Robbo vs Banksy- Graffiti Wars FULL VIDEO

this man is described by some was one of the most important figures in countercultural arts but the chances are you've never heard most of his work no longer exists and was painted illegally in the first place King Robbo is a wanted man and protects his identity for fear of arrest he's a myth the legend expects outlaw Jesse James what does he live is he dead where is he he's one of the pioneers of graffiti writing a movement the champions freedom of expression and can be seen on street corners all over the world okay pastor self was a lot also heavier band what size you know when that normal static age this is Banksy he enigmatic street artist who also came from graffiti but has sold a popular and commercially successful version back to the world count the couches against hedge fund managers and bankers another ones who don't buy war house and trusses in one of our boxes but while robbers graffiti writing is reviled and criminalized Banksy's street art is fated by celebrities and endorsed by the authorities for some saying clean off and if it's a Banksy leaving the differing treatment of Robbo and Banksy is symptomatic of a wider battle between street art and graffiti and until recently both men were a universe apart that was until one of them committed an act dean so hostile it shocked the graffiti world it's caused fights flood is drawn for the disrespect we call started the most divisive art feud since Matisse and Picasso it is a graffiti wall the start idea you know Carol Neutron finished King Robo is an international graffiti legend who's kept his identity secret from the authorities for over 25 years a founding father of the British Graff scene he achieved infamy and respect in equal measure during the 80s and his tag appeared all over London's trains and underground system this is the tag should be are the owners of b2b and you know and there's my little devil cell phone through it this is your basic tag where it's not basic saggy so that that's the best tag you'll ever see after a tag you'll get the ones that throw up we saw just one movement is to be done quickly listen baby are my babies this is like my trademark in the 80s it was on every train Barry when Rafi T first came across the Atlanta it was seen as another unwanted social ill deported from America no for the teenage robo from the tough London council estate bombing the trains was the way to raise a big middle finger to Authority as well as an opportunity to get his art seen by as many people as possible an art gallery on Willard's and Krueger feet you are a snob would call this the buddha shrine room maybe got peace running across London there we've got unjust thousands of people gonna see it I mean piece of artwork running life for everyone to see last night more exciting than that you know you know catch the last train to whatever the arty was going to its checking all that much sort of hopefully squeaking around one finger under the cover of darkness seriously very little like you'd go to work doing your pieces we might do 20 or 30 train that's just bombing bombing bombing bombing all almost doing that for years you looked at CT 24/7 know where you could get cooler anyone living on the edge that was about the eternium Russia drugs and drink and that was smart rugs and watching it was kind of goofy robos talent and ingenuity made him the undisputed graffiti king in London in the 80s and early 90s who is in Robbo has got so much respect because he worked out how to get in pretty much every training hard in London before anyone else was going to any of the Arts he was likely worked out you know how to get in how to get out how to do it properly he was one who smashed the whole city you can't really have any more respect for anyone and anyone who's got the most remote idea about how graffiti works would automatically nose but at the height of his fame Globo retired from graffiti plant you know the trains in London up got up all over London I was Lucy I've been all over Europe painting trains I live in South America and paint your trains in New York yeah I'll come really taking much further it was so tired to be responsible I couldn't afford to get arrested and go to prison because it was gonna there's gonna support my children when I'm in president I'm a good son there so that's when I'll give up all of his work gradually vanished from the walls and trains of London except for this piece painted in 1985 underneath the British Transport Police Headquarters on a barely accessible spot of Regent's Canal it stood largely untouched becoming the oldest piece of graffiti in London and a testament to robo's legendary status even in retirement Robbo was revered by new writers coming onto the scene but then one night he met a young artist from Bristol called banks so I was in a place called the dragon bar down old Street I was introduced to a couple of guys and there was like well was such an honor to meet you and stuff you know it was Paris pecked when I was introduced to Banksy I went oh yeah but you maintain you went well my earlier you whenever I met someone who ever I heard of them or not I always said I did it never put no one down and he dismissed me as a nobody and nothing so good that I slapped him I went what you ain't no to me but you won't