Banksy v Robbo - New Details Emerge

 

One of the biggest feuds in art-world history, street artist Banksy v graffiti writer Robbo rumbled on much longer than fans and art historians previously thought. 

In December 2009 street artist Banksy created 4 illegal pieces of stencil art on the sides of a canal in Camden, London. One of the pieces, the Banksy Wallpaperer revived an ancient feud between the street artist Banksy and the then retired but still famous London graffiti writer known as Robbo. By re-imagining a very old relic of Robbo graffiti dating from 1985 into a stencilled worker applying that graffiti as wallpaper, Banksy appeared to be suggesting that graffiti piece was perhaps just forgettable mass produced background rubbish.

   

Banksy v Robbo, Camden, Dec 2009 

Robbo and Banksy then engaged in a 12 months tit-for-tat exchange of insults by re-working those four art pieces in Camden, starting with Robbo turning the wallpaper into “King Robbo” on Christmas Day 2010, as first reported here on Graffoto.

 

Banksy v Robbo, 25th December 2009, photo Dave Stuart

Many articles record that Banksy insulted Robbo at a party in the late 90s, Robbo assaulted Banksy and Banksy had nurtured the grudge ever since until his attack on the Robbo relic at the turn of the decade. In a virtual presentation last week on Banksy’s London street art I played a re-discovered and never before reported snippet of an exclusive interview I made with Robbo in 2010 in which he says that Banksy had been attacking his graffiti years before the Camden 2009 takeover. 

In the interview, asked if he had been attacking Banksy art before 2009 Robbo laughingly replies

“………. before the King Robbo? No, he’s dogged me before that has happened, I can show you a picture, it’s in one of his books.“

   

Banksy Smiley Copper amended, photo Dave Stuart 

The picture Robbo refers to is the Smiley Copper in Wall and Piece. Robbo then confirms that the feud started in the Dragon Bar in Shoreditch in the 90s before going on to say 

 “And after that happened, there was a full name throw-up of mine, “Robbo” and he decided to put the grim reaper or the smiley face over the top of it and at the time, I thought if that’s the best he can do ... “

Examination of the Smiley Copper indeed shows the capital R of a piece of graffiti Robbo says was his has been squarely hit by the Smiley Copper which unusually has a huge Banksy tag across the centre of the artwork, leaving the intended recipient of the message in now doubt as to who has gone over him. In the world of graffiti if you intend to insult someone there is no point in making a timid little mark over someone else's graff, you go big and bold.

  Banksy Smiley Copper amended, photo Dave Stuart 

The Smiley Copper is believe to date from 2003 which indicates Banksy was picking the scab on that wound long before 2009 as previously thought. 

Sadly Robbo had a terrible accident in 2011 which left him in a coma until his passing in 2014, rest in peace King Robbo

Robbo tribute/vigil piece by Banksy, 2011 

The virtual online presentation “Banksy – The London Chronicle” is to be repeated this coming weekend at times that will hopefully be more convenient for Banksy fans in Latin America and North America and those in Asia, the Far East and Australia. 

Book HERE for 10pm GMT on Saturday 9th January 2021

Book HERE for 12 noon GMT on Sunday 10th January 2021, 

For up to date information on the Banksy virtual tour, see HERE

All photos: Dave Stuart 

Dave Stuart will appear as an Expert Judge on TV art show Next Big Thing coming on London Live in the Spring, details to follow.

A Decade On - King Robbo

Christmas Day 10 years ago the notorious Robbo vs Banksy spat went to another level. Robbo, RIP, headed out very early Christmas morning, crossed the Regents Canal at Camden directly under British Transport Police HQ and painted the perfect riposte to Banksy’s Wallpaperer.


25th December 2019 KING ROBBO!


Early that Christmas morning I noticed a photograph on Flickr of Robbo’s new iteration of this piece posted by Robbo’s WRH crew mate Doze. The genius was immediately apparent from that photo. I whizzed straight down to the canal, took some photos and wrote “Banksy vs Robbo WRH, WD – Checkmate” which was up online before Christmas lunch was served. It remains to this day the most read post on Graffoto.

Before Robbo’s Christmas morning adventure, the art on the wall consisted of a workman by Banksy wallpapering over some graffiti, which was actually an ancient Robbo piece.


