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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Turnpike Lane Foxy Artist Confirms Second Piece to be Painted locally

                                                                  Picture: Hugh

 

Boe, one of the artists behind Friday's Turnpike Foxy mural has told Harringay Online that the Boe and Irony are planning to revisit the area to paint a second picture soon.

I started by asking Boe whether it was the Banksy controversy that had brought them up this way:

Boe: We tend to paint around the east of London where there is a great attitude towards street art in general. People like to see nice work on the streets around there, more so than a lot of places around London..... Because of Banksys work bringing it to peoples attention around Harringay, and because of the great reaction its removal had, bringing people to the streets to protest for its return (i've never heard of that happening before!), we thought we'd pop up there and see what the vibe was to painting at that scale.

And then I asked if they planned to be up this way again:

"I have to say we had a fantastic reaction from people, everyone who spoke to us was very friendly and very interested in what we were doing. Its great to get a reaction like that, and we both hope to be up there again soon to do another piece somewhere."

Tags for Forum Posts: street art

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Ah ok, it certainly seems like all the impetus to bring it back is coming from the council. E.g. the story is slap bang in the middle of the council's homepage, and articles like this imply that the council is behind the calls to bring it back:

http://www.haringey.gov.uk/call-on-culture-secretary-in-fight-to-br...

Sarah, on the whole I think the Council's website is fairly careful to be informative, factual and politically neutral. Though this is just an impression based on pages and sections I frequently use. Links I post on HoL also invite people to jump directly to particular pages.

To be frank, I hadn't recently viewed the Home Page and certainly hadn't explored the links given to "the Council's" views on the Banksy stencil. So I can see how it may give the impression of a widespread "campaign" with a body called "the Council" with 57 members having met, discussed and reached consensus on the issue. Or even voted by a majority.

Every single link on the pages refers to statements made or letters sent by Claire Kober and Alan Strickland. As I've said, Alan Strickland has Culture in his remit, and Whymark Avenue is in his ward. So it's perfectly understandable why he's spoken out. (I speak out strongly on issues affecting my own ward.)

But when Claire Kober purports to speak on behalf of the entire Council on any matter you have to understand that this does not follow a widespread process of discussion and consultation. I may be completely wrong and perhaps this time Cllr Kober made, say, informal soundings with her cabinet and with the LibDem spokespeople. They may tell us. (Although the Labour "cabinet" councillors are unlikely to upset the Dear Leader as she prepares to dish out the sweeties for the new Municipal Year.)

But if Cllr Kober did so, it's a shame the letters and statements about the Banksy weren't jointly made with Cllr Richard Wilson.  

But like Kober's Education Commission and the post riots Community Panel, my guess is that her main consultee was mirror, mirror on her wall. And possibly Cllr Joe Goldberg. With all else delusion. "The Council, it is I".

A while ago I suggested that the Haringey People Magazine should be de-politicianed. In other words, retained for its information content but with the exclusion of any party political material. Perhaps the same should happen with the website?

Some people can even appreciate bad graffiti

Here here, couldn't agree more!

If nothing else, the 'Bring Back Banksy' campaign has generated much needed debate. The condition of the High Road is appalling and in great need of re-energising not just for business but for the local community. Banksy painted his piece there to make a statement and I can appreciate that. As one of my neighbours said, the owners of the building do very little else for the area other than squeeze rent out of whatever business they stick in the property (in this case, Poundland).

Art is important, it brings life to a community and it is easy to separate the rubbish that is gang-tagging and obvious lack of talent with that which is meant to convey visual appreciation. I have seen kids produce an incredible mural for the Sandlings Community Centre (incidentally, this was inside and not outside the centre). Places like Rio de Janeiro also have street artists paint murals on walls that enhance an area and not add to the poverty and depression some of their community live in. Other cities are also seeing the benefit of this, on train journeys across the continent I have seen otherwise boring grey substations completely livened up with art.

Art can be an opportunity for a local artist, young or old, to exercise their creativity in a positive way and provided they do not do damage to private property and seek the consent of property owners, I cannot see how there could be any harm to our local area.

The owners of the building Poundland sits in may have done more damage to the value of their asset, the mural stripped off the wall should be worthless as the value of the art lies in the message it was meant to convey.

I agree. The truth is, this is a poor, fairly unkept area, especially the commercial bit - which also boasts terrible mid XX century architecture. Anything to liven it up is welcome, especially quality art like the fox, which is wonderfully representative.

I love it too, brings a smile to my face when I walk by it.

Well said. London needs to more colour on its buildings. The bank opposite Kings Cross station is a great example of something well considered and rendered. This is a great cheap and easy way to improve the ambiance of an area and to give opportunities to young artists and designers to experiment and create. I think there should be an avenue for people to pitch ideas to the council and apply for funding for the paint!

Maybe even funding for their time and skills too? Not just paint. The building opposite Kings Cross was painted by men who have around 20years worth of experience and are looked after by management/marketing teams. Graffiti is a business to some and I think if commissioned should be paid for with more than just paint. If not, allow more walls to be open to graffiti/street art and get the different walls that materialised week after week where people paint what they like as they are committing their own time and money to create the art. 

You wouldn't ask a plumber to just turn up when you offer just to pay for materials. 

I wondered about this building when I took a couple of photos a fortnight ago.

It's the Hotel Megaro above the bank. The murals were commissioned by the owner Tony Megaro and painted in 2012 by a professional company called ServiceTeam.

An article by Clare Hill on Kings Cross Environment website described the divergent local views about it.

And on the Euston Road side at ground floor level, the building hosts the damn fine and conveniently located cafe / bar / restaurant,Karpo.

I posted incorrect information about Service Team. They are a scaffolding company and their photos on Flickr show the construction.

According to Gavin Lucas in the website Creative Review the artwork was painted by the four artists linked to in Claire Hill's article. Creative Review's photos - by Ian Cox - of both the building and interior were far better than others I've seen. (And my own.)

My apologies to HoL members and to the four artists.

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