forget me now will ya and we're day picked up his glasses and he run off then iron is a graffiti writer turned street artist who was worked with both robber and Banksy he's aware their differences are more than just personal I knew a long time before I met him he was definitely one of the graffiti wires that I would kind of look up to I've been out painting with her with Banksy a few times different doing street art than doing graffiti going out with whether it be like a can of paint and just trying to do tanks in places when people aren't looking and then going out and painting stuff with banks he was kind of we'd work out where it was we were going to paint it when we could get away with it a lot more thought went into it a lot more preparation Banksy didn't seem to make much of an impact as a graffiti writer so he tried something different in stencils sometimes of rats and human figures sometimes of images borrowed from popular culture I think what Banksy does is clever you know it appeals to people it's funny it's kind of vaguely political you know and he presents it in a way that is acceptable if any kind of subculture people want to buy into that and he's done it he's done it very well King adds the author of many books on graffiti and street art has no doubts about the importance of Acts his use of stencils stencils about the unbelievable effects it's true if it wasn't for stencils I wouldn't be here talking to the national broadcaster about what was essentially defined as vandalism Banksy turned to stencils because it was quick because he stopped him getting caught and to quote him it made a picture of a bunny look hard census took the street art from the street and put a price tag on it made people want to invest in it but while Banksy's work gained mainstream popularity respect from the graffiti world was not forthcoming stance was this gene is cheating is denser it's just that whole goofy thing that will graffiti writers paint trains and real graffiti writers Nick their pain and real graffiti writers do everything freehand and using stem cells is cheating you know stripes make work to sell work to make money to have shows and galleries and all of that goes against what goofy is all about you know graffiti is kind of about male ego and damage and graffitis got a lot of self-imposed rules however Banksy doesn't play by graffitis rules and never did in this book published in 2009 Robo told the story of the dragon bar fight for the first time some ten years after it happened shortly after the book came out Banksy attacked robos final surviving piece of work and turned the famous canalside piece into this I was angry that it crossed the line by wiping out the history it took an iconic piece and use it to run games that's a no-no Banksy declined to be interviewed but when asked to respond to rubbers account he said this Banksy also supplied this photograph and says the canal piece was in such a bad state he didn't realize he was painting over a piece of London history whatever the truth Banksy's act was considered sacrilegious by many in the graffiti world and it brought king Robbo out of retirement we're checking out where all the cameras are obviously I come on a bit caught on CCTV you can end up in prison over this graffiti writing as a strict code of conduct one of the most important rules is that you never incorporate a piece by another artist into your own work without their permission as banksy did to rubber over a piece exists for 25 years in central London is like an Aztec temple or a Mayan ruin robbers old pieces it was a few years it was not an institution that was just downright wrong but that is Macau flow of deaths think about the failures that territorial focusing on all those piece has been up since the ages in Banksy came along and told me that in the graffiti world bank she doesn't have the right to come and do that with us before you eyes but there is how to conduct and the view has been going for someone it's totally get rid of that patient to do something know that you want incorporate earpiece into you if you do that you're asking for trouble Robo was so incensed by Banksy's disregard for the rules of graffiti he decided to fight fire with fire this is where the artistic side of that argument developed we've been awake I come back a jumped on a lie low was Christmas Day morning about five o'clock I was drenched and freezing cold and I converted his wallpaper or paste up into him putting out King Robbo then he'd put the F you see in front of the King so it was [ __ ] Robbo so I come down here and get rid of the F you see but now he's just had enough and he sir he's painted over it it may have been Banksy or his fans but the graffiti war continued along the canal basically but quite a good one actually it was a I don't believe in global warming blanked out the global and I'm turning to war sit sir I don't believe in war and next I went it's too late for that Sonny he painted over it or an input a bird with a roller head and then I come back and I put he's not the Messiah is a very naughty boy rowboats in Roma say mama it stands for anyone the police Banksy done the wrong move by using someone else's artwork and once you agree without putting Robert it's loosely knitted fingering the crew where you got being wired into it this