Students, locals express support for Brit street artist Banksy, who has recently created murals through L.A.
The Kinross Avenue mural by Banksy, nicknamed the “Crayola Shooter,” was vandalized.
By Lauren Roberts
Feb. 22, 2011 3:03 a.m.
Dara Shei, a 25-year-old financial analyst from Century City, traveled to Westwood to get a glimpse of graffiti artist Banksy’s “Crayola Shooter” on Thursday. .The mural is one of four recent works that have appeared in Los Angeles from the British artist.
There’s a level of notoriety for an artist with first name recognition ““ Michelangelo, Raphael, Frida and more recently, Banksy.
The elusive Brit left his stenciled mark on the back wall of Urban Outfitters in Westwood last Tuesday, and made his artistic presence known with three additional murals in Los Angeles over the course of the week. Though Banksy remains an anonymous figure, the works were authenticated with photos on the artist’s website.
The Kinross Avenue mural, nicknamed “Crayola Shooter,” features the black-and-white stenciled image of a child soldier armed with a crayon-firing machine gun, juxtaposed against colorful, child-like drawings of flowers and a smiling sun.
“I feel like our generation’s the next voice, and to have something like his artwork is something we can appreciate for years ““ it’s a landmark,” said third-year psychology student Mickey Khan.
Khan helped organize the ongoing Facebook event “Protest against removal of Banksy WESTWOOD/UCLA” with a group of friends concerned for the preservation of the art, which has since attracted nearly 7,000 protesters listed as “attending.”
Across the pond in his native stomping grounds of Bristol, England, Banksy is hailed as both an icon for street art and a prankster.
“In England, when his artwork is done, by the next day you’ll see a security guard by it, that’s how well recognized he is in England,” Khan said. “Everyone knows Banksy.”
In addition to his guerilla murals, the artist’s past stunts include stealthily leaving canvas work with personal placards in high-brow art museums including the Louvre and Tate Modern, as well as New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 2005, Banksy earned significant international attention when he painted nine large-scale murals and stencils on the 425-mile long West Bank barrier dividing Palestinian and Israeli territories. The stunt also provoked gunfire.
Westwood’s “Crayola Shooter” has attracted a steady flock of visitors and admiring iPhone photographers since its appearance, impressing both fans of Banksy’s work and those new to the graffiti artist’s designs.
“It’s definitely art ““ when you’re walking by and see something like that, it’s out of the ordinary. It makes you think,” said fourth-year materials science engineering student John Lin.
Lin said that he learned of Banksy’s work from his sister, who had sent him links of the artist’s latest Los Angeles murals, and that he was further impressed by the quality of the work after seeing it in person.
Despite their popularity, two of the four Los Angeles Banksy murals have already been removed, and the “Crayola Shooter” was vandalized with the red letters “MBW” and gray paint stains early Saturday morning.
Large-scale images of an intoxicated Mickey and Minnie Mouse spray painted on a Sunset Boulevard billboard were quickly removed Thursday and replaced with a new billboard shortly after their appearance.
A smaller Banksy image off of La Cienega Avenue and Sunset Boulevard featuring the image of Charlie Brown toting a petroleum can was also removed, chiseled off of the abandoned building on which it was painted.
“It should make sense to keep it,” said financial analyst Dara Shei, 25, who stopped by Westwood to admire “Crayola Shooter.”
Shei said he has been a fan of Banksy’s work for several years, and had also attended one of the artist’s private Los Angeles gallery showings, where stenciled Banksy canvases fetched prices in the $200,000 range.
Senior lead police officer Chris Ragsdale was among the mural observers, and said that it is ultimately up to the building owner, not Westwood, to decide the mural’s fate.
“It’s on private property ““ so whether it’s legal or not is whether there’s a victim,” Ragsdale said. “Now that it’s there, the owner of the building or the store may want it to stay for a while.”
Urban Outfitters quickly sold out of its stock of Banksy art books after the stenciled art was first spotted on the back of the building, said employees Chris Melgar, 28, and Brandon Warden, 22. Though the mural has not yet been removed, Melgar said that maintenance requests to clean spray-painted images from the store’s back door and “No Parking” sign had been fulfilled.
Urban Outfitters released a statement to Los Angeles blog LAist.com, emphasizing their support for the preservation of the Banksy mural:
“We love Banksy and have been long-time supporters of his work. “˜Banksy: Wall and Piece’ has been one of our top 20 books for the past four and a half years. We are proud to have his “˜Crayola Shooter’ mural on our Westwood store and are doing everything in our power to convince the property manager not to touch this important work of art.”
Khan said that he and other participants of the “Protest against removal of Banksy WESTWOOD/UCLA” Facebook event also intend to negotiate with the property manager to protect the Banksy mural.
“Painting over it would be so painful,” Khan said. “In a way, it’s like someone painting over the “˜Mona Lisa.'”
With reports from Andrew Froug, A&E contributor.
