I was here first

You might think that the underground world of graffiti artists is one that admits to no rules yet ever since it began to gain popularity in the late 70's in New York graffiti has always had certain unwritten rules and protocols to abide by in order to preserve the integrity of the art form. One of those rules was not to go over another artists work yet recently I've been seeing more and more cases in Toronto's graffiti scene where this rule is being broken, even by some of Toronto's graffiti elite. With limited wall space perhaps it should be expected that every now and again a writers work will get clipped or even gone over once its had a sufficient run but here is a recent case I found that was totally unnecessary. You might have heard of Banksy by now. The elusive British street artist who opts for politically themed and satirical art work which he displays in his wheat paste posters in major cities all over the world. Banksy`s work has come to be renound by the art community and original pieces sell in the hundreds of thousands. Recently Banksy hit Toronto with a series of works across the city and ignited a scavenger hunt among street art enthusiasts to find all the spots he hit. This particularly clever one depicting a business man holding a sign saying `will work for idiots` has sadly been painted over, but not by some random kid playing with the Canadian Tire spray cans he found in his parents shed, but one of Toronto`s graffiti kings: MANR.
I was truly disappointed when I saw this. MANR was and to lesser extent now still is one of my graffiti idols. It wasn`t really his artistic merit I was interested in but the shear number of spots this guy hit up. He managed to hit up really public and dangerous spots that no one else could instantly cementing his status as a legend in the Toronto arena.
But after seeing this I`m starting to reconsider the whole ``I don`t give a fuck`` hardcore attitude I`m seeing among some of today`s bigger names. It`s completely devoid of the mutual respect among artists that graffiti writers had in the 80's. In fact Banksy recently went over a long standing Robbo hit that was later reclaimed by Robbo.
Original Robbo piece.
Robbo piece gone over by Banksy
Robbo incorporates Banky's character and reclaims the wall.
Just goes to show even legends don't play by the rules anymore and the whole thing is becoming one giant free for all. I'm not a fan of the direction graffiti is heading. On the one hand you have artists getting corporate sponsorships and being paid for their work, selling out more or less, and then you have those same guys running around the city going over anyone they feel like. It's not for me anymore.