I've always been rather conflicted in my opinion of the traditional art world's relationship with street art & street artists. Taking street art out of its natural environs (i.e. urban landscapes), where a barren wall becomes a canvas and a rundown building an exhibition, and presenting it within the confines of a museum or gallery space, plainly put, seems unnatural to me.
When the Tate Modern decided to showcase five Madrid-based street artists last year, including Eltono, legendary street artist & friend to Milkmade, they recognized this paradox partially and presented the exhibition as a walking tour of "site-specific art", placing various pieces by the contributing artists throughout the streets of London for the patrons to discover. To date, the Tate Modern's "Street Art Walking Tour" is the best street art exhibition I've seen in respect of the care taken to acknowledge the integral role played by public space in street art.
The
Bristol Museum, on the other hand, has chosen to challenge the paradigm head-on with its current exhibition featuring native son & street art icon
Banksy, aptly titled
Banksy versus Bristol Museum. Here, the Bristol Museum allows Banksy to hang more than 100 of his latest works, some never before seen in the UK, among its own collection of fine art! Read the
Telegraph's review
here and for more images from the ongoing exhibition, go to the BBC's site
here.
July 12, 2009 
It's nice to see our neighbors, 
