David Gray's pictures of the week 21-4-2008

DAVID GRAY photography
	S P R A Y C A N A R T I S T S
	P I C T U R E S O F T H E W E E K 2 1 - 4 - 2 0 0 8

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This week's picture set takes a look at spraycan artists and the use of aerosol containers to paint graffiti murals. It's a contentious subject - spraying on someone else's property is a criminal offence, yet some sprayers are praised as important artists and their work sold in commercial galleries for a small fortune. Depending on your point of view, Banksy is either a social menace or a brilliant critic of contemporary society. Graffiti, which for centuries had been a simple matter of scratching and writing on walls, was transformed by the use of spraycans, first deployed on a large scale in New York in the early 1970s. That same city now has a law (Title 10-117 of the New York Administrative Code) that bans the sale of cans to under-18s. In the UK, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act even includes powers to prosecute property owners who allow graffiti on their premises. Now that owners of Banksy-decorated walls are carefully taking them down for sale on the art market, the law is clearly in a bit of a muddle. If Leonardo had invented the spraycan, would the Mona Lisa have been given an ASBO ?

Painting a mural outside the Albert pub in Brighton in August 2002 (image 2181-16)

This picture can be bought for personal or commercial use Prices start at £8 for a print quality digital file.