An Open Letter to Banksy, New York~

Dear Banksy,

Thank you for an absolutely amazing month. The roller coaster was spectacular. It was like the grown-up, street art equivalent of having Christmas every day. The excitement, the anticipation, and our eye-popping at the spectacles could not be matched. Like a symphony conductor, you played the masses, masterfully pulled and plucked at our heart strings. Thank you~

On a personal note, a Banksy image was the first street art that M&F ever personally witnessed on the streets. As a young teenager, someone painted the image of your copper flipping the bird in our neighborhood, and your image spoke to us and stuck with us. The image was not painted by you, but by some random Banksy fan in middle America years ago, but that doesn't change things. Basically, your street art became our first street love. And we still love you~

While running this blog, M&F has seen how Banksy's influence is as big or greater than the rest of the entire worlds of graffiti and street art combined. For what its worth, M&F would like to extend an open apology to Banksy from graffiti writers of the world and the street art community. Basically, nearly every graffiti writer that hates on Banksy is just jealous of your success, and every street artist wanting to be Banksy wants your success, but without understanding what it takes to get there. Like you say, people should not eat to shit. Instead of hating on your fame, or trying to snag a piece of it, true artists should emulate and learn from your example.

Banksy has conquered every mountain in the art world one achievement at a time. When Banksy wasn't a household name, you began painting animals (that time you painted the cow was where M&F first heard your name, and never forgot it since.  To be clear, not that 'paint animals' should be the lesson learned, rather keep it fresh by doing what no one has done before and what no one expects). When graffiti was not considered fine art, you invaded the world of fine art with graffiti. When museums would not have your art, you broke the rules to put it in there anyway. And somewhere along the line, your art works began to command colossal financial success.  But unlike many other artists, that was not your end game. It is so disappointing how many artists will work for years on crafting a unique and personal look or aesthetic, and then, once a deep pocketed advertiser comes along, they sell their aesthetic out for a paycheck. What is up with that? It cheapens the art because all of a sudden it not art, but just another cool advertisement for so-and-so company. Its the artistic equivalent to selling your soul. But Banksy, the biggest reason you are such a hero is that you achieved everything, and did it all without selling your artistic soul.  You did it all without selling out, or compromising what got you to where you are. In fact, once you got to the absolute top of the art world, you bring it back home to basics. Back to the streets. Back to where art should be. Boom.

Yes, thank you for the entertainment, but even more so, thank you for bringing art back to its roots. In the modern world, art has lost its way, and lost touch with the people. As you pointed out, generations ago, art got taken inside in service to the institutions and the church. Now, these days, art is assessed by its value, not its content. People are told what good art is, instead of experiencing good art and being able to explain why that art is impactful to them. This has made art boring, and generally a subject that most people are uncomfortable about giving opinions on or an honest opinion about. Art, in the art world, is about fake, money driven posturing. But none of this is real art. Art doesn't matter how much it costs or what the critics say. Art happens when it influences people, and the best place to influence people is outside, on the streets. Your month long exhibition was a powerful demonstration and testament to the powers of art.  Banksy, you have conquered both the streets and the auction houses. We always knew you were prophetic, but now we think that you might be a prophet. Moses set out the 10 Commandments after climbing down from the mountain. In a similar way, Banksy has climbed every mountain in the art world, and now he brings the art back to the masses. Galleries now want your art. Museums now want your art. Nearly every art establishment in the world wants your art! And you want to give the art back to the people. That is just fucking awesome. Thank you for stealing art back from the institutions, and offering it back to the people. Indeed, Better Out Than In.~

Banksy, your name is bigger than the rest of the street art world combined. You are a role model for the scene, and beyond. Throughout it all, you have continued to fight the good fight. You have become the greatest artist of this generation. You have achieved it all on your terms. All the while, you have utilized your ever-growing fame to do quiet acts of humanitarianism, while for the public at large, you are banging a loud drum for change. You might be a career vandal, but modern politicians, media giants, celebrities and other so-called 'role models' would benefit from emulating you as a model.

Banksy, you are King of the Graffiti World, King of the Art World, and our best hope for shaking things up on the streets in the future. Thank you for being the only hero worth looking up to.~

Stay up!

If Jonathan Jones Thinks Opinionism is Journalism He's Trippin'

Jonathan Jones, art critic and staff writer for the Guardian, just wrote a nasty article entitled 'If Banksy thinks he's following in Warhol's footsteps he's tripping'.  First of all, Banksy is not following in Warhol's footsteps.  Secondly, how did your title ever make it past the editor? Jonathan must get paid by the word, and not for proper capitalization of those words.

It seems no one is monitoring the editor's desk at the Guardian, otherwise tripe like this would not get published.  Basically, Jonathan Jones' article is nothing more than an opinionated attack of Banksy. Jones accuses Banksy of being "banal" and "untalented".  Jones hurls the terms, but he offers no supporting evidence why that is the case.  Jones conclusion is that Banksy is cool only because "All graffiti is cool". Jonathan Jones ends his opinionism by saying "Myself, I wish Banksy would go see Jackson Pollock's One at MoMA, look at it until he sees how dull and lifeless his own art is by comparison, and retire."

Ouch. Like we say, hurling insults is opinionism, not journalism.  Anyone can spit words and opinions at a computer.  But the bigger point is, Jonathan Jones is ridiculously wrong on many levels.  Simply put, Jonathan Jones, not only is your writing banal and untalented, but it also seems you have no understanding of the streets, or even art.

Yes, street art is "the sacred totem of our age" and not just because it requires risk on many more levels than traditional indoor art.  Street art is the chosen genre of this generation, because, at its best, it provides an unfiltered voice for the truth of an individual daring to make a personal stand in this day and age.