one here at a rock opera finishing we pull that balanced attack I got rid of Banksy tagging up placard up there saying straight quick realizes I just sell out who lives off the field where awkward streets ready caught no fish inside what started off as tit-for-tat one-upmanship between rubber and Banksy degenerated into a wider battle of vitriol and personal insults between team Robbo and Banksy's fans then robo called into question banks his artistic integrity it's the rats from collector rat from France it was the original rats dense Allah so our war bank seal Arab sir one gets the connection Fleck and Banksy and this is a stencil this is my original rat that they used to spray in the streets of parents in 1981 as an art student in the 70s black visited New York the graffiti he saw there inspired him just as it would Robbo to produce his own graffiti but blegh wanted to create a new style instead of freehand letter writing he used stencils first of rats then of human figures often with the socio-political message one of the pivotal moments astray artists went black is inspired to start stenciling full-size figures in the stream that's when street art began to find his voice it wasn't a tag that was saying something it must have been insane walking through Paris in the eighties and turn the corner and there across the street would be a figure is always go slow he didn't know what he didn't know that in 2025 years he was going to be hailed as the godfather of street art he was just doing it nor did blech realize that his own very individual style will be so closely replicated on the streets of Britain I used to make a lot of soldier when I see bouncy making of soldier or when I see bouncy making Madonna with the child or when I see bouncy making rats of course I see immediately where it takes the idea Banksy declined to comment on this but in the past he acknowledged his debt to black in a newspaper interview the cops in the alleyway it's difficult to say a little bit yes of course because when you when you're an artist and you you use your own techniques it's difficult to find the technique your style you know in art so when you have this time and you see that someone else is taking your style and we produce it you don't like that I'm not sure about his integrity you have a piece that's 25 years old - yeah yeah it's a pretty terrible maybe he has to show its face now and say I'm bongseon show that kind of guy he is because it's true that some people say oh no series is a prank and I know other people have a lot of young people that they they consider ballsy like like a garden Robo is enroute to the canal he's willing to risk his life and liberty to strike back at Banksy got John Merrick despite fence they cross the train tracks he got me concerned electric rouses hair live New York not full hand goes into it just to cut down your odds of getting arrested you got my world CCTV as you turn off your phones all your batteries out your phones so you can't be tied to any masked girl that goes to plan and get away of it and we're ended up in a blue cell so I'm done lovely did you get cozy run oh yeah a rowboat I'm very bad I don't want to get arrested I can tell them to do this okay my favor the rest is in the hands of the gods from this point on robos wearing a head-mounted night-vision camera he wants to show what's all in a night's work to the graffiti bomber but is something rarely seen by outsiders if court Robo could face years in prison love it I love the excitement it's got that the weapon where the cage they are getting for them juices to float you're not alone a short walk down the towpath from the scene of robos battled with Banksy the graffiti war is raging on another front of anything some we're trying to make our borrowers clean bringing as attractive as we possibly can our policy on graffiti is there we done allow graffiti graffiti is as criminal damage so people are spraying graffiti on the walls or tagging are committing a criminal act yes we have arrested people we've been successful in taking a few people to call and so a free people have actually been since a prison for the mindless vandalism that they caused above the graffiti writing that Martin and Darren are removing a piece of street art is being left alone people might say there's more or less the same why you take any one of them not the other one is the argument with with who are all graffiti able mean to me personally should she removed everything really it's hard to decipher what is a are and what is vandalism or criminal damage if we come across a piece that we're not sure of we have to take pictures and then give it to our manager decide whether we can remove it or keep it as the head of service I do have some discretion and with regards to street art there are pieces of very attractive street art of featuring books and calendars and magazines and websites with some of the Banksy work that we've got my personal opinion is that they are very artistic I've genuinely believed they does that value when you say add value what does that mean um this well the stuff that we've got there are groups of people that come to look at this kind of work because work of Banksy's has been sold off for you sums of money does it add value is it arts graffiti writers see the approach by councils