Parachuting Rat was a series of artworks in Melbourne, Australia, created by Banksy. On 26 April 2010, one was painted over by council contractors, leading to local and international coverage and debate on the nature of street art and its preservation, and new measures for its protection.
Another was accidentally destroyed in May 2012 by building work. [1] As of 2015 [update] , there was one still remaining. [2]
Parachuting Rat was a black rat with aviator glasses descending by parachute. Banksy's oeuvre is largely directed towards anti-capitalist and anti-war themes, and this piece was painted in 2003. [3] Banksy's work is described as distinctive in style, satirical, and provocative. [3] [4] Banksy himself has written, in connection with his works involving rats, 'they exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted … if you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model'; that 'you can win the rat race but you're still a rat'; and also that he had been painting rats for three years before someone told him that the word is an anagram of art. [5]
Parachuting Rat was executed using stencils and spray paint. While earlier in his career Banksy painted freehand, in his later work from the mid-noughties he adopted the use of stencils in order to accelerate the creative process and reduce the likelihood of being caught. [6] His works generally appear anonymously and overnight. [7] Banksy has written that 'graffiti…is the most honest artform available. There is no elitism or hype … nobody is put off by the price of admission. A wall has always been the best place to publish your work'. [8]
Melbourne is recognised as the street art capital of Australia. [9] Banksy, who spent a few months in the city earlier in his career, described the city's street art as 'arguably Australia's most significant contribution to the arts since they stole all the Aborigines' pencils'. [7] Parachuting Rat is one of a number of works he executed in the city in 2003. [10]
Parachuting Rat adorned the wall above a doorway of a council building behind the Forum Theatre in Hosier Lane, a tourist attraction which attracts up to a thousand people a day because of its street art. [3] [11] While Hosier Lane had at the time five approved areas for street art, Parachuting Rat was not in one of these. [7] It was allowed to remain 'by exception' because the council was aware of the popularity of Banksy's works. [12]
While Melbourne has a policy of encouraging street art, it also has a problem with gangs tagging walls and public property. [13] Melbourne's deputy Lord Mayor Susan Riley sent cleaners to Hosier Lane after residents complained about squalid conditions in the alley. [14] The cleaners were instructed to tidy up the rat-infested garbage and remove all graffiti from unapproved street art sites. Leaving alone the approved sites, the cleaners painted over Parachuting Rat, by then thought to be the only remaining work by Banksy on public view in the city, with a thick layer of battleship-grey paint. [11] Challenged at the time by a local resident, the cleaners replied 'we are just doing what we're told'. [11]
Another was destroyed in May 2012 by builders working on plumbing. [1] The building owner, who knows Banksy through a New York contact, said that he laughed at the fact that "TV Cameras took an interest in his work" in an email she sent them about the incident.
Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, who had recently posed for a publicity photo before Hosier Lane's street art, praised such art as 'legitimate expression of artistic intent', although he also said Parachuting Rat 'was not the Mona Lisa' and declared it an 'honest mistake' by the cleaners. [10] [11] Melbourne City Council CEO Kathy Alexander said it was not an error on the part of the cleaners since they had been instructed to clean all unapproved areas, and had not been informed of its cultural significance. She also highlighted that there was no legal permit for the Parachuting Rat, and acknowledged that the council should have acted sooner to approve and protect all known Banksy works. [11]
The council subsequently discussed whether it should invite artists to restore their damaged works and announced that it would issue retrospective legal permits to ensure other famous and significant works of street art are protected. [3] [11] The difficulty of protecting street art was also acknowledged. [13] The council had previously attempted to protect 'Diving Bell' by Banksy by erecting a perspex sheet; its vandalism in 2008 was linked to discontent within the street art community over bureaucratic interference. [15]
Parachuting Rat was potentially worth tens of thousands of pounds. [7] An ABC debate suggested that street art is by nature ephemeral; that it should not be heritage-listed and protected with glass; that in restoring a painting you see not the artist's work but a representation of that work; and also raised the questions of ownership, public art, finance, and the egalitarianism of the selective preservation of works of art. [10]
Within a few days ten replacement parachute rats, in fluorescent shades of pink, blue, green and purple were created in Hosier Lane using stencils, along with another rat in the lifts of 121 Exhibition Street, the offices of the Department of Justice. [15] An anonymous expert in Banksy and Melbourne's street art observed 'I think [Banksy] delights in placing authorities and councils in this funny position of trying to preserve his work because it's worth so much money now'. [15] He also claimed that there were a number of other works by Banksy in the city and argued that the locations should remain undisclosed in order to protect them from destruction. [15] Later in 2010 an image of a rat stolen from an electricity meter box outside the home of a well-known underwear designer was claimed to be by Banksy; the authenticity of this work was questioned, with some calling it a fake. [16]
Graffiti is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. His work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art.
