Saturday 5 September 2009

The One That Warns Your Wall Does Not Belong To You. . .

I like Banksy, I find him whimsical, entertaining and sometimes downright funny. I'd be delighted to wake up one morning to find he'd gone to work on my wall.

Councils don't like Banksy. He's into graffiti and is bad. His vandalism must be eradicated.

A mural by graffiti artist Banksy, which once featured on the cover of a single by rock band Blur, has been painted over by Hackney Council.

The spoof image of the Royal Family, painted on the side of a building in Stoke Newington, east London, was partially covered with black paint.

But then, if it is their wall, then that's up to them.

The building's owner was in tears as she begged workmen to stop. By the time she persuaded them it was almost gone.

The building's owner? Hang on, what's going on here?

Property owner Sofie Attrill gave consent for the mural to be painted on the building so it could be photographed for the launch of Blur's 2003 single Crazy Beat.

So why were the council of all people painting over it?

Hackney Council needed permission to remove the mural because it was on private property.

But its letters were sent to an address Ms Attrill lived at 25 years ago.

After receiving no response the council served an enforcement notice.


So they needed permission to do it, and when that permission wasn't forthcoming, they went ahead and did it anyway.


Hackney Council was initially unrepentant.


Well, there's a surprise.


Cllr Alan Liang said: "The council's position is not to make a judgement call on whether graffiti is art."

But he later added: "Due to a problem at the land registry unfortunately our letters stating our intention to clean this building didn't reach the owner.


It isn't your fucking building, so why the hell are you cleaning it? If I started slapping paint over a council owned wall, I would expect to have my collar felt for it. It is, after all, not my wall to paint.

And yet, Hackney Council seem to think they have the liberty to paint over any wall they damn well please. One rule for us. . .

I'd be suing the bastards for criminal damage, or getting the muppet in charge of whichever thick as pig shit department perpetrated this act of willful vandalism arrested for same, let's get his DNA and fingerprints recorded.

Fuckers.

2 comments:

SaltedSlug said...

What utter strokers.

Hope he's sues them into the ground. I mean, how much would that've been worth?

hermit said...

I'd be furious too, and I would be suing them.

"The building's owner was in tears as she begged workmen to stop. By the time she persuaded them it was almost gone."
Lets just say I would have persuaded them quicker myself.

"Cllr Alan Liang said: "The council's position is not to make a judgement call on whether graffiti is art."
Sounds like they have already predetermined that it is graffiti, so they've already made their judgement call. I suppose then that anyone who makes some sort of cheerful embellishment to their wall by way of mural, subtle differences in colour etc. can expect the same treatment.

"Due to a problem at the land registry unfortunately our letters stating our intention to clean this building didn't reach the owner."
Ever thought of the civilized proceedure of visiting the owner, simply knocking on the door, to enquire about the matter? Don't they realise their fucking precious databases aren't always perfect. Robot morons.

Thick as pigshit - one of my favourite expressions Snowolf. Fascists is another that springs to mind.