Art
#humor #Oscar Wilde #street art #video
March 4, 2021
Christopher Jobson
What starts as a soft-spoken clip from America’s most iconic painting instructor, Bob Ross from his Joy of painting show suddenly changes to a frantic and extremely rare behind-the-scenes video of Banksy creating his latest work in Reading, Berkshire. Entitled “Create Escape”, the clip has just been posted on the artist’s social media channels and depicts the real-time creation of a stencil artwork of a prisoner escaping the high red brick walls of HM Prison Reading (formerly known such as Reading Gaol). Unlike the bright studio lights that illuminated Ross’s bucolic landscapes, “Create Escape” captures the frantic but accurate execution of work done almost in the dark by an artist completely governed by police response time.
The extensive, immaculate prison wall was a bold and perfect spot for a Banksy play. He is best known for his most famous prisoner: Oscar Wilde served two years in prison from 1895-1897 on charges of “gross indecency” for being gay. The work is clearly a tribute to the poet, since the escape mechanism appears to be a long string of paper coming out of a typewriter instead of the usual sheets. Wilde recounted aspects of his imprisonment in the poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”, which focuses mainly on the execution of Charles Thomas Wooldridge.
Still from “Create Escape”
Still from “Create Escape”
Image for “Create Escape”
Still from “Create Escape”
#humor #Oscar Wilde #street art #video
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