Philistines

Another example of art fascists .

" Graffiti art by the acclaimed artist Banksy on streets in Tower Hamlets is to be painted over...Tower Hamlets is the first council to treat them as vandalism. "

"Whilst some graffiti is considered to be art, we know the many of our residents think that the graffiti in areas where they live, such as local housing estates, is an eyesore...We need to be clear here, graffiti is a crime.It spoils the environment, makes our neighbourhoods feel less safe, and costs thousands of pounds each year to clean - money that could instead be paying for valuable local services."

Tower Hamlets Council said it had not thought of selling the potentially valuable artwork to help raise money for council services .

Eleven of Banksy's stencilled artworks go on sale on Wednesday at Bonham's auction house in Knightsbridge. The actress Angelina Jolie reportedly bought one of his works for more than £200,000. A piece, commissioned by rock band Blur for their 2003 album Think Tank, recently sold in London for £300,000 .

A Banksy piece painted on a wall in Bristol recently went to public vote, with 97% of people saying it should be kept.

Another of Mikes Marxtoons

One night Marx set off with Edgar Bauer and Wilhelm Liebknecht for a drunken jaunt up the Totenham Court Rd. , intending to have a drink in every pub between Oxford St and HampsteadRd. , no fewer than 18 pubs . Liebknecht takes up the story .
"Now we had enough of our beer trip for the time being and in order to cool our heated blood , we started on a double -quick march , until Edgar Bauer stumbled upon a heap of paving stones . "Hurrah , an idea !" And in memory of mad student pranks he picked up a stone and CLASH ! CLATTER! a gas lantern went flying into splinters. Nonsense is contagious - Marx and I did not stay behind , and we broke four or five street lamps ...But the noise nevertheless attracted the attention of a policeman ..."
And all three scampered for it . Karl Marx the lager lout !!

Art for Arts Sake

"It's great being an artist if you are earning a living," he says. "If you aren't making money then you aren't an artist, you are a waiter or a teacher with a hobby."

But of course upon saying that Nigel Holman is the man who owns Wimbledon Art Studios , a warehouse in Wimbledon, south-west London, renting space to 130 artists in 111 studios, and is the biggest independent art-studio operator in the UK and also the man who is about to build a new £2m art-studio building, is due to be completed in September and will boost the number of studios to 163.

Indeed art has become has a business and is all about selling paintings .

Mr Holman says he charges about a third more for the studio space than his rivals, but says he will sell more of the artists' work, making it a better deal in the long run. Wimbledon Art Studios open twice a year, for four days at a time, and have in the past attracted 6,000 visitors who spent a total of £300,000 on the art on show.

"We don't advertise in art magazines because you get people who are interested in art but don't buy anything," he explains. "There has been a boom in the middle class in areas like this and they want real art to hang on their walls."

In order to better prepare them for the cold world of business, artists at the Wimbledon Art Studios can sign up for seminars and workshops with titles such as Selling and Presentation, Accounts Talk and The Rise and Design of Internet Marketing. Perhaps the title of those should be - The Art of Selling Yourself

Imagine Karl Marx

...Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

....

Me thinks Marx is a teddy boy

Many thanks to fellow postal worker and friend Mike Boyd for this cartoon of Charlie - Mike's less political cartoons and drawings can be found here

Exploration of art as a commodity

I can't claim to be some sort of expert on art but i found this a well worth watching , a 15 minute Google video presenting a conference paper by John Mitchell.

"Modern art is based on profit potential rather than expression of free ideas and communication. Therefore the commodification of art has rendered the message contained within to be obsolete...Whilst there are artists who create art outside the gallery system; notable influential artists subscribe to this system of determined market values.."

With comments from Alan Woods, the Trotskyite , who can also be viewed on his own video discussing art which i also rather liked .