Banksy Wallpaperer, 19th December 2019


For context, Banksy vs Robbo was an intense feud with ancient origins but for roughly a 6 month period it raged spectacularly at several locations along Regents Canal in Camden as each artist attacked the other's art with a succession of insults.

“It’s tongue in cheek, it’s all a laugh, it’s a giggle” Robbo told Graffoto about 10 months later when we met for a beery one on one unpublished interview in his local near Kings Cross.  Robbo also said in reference to the art Banksy was producing at the time "A couple of things I like, the graffiti wallpaper, that was a good piece, so was the global warming, that was a good piece. I appreciate art, I’m an artist. I’m a graffiti artist that’s my main flag but I am an artist".


Robbo exhibition opening night, Pure Evil Gallery, Sep 2010



Robbo exhibition, Pure Evil Gallery, Sep 2010


Robbo mentioned how he didn’t have much to do with social media so his mate put up the photo on Flickr, then early afternoon called Robbo to tell him the piece had already been picked up by a blog. Robbo said some kind and appreciative things about the Graffoto coverage so on the 10th anniversary of that event it is a pleasure to remember that exciting piece of art.

The word "Checkmate" in the title of that Christmas Day blog post was a bit presumptuous, Banksy didn't let things lie there and neither did Robbo.  Follow the full sequence of evens in the spat below:

Update - check Robbo's flick, in particular go down to Keen-one's comments, here.

Old news: Banksy hits Camden

Robbo Trumped Banksy: Banksy vs Robbo WRH, WD - checkmate

Banksy vs Robbo...Did You Think It Was Over?

And The Beef Goes On

Banksy v Robbo: War Continues

Banksy Reparations

2014, sadly..  Robbo RIP

Robbo RIP, Tribute by Adnate (Aus) in Shoreditch. Sep 2014

All photos: Dave Stuart

London Street Art Highlights 2014

Photos: NoLionsInEngland

Undoubted star of the London street art scene this year was Spanish artist Borondo. Among a series of great pieces the stand out has to be the upside down canalside face in Hackney Wick, a gem of site specific dynamic art. With just the right wind, a gentle slop of the water surface results in a face whose lips mouth words silently and eyes that wink at you, pure genius.


Borondo


Working with a bunch of wooden planks found among the fly tipped materials lying in a car park, XO from Amsterdam produced a striking collage of wood grain and plank colours, topped with geometric string art.  With a high novelty value quotient this was one of my favourite pieces this year.


XO


Italian visitor Luis Gomez painted at least three great murals in Shoreditch this year though the real stand out was his Narcissus, many folk missed his deft use of the different surface of the base of the “flower bed” to create the reflection of this vain creature.


Luis Gomez


Sell Out kept up a solid output of butterflies and sculptures throughout the year, with many visitors taking home a souvenir of Shoreditch’s street art courtesy of Sell Out’s blu-tacked butterflies. Some do find the way he imposes his art onto other people’s work rude or disrespectful but we have no problem with it, street art is ripe for modification and interaction the moment the artist leaves the wall (but not before!).


Sell Out


As always lot of great stickers have appeared throughout Shoreditch, we loved this burst of fiendish colour brought to lampposts by Steek and Arrex.


Arrex (RX)


Street artist and gallerist Pure Evil embarked on a mission to create a piece of street art on the streets whereever he happened to be every day for 365 days. A number of his pieces were commemorative including tributes to Kieth Haring, JFK and Robbo and the work became highly personal and poignant with the sad loss of his father to cancer during the year.


Pure Evil


Another artist from abroad who stayed to make a big contribution was Furia ACK from Portugal. His first chalk and charcoal portraits were the very definition of ephemeral as rain eroded and softened the chalk highlights. He then specialised in people’s heroes usually connected to a defining moment of historical change where oppressed people asserted a wish to be free from despotic tyranny. More recently he has moved on to icons of female power.


Furia ACK (also feat. WRDSMTH)


Another artist on a political bent was HKG, addressing social politics, geo politics and environmental politics, it all boils down to them and us, and greed.


HKG


We saw a number of conscience driven activist art campaigns during the year. Masai’s endangered species slant on environmentalism crystalised in two campaigns, the first raising awareness of the consequences of bee wipeout and the second in conjunction with the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Animals) and Synchronicity Earth highlighted the perils of endangered species in the UK.


