Chris Osburn Graffiti Photography Exhibition at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds

Still feeling the love from Leeds! The West Yorkshire Playhouse will be exhibiting some of my London street art photographs from May 26 to June 8. I'd really like to thank Alex Croft of the WY Playhouse (for the opportunity) and to Terry Jones of Leeds College of Art and Design (for the hook up with Alex). My photos will be on display as an accompaniment to Tag ... just writing my name, an "original piece of Hip Hop theatre using break dance, bodypopping, rap-poetry, larger-than-life graffiti sculptures and videoanimation, TAG tells the story of a young obsessive graffiti writer in search of acceptance."

I'd also like to thank the artists whose artwork is highlighted in my photos for this exhibition:

Banksy, Cyclops, Dan Witz, Sickboy and Sweet Toof.

If you happen to be in Leeds while my pics are up and the performance is on, check 'em out!

London Short Film: All Eyes on Banksy

All Eyes on Banksy, Photography by Chris Osburn © 2008

Works by iconic - and iconoclastic - graffiti artist Banksy are on view at Andipa Gallery in London. Here's da scoop from me to you!

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Preview: Banksy Exhibition at Andipa Gallery
By Chris Osburn
Londonist
February 27, 2008

Not only the world’s most famous graffiti stencil artist, England’s own beloved Banksy is also one heck of a studio artist. Don’t believe us (or any of the hype surrounding Banksy)? See for yourself at Andipa Gallery, where – starting this Friday – many of Banksy’s works is to be on view.

Click here for complete post.

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Banksy Exhibition at Andipa Gallery, London
by Chris Osburn
Juxtapoz
February 27, 2008











... the bulk of exhibition is comprised of studio pieces which are very much available for purchase, if you've got the funds. For instance, an exceptional acrylic on canvas painting titled Sharks has a price tag of around £40,000 (yep, that's roughly $80,000).

Click here for complete post.

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Bonhams Urban Art Auction News (Banksy/Graffiti)

Kate Moss Banksy print fetches £96k
Times Online, UK - Feb 6, 2008
The auction signalled another step towards the mainstream for the genre, with 75 pieces of "urban art" in the catalogue. Spray-paint and stencils featured ...Banksy's Chimpanzee Picture Sells for 228000 Pounds (Update1) Bloomberg First auction of 'street art' kicks off in London all 11 news articles »

Urban art enters mainstream
Financial Times, UK - Feb 6, 2008
But now urban art, as practised by its young champions Banksy and Adam Neate, has officially entered the artistic mainstream, with its own auction at ...

Art bucks recession fear
Guardian Unlimited, UK - Feb 6, 2008
Over at Bonhams auction house last night the world's first sale of urban art saw a Banksy screenprint of Kate Moss, a pastiche of Andy Warhol's portrait of ...

First auction of 'street art' kicks off in London
AFP - Feb 6, 2008
Bonhams is planning more auctions of urban art in the future, he added. Last month, a wall painted on by Banksy, depicting a classical-looking artist in ...How Banksy made graffiti popular with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Times Online all 6 news articles »

'I made £20k in three minutes'
BBC News, UK - Feb 6, 2008
We sold it at Bonhams in the world's first urban art auction because we need the money to pay off a debt. We're both practical about it because we've got no ...

Banksy's portrait of Kate Moss sells for US$191000
PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria - Feb 6, 2008
«By definition (urban art) is an ephemeral art form, often disappearing as fast as it appears,» Gareth Williams, senior picture specialist at Bonhams. ...

London Graffiti Artists in The Independent on Sunday

There's a pretty cool list and write up of some of London's most notable street artists ... just in time for Urban Art Sale at Bonham's.

Move over, Banksy: Meet the next generation of artists coming up from the street
Thanks to Banksy, there's money - lots of it - in illegal wall painting. But can artists who made their names on the streets keep their credibility when the galleries flash their cash?
Introduction by Charles Darwent
The Independent on Sunday (The New Review)
Sunday, 3 February 2008

All of which is to say that graffiti art is a genre with strict rules. To write well is not enough. Respect is earned through a combination of skill and notoriety, the last – pace Ozone – based on a daredevil disregard for personal safety. Aroe once pulled the emergency cord on a packed Madrid metro and sprayed the train while it stood in the tunnel: "That," he says, flatly, "got me my name." This willingness to risk death is part of graffiti's aesthetic, visible to other writers and "the roughnecks in the street" – you and me – who see the end product. We're not talking conventional art appreciation here. "The point," Aroe says, "is to annoy the greatest number of people you can."

