Bonom Brussels Tour
Posted on Dec 22, 2009 by Julius | Share |Seems like our friend Bonom is getting a lot of media attention these days. And he clearly deserves it. Not all his pieces are equally brilliant but he keeps reinventing himself and has brought a breath of fresh air to the Brussels street art scene. Up to the point that his reputation has spanned way beyond the genre’s aficionados.
Covering street art can be a really tricky exercise at times. How can one present this illegal discipline without endangering artists or removing all the magic surrounding those mysterious characters?
After helping Lander work on a Bonom documentary and lobbying hard to make it public, I came to the conclusion that not all stories should be published. This 12 minutes quest for Brussels’ most sought after artist might indeed give too much clues on how to track him and we never got his final approval. Too bad because Lander did a really good job on this documentary.
How come that - at the same time - Bonom accepted to collaborate with TV Brussel for this slightly disappointing report?
Not saying it’s a bad video - the camera work is really good - but the voice over, the music and lack of direction coupled with that gloomy vibe doesn’t really represent how I see street art.
On the other hand I really liked the article published by reporter Valerie Droeven in De Standaard last weekend. I was so much into it when I first read it that I missed my subway stop. After deciding to stop giving interviews, Bonom allowed a journalist and a photographer to join him while he was painting this orange spider. There is such an addictive atmosphere in that text.
Read the full article + add on (in Dutch)
Checking the readers’ reactions on De Standaard website made it clear that it’s time for a debate on the subject of art in public spaces. In UK Banksy is considered as a major artist. In the States Obey orcherstrated Obama’s street campaign. Why should we consider Bonom as a criminal?
Bonom’s spider next to Recyclart.
If you want to follow Bonom’s steps a map presenting all his Brussels pieces is now available at Bozar shop, Alice gallery and Montana Shop. A great way to discover Europe’s capital.
To keep being updated on everything Bonom related, make sure to visit these flickr pool and facebook page on a regular basis.
Top picture by Kriebel.
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Interesting post Julius. But is Bonom really a criminal? I mean is he “most wanted” by local authorities?
As far as I know he’s not. But too much media attention could result in too much local authorities attention…
If something is good, we need to talk about it i think. But it’s sure that tv brussels clip gives some clues. Smthing else: don’t you think that video portrait is more “obvious” for that kind of artist than a photographic one?
For me the Standaard piece is the best format. Pictures and text without interview. Just the reporter’s view.
In the newspaper HLN was also an article about Doel, where street artists flourish up the environment but they were accused as being criminals, they were painting in a ghosttown, where almost everybody left and still people are too hypocrite to see that big concrete walls or advertisements for big companies are incredibly ugly but those are accepted for some reason.
Some great pictures taken in Doel by Kriebel (+ article explaining the village’s story)
From Moscow wis love)
i like his art so much!
Here is also an interactive map gathering Bonom’s paintings in Brussels > http://bonom.be
Bonom’s map can be ordered online > http://editionsdavril.com/bonom/
Could you elaborate more on why you don’t like the TV Brussels repo? Do I understand it correctly that it focusses too much on the illegal side, and the kick and less on the beauty of his art? Not sure I understand you 100%. Thanks.
Let’s say that i’m jealous because we produced a documentary and didn’t get bonom’s approval to make it public ;) Next to that I think the tv brussel piece insists too much on the illegal aspect of bonom’s work. In order to make street art understandable to a wider audience, I think we should put that aside and focus more on the beauty and the message behind it…. or just let the walls speak.
Hahaha re the jealousy ^^
I agree. Judging by the negative comments on the Standaard (underneath the articles on Bonom), I think there is still a long way to go.
On the other hand, too wide of an acceptance of certain forms of underground art and certain subcultures, may result in their death, so in my humble opinion, there always should be a hint of “undergroundness”.
I agree. Thanks for the nice “debate”
Cheers :)
[...] the Belgian Broadcasting company. An excerpt from the video can be seen on this posit from the Laid Back blog. He uses some climbing techniques and describes the production of his paintings as like a dance as [...]