Masai


Sadly no year is complete without its fallen soldiers and this year saw the London graffiti and street art community mourn two significant losses. Robbo WRH WD PFB succumbed after a 3 years in a coma to injuries sustained in an accident. Palpable grief was expressed not just throughout the London graff brotherhood but worldwide with many writers paying tribute on walls dedicated to King Robbo.


Robbo tribute by DASR


Street artist BEN NAZ fought a hugely courageous battle against cancer, appearing at his solo show just weeks prior to his death when it was already known that the battle had been lost. He created a considerable amount of stencilled imagery in the past year or so before his sad departure.


Ben Naz RIP


The roaming spraycan art festival Meeting Of Styles returned to Shoreditch this year and produced some stunning permissioned murals, all technically exceptional and stunning to look at, probably defined by this signature wall on Network Rail property.


Gent48, Vibes RT, Odisy; bottom: Soker, Ders, Twesh


ALO continued his steady ascent in the art world with a solo show at the Saatchi Gallery but still found time to travel internationally and to add some beautiful portraits to Shoreditch surfaces.


ALO


One of the more controversial episodes this year involved a small number of youths paint bombing a portrait collaboration by Edwin and Josh. The youths contended that the face portrait, painted as a highly stylised pair of eyes and a nose across three shutters signified a one-eyed devil. Of course, nothing could really have been further from the truth of the artists' or the shutter owner’s intentions. Community censorship appeared to strike Saki and Bitches mildy eroticised geisha girls, and an image of a seating nude female by Benjamin Murphy had only the tape parts which defined the lady’s feminine charms buffed. Shoreditch has a significant Muslim population.


Edwin (not the defaced piece)



Saki and Bitches


Augmented reality technology came to the streets of Shoreditch for the first time courtesy of INSA's Cycle of Futility, INSA's Gif-iti Viewer, an iPhone app, replaces the static mural with the animated version of the artwork when viewed through the phone on the street. You can get a weak proxy to the experience by downloading the app and pointing it at the static photo in this blog post. Amaze your friends!


INSA


A curious population of sweet little bug eyed creatures exploded all over Shoreditch this year courtesy of Noriaki and boy do we love them. No corner is too dark or dank or remote for these unobtrusive people, they remind me of the way Monsieur Andre's character populated Paris or even Banksy's rats in the middle of the last decade.


Noriaki


Because the night ...belongs to artists, night time photography has produced a number of fun and pleasing photographs which are included here just because we can


Mr Cenz



Code FC, Graffiti Life behind



Nemo, Rask


For a slightly quirkier look at some of the great art created on Shoreditch streets in 2014, there is a slideshow of the finished versions of some of the street art the Shoreditch Street Art Tour came across during their creation, click here.

We’d love to include a shed load more highlights but the quantity of art and the number artists seen on the walls of Shoreditch this year was extraordinary. Going to finish with a slide show of just a few of the many many pieces that really impressed us this year.  Let’s just say that all their efforts have been seen and appreciated and we wish all artists a fantastic and productive 2015. 

Robbo RIP

all photos: NoLionsInEngland

The graffiti community mourns the passing of a giant. Robbo, King Robbo to many, sustained serious injuries in an accident in 2011 and after being in a coma ever since passed away last week. RIP.

Robbo was a true legend of the London graffiti scene being one of the leaders of the generation that first adopted the New York style of graffiti in the early 80s. After a number of years retired from active painting Robbo returned to active duty in 2009 when Banksy went over a Robbo piece in Camden dating from 1985, thus triggering one of the most notable art feuds ever.

For family, crew mates and those who knew him this is a time of grief for Robbo; for the global fraternity of Team Robbo and the many who knew of this colossus of the graffiti scene, this is a time for paying respects. All around the World but particularly in London, graffiti writers have been painting tributes to Robbo, here are a few from various locations in London.





Oker, Drax


Who weeps when the King is Dead? The Queen of course


Pure Evil



Diet, Heat


















Trev













More photos will be added to the Robbo Tribute photo set, check them out.



The unfolding story of Robbo and Banksy's feud:

Banksy hits Camden

Banksy vs Robbo...Did You Think It Was Over?

