Will 7/7 inspire more British artists to produce political work, like Banksy in Palestine?
BANKSY, the graffiti artist, last week created nine stencil spray paintings on the Palestinian side of the West Bank barrier. One shows children digging what looks like a hole breaking through the wall. “The segregation wall is a disgrace,” he said. “On the Israeli side it’s all manicured lawns and SUVs, on the other side it’s just dust and men looking for work. The possibility I find exciting is that you could turn the world’s most invasive and degrading structure into the world’s longest gallery of free speech and bad art.” In Britain artists tend to fight shy of big-P politics, at least in their work. Andy Kennard (the Falklands, Iraq) and Paul Noble (the environment) are exceptions. After the London bombs my thoughts have turned to two artists who are normally regarded, even by themselves, as non-political. Carl Laubin is an American who works in Hitchen; Zsuzsi Roboz is a Hungarian in London. Both have been moved, exceptionally, to make art that reflects on current events. Laubin,