This is where we re-visit our accusational 'opinion' that Mr. Jones does not really understand art, and like good journalism does, back it up with some evidence.  Case in point, if there is one general definition for good art, it is that 'good art' is inspirational.  If Mr. Jones is suggesting that Jackson Pollock's One is the epitome of high art, and he is also suggesting that anyone could stare at it and lose hope, then it seems that his scenario is failing good art at the most elemental level.  To be clear, M&F is not commenting on the quality Jackson Pollock's painting as art.  Rather, we are arguing that Jonathan Jones is stretching so hard to make a point, that the point he is reaching for just isn't there.

Mr. Jones, your article has untalented writing that doesn't come to a clean point.  And it seems that you are completely out of touch with popular culture.  The kids these days don't call it tripping, and you're trippin' if you think so.  Furthermore, you write for a mainstream media institution and are admonishing art lovers to visit a museum to experience real art.  This is why you don't get street art.  To spell it out for you, Mr. Jones, you are a cog in the institutional authoritarian framework that the street artists are anti- against.

Trust us, not all graffiti is cool.  Far from it. There is plenty of bad and lame graffiti and street art. Banksy is at the other end of that spectrum.  Banksy is not trying to be Warhol, either.  Wanting to be Warhol is what the bad graffiti and street art attempts to imitate. Banksy's unique skill is that he paints static pieces of art that are engaging and conversational.  And this generation digs what Banksy is saying in that conversation.  In fact, the first Banksy that M&F ever personally encountered on the streets was not an authentic Banksy at all.  It was a copy of one of Banksy's images, featuring a cop glowering out from behind his hard had, flipping a 'Fuck You' with his middle finger.  The image was painted behind a random gas station in a mid-American town.  At the time, I was a teenager who had never heard the term street art and I didn't know who Banksy was, but this piece spoke to me.  This 3 inch image seemed to capture exactly how I felt about the abuses by the powers.  I've been a fan of Banksy ever since.  Every piece from Banksy might not be profound, but when Banksy is on, he is the voice of this generation.  That's why Banksy is going to be bigger than Warhol.  Tomato cans are for your grandparents, museums, and institutions.  Banksy is wielding spray cans to lead the street art generation.

In closing, M&F would like to share a piece of Jonathan Jones' advice with himself.  Just as you recommended a visit to Pollock's One at MoMA and staring at it for inspiration, we would like to suggest that Mr. Jones try to familiarize himself with some Banksy imagery.  Why don't you look at the same picture that first inspired M&F to become interested in street art.  This version pictured above might not be from Banksy, its just from another one of his countless fans.  Still don't see the glory in street art?  Don't worry.  Enlightenment will come with time.  Just keep staring at it. You will get the point, eventually~

Or maybe, Mr. Jones, just re-visit Pollock's One at MoMA, and retire.

THIS is Museum Quality Graffiti

This is not Chris Brown painting again on an acid trip.  THIS is museum quality graffiti.

This building front was painted by Kenny Scharf, one of Jeffrey Deitch's darlings.  Scharf was one of a handful of honored graffiti artists showcased in MOCA's 2011 groundbreaking Museum Exhibit 'Art in the Streets'.  Clearly, Scharf was chosen because of heavy instrumental stylistic influence on the graffiti and street art worlds, combined with his stunning artistic skill.

Shit.  Enough sarcasm.  In M&F's professional opinion, this wall provides a prime example of why graffiti in museums sucks compared to real graffiti on the streets.  If you think that this wall is better than what's on the streets then Jeffrey Deitch also has some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you. The true art is on the streets, not in museums.

Stay up, Los Angeles~

Street Art and Street Advertising for Art

What's the difference between street art and art in a museum?

Well, the street art is actually on the streets where masses of people can see it.  Meanwhile, the museum puts up a banner as an ad so that the exclusive few thousand people, if that, will ever see it.

Stay up, and stay street!~

Across The Wall

100,000 Hits - MELROSEandFAIRFAX is a 'Virtual Gallery'

MELROSEandFAIRFAX reached a personal milestone on Monday when we passed 100,000 hits.

I wish my financial portfolio looked like our stats because it is on a straight incline from left to right!

That's the good news, and it just gets better~

The blog started in May, so all the action has happened since then. But really, the hits only began to jump when we started resizing the pictures bigger in December, and 70,000 hits have happened in the last 2 months alone.

Based on hits and web traffic, M&F is the #1 street sticker site in the world, and one of the top 5 street art blogs worldwide. And, the new Banksy yesterday led to our biggest day ever with over 10,000 hits in a single day, so we are well over 113,000 hits now and have our sites set on a million by the end of 2011.

Stats are one thing, but perhaps even more relevant is an idea that we just read on Streetsy about how due to the temporary nature of the material, street art blogs and websites are essentially Virtual Galleries and says that "virtual museums are integral to the preservation and development of street art culture". We had never really thought about it is this light before, but it makes us even more committed to run the best online showcase around!

The success has led to a lot of cool things and we have collaborated with Huffington Post (Twice), AnimalNY, Curbed LA, TheDailyWhat, The Independent Newspaper, LAist, been interviewed news segments and for 2 street art documentaries, and have even been contacted by Paramount about a possible street art movie.

We also have a major book deal in the works with International distribution lined up and some exciting and extremely limited release surprises~

And, at this moment of reaching this little milestone, we want to take this opportunity to say "Thank You" to all of the street artists and fans who have supported the organic growth of this blog, and launched it onto the stage of the world, and reaffirm our pledge to keep putting out the best fresh/new street art from Los Angeles!