Banksy vs Robbo: Checkmate Robbo

And The Beef Goes On

Banksy v Robbo: War Continues

Banksy Reparations

Banksy v Robbo - War Continues

.........Or does it?

Are these latest changes by Banksy or not? Opinion in the Graffoto bunker has been divided. Can’t say that passions rose to anywhere near bloodshedding levels though.

All the changes basically involve buffing the Team Robbo wording, tidying up and re-working the defaced images.

The Waiter rat has changed to this, little more than buffing out the Team Robbo words, which is ironic as Graffoto likes to imagine Team Robbo left the stencil intact because it was pish anyway and sufficient embarrassment to Banksy itself.




"I don't Believe in Global Warming/War" has been buffed and replaced by a well executed roller headed flamingo, witty for the proximity of London Zoo with its well stocked flamingo pond. Is the perpetrator saying any bird brain could have done the Team Robbo effort?




Fishing boy has caught a no fishing sign and the Team Robbo tagging has been removed, ok, so its funny but not brilliant. The stencilled fish has a weird white dot and dribble from its tail, either this was a deliberate bit of the art in which case what the fuck is it, or it is a complete accident and would definitely suggest this wasn’t a Banksy. If this had been done by Banksy, wouldn’t the drips of canal water present in the original fishing boy have re-appeared?




Finally and utterly predictably, the King Robbo painter is now FUCKING ROBBO, a modification forecast on many forums and flickr comments. It’s done well but all of the other modifications have basically eradicated evidence of Robbo/Team Robbo rather than provoke him, its intent doesn’t seem to fit with the pattern of amendments to the other canalside pieces. Also, the tagging has been completely removed from all the other pieces but on this one the “Team Robbo” tags survives.



Perhaps the flamingo and the No Fishing boy might be Banksy but the other two look more like the efforts of some adventurous and over-sensitive disciples of Banksy. But wtf do we know?



If you need to read more about how the story started, it was covered by Graffoto here.


Robbo got the hump for reasons described here and a Team Robbo reaction kicked in with the wallpaper graffiti roller being taken back.

More details on the Team Robbo crusade against Banksy as it progressed were covered here and here.

2014, sadly..  Robbo RIP

And The Beef Goes On....

all photos: NoLionsInEngland


In the beginning there were four targets. Following a Christmas Day Robbo-mission and a little memo-to-Banksy early in the New Year, there were only two left. Now in the gap between yesterday afternoon (Sunday) and this afternoon, Team Robbo has collected the set.


Slicing the knife into another chink in the armour, Banksy gets mauled for churning out stencil artwork derived from the rat theme pioneered by Blek Le Rat 30 odd years ago.


Banksy La Rat

You eagle-eyed linguists won't miss the feminised definite article there.

Now can you guess who said "Some people want to make the world a better place. I just wanna make the world a better-looking place. If you don't like it, you can paint over it!" ?

Team Robbo accept Banksy's invitation, changing probably the most original and perceptive of Banksy's Regents Canal quartet from this


Don't believe...Global Warming, Banksy



to this


Don't believe...in War, Robbo.


Every graff writer and indeed street artist has those moments of frustration when their execution flops and they pray for the buff to take the piece out as soon as possible (or, more commonly, just paint it out temselves). It's worth a chuckle at Robbo having re-worked and painted over three of the canal bank Banksys chose to merely add a slogan to the toff rat, so preserving to Banksy's enduring embarrassment one of the worst public pieces by Banksy standards seen for a long time (until that dire utilitybox monkey turned up in Utah last week).

Props to both teams for dedication in reaching those spots. Robbo's witty manipulations land a solid one-two. Banksy, scourge of big institutions has had the tables turned on him but with a film premiering in Utah and an international glamour streetart anti-profile to be assidiously maintained, Banksy probably has bigger fish to fry than those landed from the banks of the canal at Camden. It's quality beef but it gets a bit dull when one side pretends not to notice.


Historical note - The full Banksy vs Robbo timeline:

Banksy hits Camden

Banksy vs Robbo...Did You Think It Was Over?

And The Beef Goes On

Banksy v Robbo: War Continues

Banksy Reparations

2014, sadly..  Robbo RIP