The Gray Ghost of New Orleans

Technically isn't he just squelching other street artists freedom of speech and replacing it with his own? I kinda like Banksy's art, but he does his work in a way which falls under vandalism, but isn't much different from what this Gray Ghost does.

Also, in regards to Banksy:

http://io9.com/5660640/banksys-special-simpsons-opening-shows-unicorns-and-clones-are-harmed-in-the-making-of-the-show

maybe i just dont know enough about bansky.. but i'm running under the impression that 'he' is actually a group of people and not just one person.

Radtke is an idiot. I understand that he wanted to make the streets look nicer but how does a giant blob of gray look better than a work of art. I would understand if they were vulgar works that he was covering up but really how does blocking the local's expression help anyone. I would much rather live in a place filled with artistic collaboration than world of oppressive gray-ness.

Banksy- making his name by vandalism, bit by bit. Nice.

I definitly feel the grey splotches look worse than Banksy's art. And while his art is officialy grafitti, it is well done and creative. There is a difference between gang tags, random four letter words, and a piece by Banksy. I would love to have him paint on my wall.

If you or I were to do what Banksy does, it is considered vandalism.

Not me be it isn't.

Funny that they would try to preserve the graffiti art. Misses the point entirely.

There is more than 1 Banksy still standing here in New Orleans. There are at least 3 that I know of. The girl with the umbrella, and 2 featuring the Gray Ghost (but not the ones featured in the article). All three are behind plexiglass to protect them from being painted over by the Gray Ghost (or some other jerk).

vandalism is by definition malicious - with intent to deface or destroy property.

I resent the black and white stance people take on things like this. most "graffiti" is vandalism - some is not. banksey doesn't go around scribbling tags on overpasses, and I don't know if you all remember what New Orleans looked like in 2008, but you could hardly claim that anything he did in any way detracted from that desolate environment.

Yeah, I'm not seeing a difference between gray ghost and banksy except that banksy increases property values so that makes what he does art.

In a way, I admire the gray ghost not because he is painting over graffiti(I like graffiti), but because he makes graffiti artists feel some of the same feelings that they cause others. In a way it is it's own form of art and free speech.

Business owner says "Hey, you can't do that!" and the graffiti artist laughs. Graffiti artist says "Hey, you can't do that!" and the gray ghost laughs.

every graffiti artist is already used to having his work painted over

that's how it works

i don't really like banksy

i don't mind the ghost

none of this is really relevant to graffiti at all

Grafitti = visual noise. You may consider the fence I built to be boring by virtue of its plainness, but the aesthetic vision -arguably an artistic vision- I had when renovating my home is pissed upon when another person takes the liberty of painting it. Perhaps if these juvenile men, so-called grafitti "artists" and grafitti "writers," were to expand their perception beyond a few square feet and see one wall as a component of an architect's greater work of art, they might appreciate that /they/ are the oppressors forcing their visions onto others, not the other way around. But one can hardly expect such maturity from any individual so insecure in his own significance that he must reinforce it by figuratively shouting his name into the ears of strangers.

Banksy's stuff can be quite clever. Having seen and appreciated hundreds of his works in the UK, I must say, his piece above, visually whining about the Grey Ghost, is unimpressively disingenuous in exactly the infinite double-standard way one expects from anarchists. It's hardly tasteful, modest children's flowers these cretins are painting on our fences, walls, greenhouses, even our trees, is it? If perma-stoned, angry 20-something video game junkies weren't blanketing our cities with their asinine, hideous hop-hop "tags," the Grey Ghost would not be out painting over Banksy's stuff. The guy had enough, he's got ten times the tenacity of these lazy punks, and Banksy can complain to them or accept honest commissions if he doesn't like his hard-work 'valuable vandalism' beaten at its own game by the one New Orleans citizen who still gives a shit.

Banksy is awesome.

Stanksy, pee-yeew!

He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.

Radtke was busted for painting over a commissioned mural. He trespassed and defaced property. I can't imagine the anger of being a property owner and having some self-appointed jerk painting my wall with battleship gray paint.

Banksy may have committed similar crimes, but he actually raised the value of the property. If the owner didn't want the mural, he could paint it over. Radtke never gave the owners, remember, the OWNERS of the property a chance to decide.

I love the murals in Palo Alto, as do most of the residents. I hope Radtke never visits.
http://www.anigami.com/jimwich/jimwich_archives/jwpicts_9_2001/GB_Murals/GB_Murals.html

I'm from Seattle, which I suppose is artsy. I haven't been to a ton of major cities, but maybe that's one reason I really love graffiti art.
I -hate- word graffiti, crappy scribbles, names. But:

Look at this http://www.flickr.com/photos/a-necessary-evil/4570364270/in/faves-7anya/
This is near home and fantastic.
I like this stuff. I can't say I agree with other types of graffiti in inconvenient places that businesses don't want. But I don't see any reason not to have it in ugly corners and freeways. So long as it looks like art more than crap. Mural instead of advertisement.

I think we should take the people at their word who say that they can't see the difference between Banksy and gray ghost.