Opinions are what make this world just about bearable to live in. What I like, others may not and it's nice that way. My name is George, I edit a street art magazine called VNA, and this is a rant about what's hot and what's snot in street art at the moment. Part 1...

HOT.

Roa.



Roa is a street artist from Ghent in Belgium that has got mad skills with a spray can in terms of texture and scale. Placement makes or breaks a piece of street art in my opinion. Roa hits the nail right on the head nearly every time and to boot has the balls to go BIG! From pigs and rats to big ass birds and squirrels. The "rabbit piece" on Curtain Road (London) is still running and still looks dope... (See below)  By far the best street piece we have had in London in the last few years.

On top of all this I feel that Roa is one of only a few artists that can sit in both camps. Street art and graffiti. His ideas and eye for placement scream street art, whereas you can't deny that this is graffiti as he uses freehand spray painting in all his pieces. All this adds up to a well rounded artist and I cant wait to see what's next from him. For more on Roa have a look over here... http://roaweb.tumblr.com




SNOT.

The media takes notice of street art... As long as it references Banksy!



Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed the Banksy movie Exit Through The Gift Shop and I am a fan of Banksy's work. But when your mum records part of a TV show fronted by Alan Titchmarsh and he is being shown how to stencil (WTF???) you know the world has gone mad. Banksy is no longer the lone stencilman (how long ago was he I guess?) but a well-oiled publicity machine. The film is great and great for street art, but it angers me somewhat when no-one gives a shit about street art until the name Banksy is mentioned. Then the media takes notice. With the posters all over the tube, interviews and front covers with Time Out and the Sunday Times plus the odd bit of street publicity it seems that we can’t get enough of Banksy and street art right now. It is cool, but can you imagine how much more pissed off this is making the graffiti community?

Graffiti (walls, trains, tags, dubs etc) is still frowned upon and looked at as the dark side of street painting. I quote... "I like all that colourful stuff and that Bansky guy but I don’t like all them scribbles". Those scribbles are the roots of the graffiti culture. Graffiti has decades of history and then comes along its younger brother (or as HYB would probably say gay cousin twice removed) and jumps straight into galleries with a £100,000 price tag on it. I can understand where all the street art hate is coming from, although the Team Robbo stuff is getting very boring now.

Hmmm... I could do with seeing some fresh Banksy rats. That would be nice.

For more on the film have a look here... www.banksyfilm.com

All images by the ever-talented RomanyWG.