Stencil graffiti is a form of graffiti that makes use of stencils made out of paper, cardboard, or other media to create an image or text that is easily reproducible. The desired design is cut out of the selected medium and then the image is transferred to a surface through the use of spray paint or roll-on paint.
Meek is a notable street artist operating out of Melbourne, Australia, and specialising in the subgenre of stencil graffiti.
Vexta is an Australian stencil artist and street artist from Melbourne, Victoria.
Melbourne, the capital of Victoria and the second largest city in Australia, has gained international acclaim for its diverse range of street art and associated subcultures. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, much of the city's disaffected youth were influenced by the graffiti of New York City, which subsequently became popular in Melbourne's inner suburbs, and along suburban railway and tram lines.
Hosier Lane is a laneway in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Located on the CBD's southern edge, it extends between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane, and opens opposite the Atrium at Federation Square. Since the late 1990s, Hosier Lane has become a popular tourist attraction due to its street art.
Blek le Rat is a French graffiti artist. He was one of the first graffiti artists in Paris, and has been described as the "Father of stencil graffiti".
King Robbo was an English underground graffiti artist. His feud with the artist Banksy was the subject of a Channel 4 television documentary called Graffiti Wars, first shown in August 2011.
Dolk, is the pseudonym of Norway's most recognized stencil artist, Andreas Hamran Færø. His motives are often pop-cultural references put into a humoristic or critical context. Dolk's works can be seen on walls in cities such as Bergen, Berlin, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Oslo, Lisbon, Stockholm, London, Prague and Melbourne. Since 2006, Dolk has stepped into galleries where he has had several exhibitions.
Nick Walker is a British graffiti artist originating from Bristol, England. His paintings often feature a bowler-hatted gentleman 'vandal'.
Slave Labour is a mural that was painted by a British graffiti artist, Banksy, on the side wall of a Poundland store in Wood Green, London in May 2012. The artwork is 48 inches (122 cm) high by 60 inches (152 cm) wide, and depicts an urchin child at a sewing machine assembling a bunting of Union Jack patches. The work was a protest against the use of sweatshops to manufacture Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics memorabilia in 2012.
Better Out Than In was a residency undertaken by the pseudonymous graffiti artist and political activist Banksy in New York City during October 2013. Banksy unveiled at least one work of art daily, documenting it on both a dedicated website and an Instagram account. The majority of the works were stencil graffiti and chiefly political, a distinctive characteristic of Banksy. Other pieces and multimedia exhibits toyed with dark humor and satire.
Facter, or Fletcher Anderson, is a Melbourne based, Australian multi-disciplinary artist, best known for his colorful creatures rendered in a illustrative style.
Well Hung Lover, also called Naked Man Hanging From Window and simply Naked Man, is a mural by the anonymous street artist Banksy, on a wall in Frogmore Street, Bristol, England.
Wendy Murray, is a visual artist and arts educator, formerly known as Mini Graff. Under her former persona, Murray worked as an urban street-poster artist between 2003 and 2010, working in and around Sydney's urban fringe. Since 2014, Murray's art expanded into traditional forms of drawing and artist book design, whilst still engaging with social and political issues through poster-making. Murray's use of letraset transfers, accompanied with vibrant colours and fluorescent inks, references the work of studios from the 1960s through to the 1980s, including the community-based Earthworks Poster Collective and Redback Graphix. A 2018 collaboration with The Urban Crew, a 17-person collective of socially engaged geographers, planners, political scientists and sociologists, resulted in the Sydney – We Need to Talk! artist book, addressing issues of development, transport congestion, housing affordability and commercialisation of public space.
Kissing Coppers is a Banksy stencil that pictures two British policemen kissing. It was originally unveiled on the wall of The Prince Albert pub in Brighton in 2004. It gained significant attention due to Banksy's notoriety as a provocative street artist and activist. Kissing Coppers has frequently been regarded as one of Banksy’s most notable works, so much so that it was selected as the most iconic British piece of art at The Other Art Fair in London.