across the UK as double standards writers routinely attack Banksy pieces in the street leaving the on locket in no doubt as to which guru artists they support in the graffiti war it keeps Kenny's council very busy I think with some of the Banksy pieces that we've had vandalized we have occasionally gone round there and repaired them so for example there was one where it was the museum pretendin who had a mirror behind him and somebody actually wrote something offensive on the mirror we could have easily have just painted the mirror out with white paint or whatever color paint it was but then the piece wouldn't have made any sense so what the guys carefully did was actually playing out their slogan on a root word so that the piece was whole again it got to a stage where the feat is still 100 stand out loads and it's still illegal unless you're Banksy when is celebrated and preserved which is you know it's good food thank you but it's it's kind of unfair on the writers because whatever it is graffiti whether it's street art you know when you come up before the judge there's a judge asked for definitions your graffiti artist or is he a street artist busy street artists artists okay we'll let you off the pheno when asked to comment on being given preferential treatment Banksy said this Robo is preparing to attack another Banksy piece but while Banksy is protected under perspex Robo risks arrest and prosecution for criminal damage secretin easy is that the responsive enough your work forever so since we stopped and login is the plural of the bus away but once they let me finish doing this nothing to others or I've got do this yeah right this position simple that will mistake yeah that my name for bow yeah whenever an argument bank see four years since back in the nineties I fell out with him I slapped him then I start last year when I one of my paces it's the oldest piece of London well another fan loved it why is it got perspex under because someone from Team Bob Oh Chuck paint over it and put a little Hitler mustache on the kitty and the council came down they clearly graffiti off of it and start to shoot your prospects over here and now it's protected for all eternity so everyone can appreciate it huh which is quite funny the irony of councils cleaning my feet off the street art and then protecting it there's pretty mad but it's gone beyond the realm of local politics Barack Obama used street art to become president David Cameron used street art to become his friend yeah I've got painting in the White House did you know where it's hanging join up in this room of unwanted gifts as Mary this is cool 21st century city painted by bland iron we've given to Barack Obama by David Cameron in 2010 on his first state visit to Washington I thought was quite interesting because otherwise she'd been arrested a few times and I got criminal record before his international success as a street artist Ben was an infamous graffiti right and that was the thing that got me arrested loads and loads and loads managed to run around everywhere checking that maybe maybe as many as 20 I've been arrested so many times and had so many fines that I was kind of given the judge and no other option but to send me a prison faced with a bleak future been changed his approach God was the hard to decipher code aimed at fellow graffiti writers here was a new style bold giant lettering painted under walls and shop security shutters as Ben's work gain kudos around the art scene in London's East End so did his freedom to paint wherever and whenever he liked I faced some really really big wolves that have taken dies to pain and I painted them in broad daylight without permission because it was street art and not goofy II I got a way of doing it what's the response you get neither from the police if you look at working hey come on talk to me to finger few years ago that are chased us down the street and Nick Turse the form of graffiti vandal has even been invited to Downing Street for a personal audience with the Prime Minister Mr Cameron wanted to say thank you we say the garden had Tim biscuits and shade and chat about art and chatted about the state of the country and peacefully this gifted a therapy kit kats unmercifully privileged but I have the opportunity to live off of what I love doing yeah it's amazing a lot of feet rise I'm now beginning to understand that what they actually do is art you know they don't have to go to work and do a job that I hate you know I could get a studio they could make their graffiti they could have shows and they could sell it this is Mecca from the world's best street art and home to the galleries that bring it to a wider audience an audience Robo is now keen to engage pop Tony down there you got Tony hello robo is being given the chance to make the transition from outlaw graffiti writer to professional artists just um we're just curating right now gallery owner pure evil has invited Robert to stage his first solo show and he's produced 20 new works of arms tomorrow they go on sale to the public this gallery helped to establish Banksy as a selling artist the fact robber was now exhibiting here has not gone down well with the stencil as hardcore supporters Frank sees fans that's all about coming to the gallery finger paint of all the artwork no one arm you know