy – an artist or criminal?
“For some, Banksy is a great artist, for others he is a criminal who smears other people’s property,” states John Nation matter-of-factly. The little man with gray hair is himself an enthusiastic fan of street art.
At the same time, the former social worker, who now offers daily tours of the street art in his hometown, certainly understands some of the criticism.
John Nation and the Spartacus graffiti on Culver Street: The former social worker knows Banksy, but would never reveal his true identity
Source: Karsten-Thilo Raab
“Banksy was a game changer in our country many years ago with his pictures. He has definitely changed the perception and appreciation of graffiti,” states the 62-year-old, referring to the artist, whose real name has so far remained secret.
John Nation himself claims to know Banksy personally and to have supported him as a social worker on various projects when he was young. However, he doesn’t want to reveal the true identity of the world’s most famous sprayer.
also read
“There is something like a code of honor among graffiti artists and it prohibits revealing Banksy’s real name,” says John Nation.
At the same time, the eloquent expert is annoyed that some of the murals are being deliberately damaged or defaced. “Admittedly, it sounds paradoxical, because officially illegal paintings are a criminal offense under the law.” In fact, as an icon of the street art scene, Banksy’s works have made a decisive contribution to not only commercializing street art, but also decriminalizing it to a certain extent .
At least that’s how you see it in Bristol. Banksy created a number of murals here in the 1990s. From 2006 onwards, they also came into the public eye after he sprayed one of his now most famous works: “Well Hung Lover” on Frogmore Street, diagonally opposite the town hall, using scaffolding.
Should have been removed once, but that didn’t happen: Banksy’s “Well hung lover” on Frogmore Street
Source: Karsten-Thilo Raab
It shows a naked man hanging out of the window to avoid the eyes of the jealous husband who is looking out for him. The picture adorns the facade of the former clinic for sexual medicine. At that time, the city of Bristol wanted to have the mural removed – just as illegal graffiti and graffiti had often been done in the past. But that never happened.
Burgfrieden in Bristol
“The positive response from the population ultimately led to the picture being tolerated,” says Nation, but then points to another curiosity: a short time later, the motif was attacked with a paintball gun and colored bullets. The perpetrators were caught and sentenced to three years in prison.
also read
From New York to Istanbul
Accordingly, many voices were raised that criticized the double standards being applied in Bristol. Some sprayers would be given a protective hand, others would go to prison. At the same time, there was increasing criticism that the city had spent a lot of money on removing graffiti in the past instead of counteracting unemployment and social problems.
And so there is a kind of truce in Bristol today. The city has long been proud of more than just its works by Banksy. Just a stone’s throw from Banksy’s dangling lover, for example, JPS alias Jamie Paul Scanlon spray-painted an anti-knife attack motif right next to The Shilling pub on Frogmore Street in 2022. Just around the corner on Culver Street are other works by the artist from nearby Weston-super-Mare, including a Spartacus figure and a cat.
Street art icons
Meanwhile, Banksy disciples are turning their attention to Marsh Lane in the Barton Hill district. Not far from the youth center where the guerrilla artist frequented during the time of the responsible social worker John Nation, his picture “Valentine’s Day” adorns a facade – a girl who shoots a catapult full of red flowers onto a house wall.
No less well known is Banksy’s “The Mild Mild West” in the Stokes Croft district, one of his early murals from 1998. It shows a teddy bear hurling a Molotov cocktail at police officers. And in Lower Lamb Street, Banksy spray-painted the oft-quoted slogan “You Don’t Need Planning Permission To Build Castles In The Sky” on the wall: “You don’t need planning permission to build castles in the sky.”
On Quay Street, Nick Walker shows a man in a striped suit and hat pouring a bucket of paint
Quelle: Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
An unusually high density of huge, sometimes house-high graffiti can be admired on Quay Street. In contrast to Banksy’s works, many were created legally, even on commission: in order to beautify the gray apartment blocks and attract tourists, street artists from all over the world were officially invited to spray paint in 2011 and 2012. These include well-known figures such as Nick Walker, who like Banksy also comes from Bristol. His work shows a man in a striped suit with a bowler hat pouring out a bucket of paint.
Also impressive are the huge image of a mother with her baby in her arms as well as the tongue-in-cheek allusion to the most famous New York photographic work of art, “Lunch Break on a Skyscraper” (1932). Construction workers sit on a steel girder at a lofty height – the only difference is that instead of the American skyscrapers, Bristol sights such as the cathedral form the background.
Based on the New York photographic artwork “Lunch Break on a Skyscraper” from 1932: street art on Quay Street
Source: Karsten-Thilo Raab
Meanwhile, the mural “Deconstruction” by artists Epok and Smug, created as part of Upfest 2012, addresses demolition work and the past of Bristol harbor. And a stone’s throw away, the archways of St. John’s are artistically designed.
also read
In the middle of Quay Street there is also a well-equipped shop that offers spray cans in all shades of color. “Depending on the artwork and stencil, you only need a single can,” explains John Nation.
Graffiti art can therefore be an inexpensive pleasure. After all, the cheapest spray cans start at 3.50 pounds, which is around four euros. However, sales to those under 16 are strictly prohibited.
John Nation is already moving on. After all, he still has a lot of impressive graffiti to show – for example in the Easton district. Ultimately, it is important to work on Bristol’s reputation as the capital of street art.
Source: Infographic WELT
Tips and information:
Getting there: Bristol can be reached from London (Paddington Station) in around an hour and a half by train. Bristol Airport has direct flights from several German cities, including Frankfurt Lufthansa or from Berlin Easyjet.
Tours: The street art city tour with guide John Nation described in the text can be booked at Where the Wall; The two-hour city walk takes place on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m., adults pay 15 pounds (reduced rate: 10 pounds), children (up to 15 years old) pay 7.50 pounds. If you want to explore Bristol’s street art on your own, you can find tour suggestions and maps here Bristol’s tourism website.
Accommodation: „Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel“, the four-star hotel offers a historic ambience in a historic building complex from the 1860s, the interior is inspired by the art scene in Bristol and the building’s rich past, double rooms from 68 euros. “Leonardo Hotel Bristol CityIn the centrally located hotel, guests stay in rooms decorated with street art images, double rooms from 89 euros.
Further information: www.visitbristol.co.uk
Participation in the trip was supported by Accor Hotels. Our standards of transparency and journalistic independence can be found at www.axelspringer.de/unabhaengigkeit
Here you will find content from third parties
In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and privacy at the bottom of the page.
#England #Banksy #Bristol #graffiti #capital #world