Click here for complete article.

Big Bucks for Banksy Wall

Banksy wall could fetch £200,000
A businessman is hoping to make over £200,000 by selling a wall which was painted on by graffiti artist Banksy.
BBC News
Last Updated: Monday, 14 January 2008, 13:05 GMT










The graffiti, on the side of a media production firm's base on west London's Portobello Road, shows a painter finishing off the word "Banksy".

Click here for complete article.

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£208,100 eBay bid for Banksy wall
Online bidding for a wall painted on by graffiti artist Banksy has closed with a final bid of £208,100.
BBC News
Last Updated: Monday, 14 January 2008, 20:49 GMT

Bobby Read, art expert at specialist insurer Hiscox, said: "Banksy is a maverick as well as a hugely talented artist. It's an intoxicating combination for buyers as this price shows.

Click here for complete article.

UPDATE: Not a Banksy - It's a Mantis

Back in May, I posted a link to a lil diddy on the Wooster Collective blog about a work of street art in South London that "has Banksy written all over it." I've noticed that my post is still getting a good number of hits and just wanted to confirm (as the updated Wooster post does) that the work entitled "All Fall Down" is by Mantis. A version of this work is on view as part of the Leonard Street Gallery's Found group show. Indeed, the work is featured on the flyer and promo material for the show.











Click here for photos from the opening of Found.

Madonna at Exmouth Market or Don't leave home without your camera!

Note to self: Always always always take your camera with you, dummy!

A lesson that's been impressed upon me many times (especially over the past year) but that I still can't seem to heed, is this: if I leave my camera at home, I'm sure to happen upon a very photogenic moment. Case in point: Friday around midday, I needed to go out to run some errands. Before leaving, I took a good long look at my camera bag, wondering if I should sling it across my shoulder for my brief outing. 'Nah,' I thought, 'I'm not going to be out that long or going anywhere interesting.'

So, I walked up to nearby Exmouth Market where I happened upon a huge crowd gathered around some vans, camera and lighting equipment, people walking around with clipboards, and ... Madonna, who was working on an upcoming film. Just a few minutes from my flat, I made a U-turn, heading back for my camera. Less than 10 minutes later, I returned to a much more mundane scene: no crowd, no vans, no clipboards, no Madonna. Oh well. Click here for some photos by some Flickr folks with a little more luck than I had.

Anyway, I took being out with the camera as an opportunity to take some shots of a couple of Banksy pieces, one of which has been getting an awful lot of publicity (like this, this and this) as being a new piece. However, I can verify that it's been there at least a year when I first noticed it. The other (the rat) seems to have fallen victim to a zealous but ineffective art collector.

Photography by Tiki Chris © 2007

New Banksy in South London?

A New Piece by Banksy
posted by Marc
Wooster Collective
May 24, 2007











BiPed spotted this new piece yesterday in South London. While it hasn't been confirmed, it has Banksy written all over it.

Click here for complete post.

Old Street Banksy no more

Iconic Banksy image painted over
London transport workers have painted over an iconic mural by "guerrilla artist" Banksy estimated to be worth more than £300,000.
BBC News
Last Updated: Friday, 20 April 2007, 12:07 GMT 13:07 UK











Transport for London said a tough line had to be taken on graffiti because it created an atmosphere of social decay.

Click here for complete article.

Banksy work stolen piece by piece
A wall mural in east London by well-known graffiti artist Banksy has been all but stolen piece by piece.
BBC News
Last Updated: Monday, 26 March 2007, 13:11 GMT 14:11 UK



















The artwork in Brick Lane, which consisted of black letters stencilled onto a white background, spelled out 'to advertise here call 0800 Banksy'.

Click here for complete article.

Banksy painting goes for big bucks

Graffiti artist's work goes for $200,000
Associated Press
Kansas.com
Posted on Wed, Feb. 07, 2007

"Bombing Middle England," a work in acrylic and spray paint by the artist Banksy depicting well-heeled lawn bowlers tossing bombs, sold for double its pre-sale estimate at Sotheby's auction house.

Click here for complete post.