Saturday 8 October 2022

Street Art,

or a eyesore?


with allegedly only one person in the street liking it I guess it might be the latter, residents in Caroline Square, Margate in the UK, the work by renowned street artist Martin Whatson was completed last week as part of the Rise Up Residency project, which aims to promote marine conservation and combat ocean plasticsbut Ian Argent, who lives in one of the homes opposite the addition to Caroline Square, off Bath Road, told KentOnline: "It looks like kids have done it. It's ruined the white wall that was there before."

Mr Argent, 41, who works in insurance claims, feels their mural doesn't compare to the other 16 creations around Margate, "You look at some of the other ones around that are really nice but this one is not - it's an eyesore," he said,

above Steven with the artist Martin Whatson. picture Steven. (59760690), those living in the square say they were originally told by the organisers that it was going to depict a trawler with a net, however, the artist "apparently lost his stencils", and settled with this design, "We were told we were going to have the best one," said bemused Mr Argent, other neighbours feel the same, including Steven, 41, "The problem is I don't know how it relates to marine conservation. It's completely different to what we expected," said Steven, who met the artist when the piece was completed, another resident, who asked not to be named, agreed, "It just feels like a lot of tags and all it's going to do is influence kids to come round and put more tags up," he said, He told KentOnline the Caroline Square mural "is just graffiti tags - that's all it looks like unfortunately, "Artist Martin Whatson, from Norway, is well-known for his vibrant graphics and has showcased work from New York to Tokyo, amassing a following of 100,000 on Instagram, Mr Whatson commented "The colourful background is supposed to represent water, but it also represents how we as humans are putting our mark on nature, as artists and especially street artists, we have a platform where we can use our voices to inform people and change their minds about pollution in the oceans or other themes that are important to us", Much of his work centres around environmental issues and the urban landscape, so art or eyesore? for the full story have a look here.


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