Norfolk and Suffolk have been positively manic in the past few months with news that elusive artist, Banksy, has created new street art in the region. Many claimed they were fake, but the incognito artist confirmed in a video on Instagram that they were all his. 10 of them in fact:

  1. Cromer – a piece with hermit crabs being turned away, presumably a criticism of rising property prices in the UK?
  2. Great Yarmouth – Admiralty Road saw people dancing above a bus stop
  3. GY again – Merrivale Model Village saw a structure hoisted in covertly with “Go Big or Go Home” on it
  4. Gorleston – one of those arcade cranes was depicted in a shelter on the promenade
  5. Lowestoft – north beach saw a rat drinking a cocktail under an outlet pipe
  6. Lowestoft town centre – a girl digging sand, painted on an empty building
  7. Lowestoft – a seagull swooping on a skip near the Railway Station
  8. Oulton Broad – a piece at Nicholas Everitt Park showing a boat with three migrant children in, saying “We’re all in the same boat.”
  9. A statue of Frederick Savage was adorned with fake ice cream and moustache
  10. A piece in Gorleston was removed as it was close to the tragic death of a 3 year old on an inflatable there (though Banksy wouldn’t have known this)

What all these pieces of work have done is put a focus on an area that often gets ignored because of its geographical isolation. Banksy called it a “spraycation” and its timing couldn’t be better as Great Yarmouth, Gorleston and Lowestoft are bidding for the 2025 city of culture award, and rightly so. They are all places that are steeped in history and have been through tough economic times, but may be seeing a resurgence given the higher numbers of tourists here.

Banksy has shone a welcome spotlight on the area and we applaud that.

But.

Whilst you may wonder why a rat drinking a cocktail is classed as valuable art, but someone defacing a building is not, there is a fact that not all graffiti is welcome. If someone spray-painted your building mindlessly, you wouldn’t expect tourists to turn up to see it and the council to add perspex screens to protect it?

No.

You’d want it removing and quickly.

There was a concept created in New York, in the 90s we think, called “the Broken Window syndrome” and it was based on psychological studies of human behaviour and it went like this. If someone breaks a window in a town or city centre, others get broken soon after. If it’s repaired that day, there are no more breakages. Odd theory, perhaps, but true.

So what we do now at Darren’s Drains is remove unwanted graffiti quickly, as fast as a broken window should be by a glazer. It involves specialist tools that remove the “artwork” quickly and saves you time and money.

If you were or buy that equipment, it would be expensive when we can do it much more cost-effectively.

So, if you’ve got “art” that you want removing from buildings, call or email Darren today.

As long as it’s not a Banksy, he will make it disappear quickly!