It was just over a week ago that the high profile grafitti artist 'King Robbo' passed away. The street artist is well-known and loved around London and got even more attention for a spat with Banksy. This led to street art rivalries between certain street artists. The rilvary started when Banksy painted over one of Robbo's pieces of street art that had been on the wall for a long time. Banksy perhaps did not realise that painting over the older piece would cause offense because street art gets painted over all the time; however, it kicked off a rilvary between the two street artists.
Robbo, often referred to as "king" was busy tagging and creating grafitti in London from the 1980s. Since then, one group has sided with him and another has sided with Banksy's work, which has gone more commercial. Perhaps this is one reason for the resentment. Perhaps another is that street art belongs on the street and is meant to be uncensored. Whatever the reason, there are different viewpoints about what street art and grafitti is, and this can be quite a personal subject.
Of course, we do not know Robbo's real name or any personal details (similar to Banksy) as he could get into serious trouble.
Robbo was ultimately involved in an accident and unable to bring his artwork to the streets, and according to his Team Robbo website, he passed away on July 31st due to health complications.
This blog entry shows just some of the street art tributes that have been appearing in east London over the past several days after the news was announced.
There are quite a few of these about, showing that Robbo is still loved in the street art community in London.
For more information about Robbo, visit the Team Roboo page: https://www.facebook.com/TheOfficialKingRobbo
Some of the rilvary street art between the two can be seen here: http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/street-art-rivalries-run-deep
Leave a comment