I'm sudden wave on the clock cuz there once it's basically in a pawn shop they got more than just occur failure yeah bad would that be making money on assignee love doing the future rubber wants where it makes a living from his art depends on whether or not this show is a success I'm only Eve I've China makes fans really I've never fought I've ever through this LA when I was doing it I'm then fartsy back in the gallery I just want to see on every train so now look he's hanging up it's all about the are baby the other I just hope everyone comes and has a good time you know with an open mind let me into their wealth be nice it's the day of robos first solo show and so much riding on its outcome he's waiting anxiously in the bar around the corner that's their - correspondence and hate walls make this work I put everything into it now all my time and money I've not really gone don't need to sell something some thank-you happens to pay back the bank manager window somebody that shows us different styles I think I mean you can see the old stuff compared to linear and he's got talent I don't know he's so it on paper to mention I think if I was gonna buy anything I'd buy that one fine and maybe that one this round this completely round there's no people standing outside lots people standing upstairs wandering around looking at the art also spotted in the crowd are two members of team Banksy a business associate and banks his PR agent laughs but you think about what those exhibition I'd rather not it's alright mine's up eight CC's come down to see if I use demons any way shape or form and then the end of the day oh my stuff down it's not stagnant banks evil power war on the street between us alright seems the same but for everyone else but when I do my show ain't about straightening banks you up it's about showing people organized and that's what I've got tonight following the success of his solo show robos ambition to work as a professional artist looks like becoming a reality you know I'm getting opportunities to do Commission's all the time I'm gonna get first murder and I'm Paris like burnings from New York when you're not as you would peek to see your stuff and I used to use the chip system in London that's what they're doing calories in on collisions Bulldog scope of people now though I am because a banks it even I've done frequencies intention because even I'm a PC just give me she kept the arts I needed to get out and do it I love you yeah thanks mr. B ruble has been commissioned to promote a film premiering at the Berlin Film Festival and is painting a portrait of the film's star in this world even here Robo can't escape his arch-nemesis respondents thought used to be as well who sues the best but the art talk for itself I'm gonna be free out whereas you can only stencil it's stunning because I defer to see you thirdly I mean like one who wouldn't right the film's director has brought actress Zooey Kravitz whose face rubber was carefully realized in spray paint to the final unveiling ah Oh so you know he stands out for a reason that his talent shows through his work and you know I think it's just the beginning for him and I'm honored to be part of it tonight robo is attending the film's premiere I only read copy off of buildings fearless emphysema granddad's ass that's what being experienced a boy from East London is Lisa he's on the red carpet in Berlin playing her back with directors real stars very good place remote really enjoying it thus influence the future maybe she's got over one piece again and he's replaced it boy we see over there he ain't showed me that the miracle AE it come with a sign on that some sense it was in some choke you know but you know how could the right who knows I might even do it so it's the war over it's definitely not a cleaner isn't it he's at the last sight and I can't have that with all the walls in London he's come and gone over one of my pieces which he's not exactly easy to get to so he's made it personal again so what's next I tell you what why don't you come with me well not lie so much next Robbo would never get his chance to retaliate against Banksy just days after this filming took place he was found unconscious in the street with life-threatening head injuries and he's been in a coma ever since a team rabo exhibition goes ahead giving friends and family the chance to celebrate the man whose career inspired a generation of graffiti writers and who poignant Lee was just about to get the respect he wanted as an artist Rob I would have loved today he'd love to paint and get paid for it 24/7 you know and this is another step on the rung on his ladder of becoming a professional artist I've known him years he's a fire his times not done he's you know definitely not done this is so much more friend to do it's been overwhelming the amount of support that that we've all got and yeah you know it makes me it makes me proud he's loved he's really loved by a lot of people after the streets the graffiti community is shown support by paying tribute to its king the war between street artists graffiti writers the authorities continues

Channel: CosmicdaisyUK

Views: 1,627,126

Keywords: Graffiti, Banksy, Spray, King, Robbo

Id: ulOiB3xEkzM

Length: 46min 44sec (2804 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 20 2012