Banksy defaced in NYC

So team Robbo has a few followers over in New York by the looks of it. Apparently every one of the pieces Banksy put up over there has been defaced.

On this one, which was the doctor, you can just about make out 'Team Robbo' on the poster he's listening to.

According to iamfatterthanyou, the culprits are Posterboy, Omar and Smart Crew.

Banksy might love New York, but it seems the feeling isn't mutual.

Via iamfatterthanyou.

The doors of Barcelona

The funny thing is, it's never the walls. Unlike the tag artists of the UK, the Barcelona Graffiti contingent prefers to restrict its activities to the doors. At least they do around the Ramblas and Gothic Quarter.

Massive doors they are, too. Imposing carved baricades with wrought iron knockers.

They offer a unique canvas of their own, framed by the very building they bar entry to.

Each one is a work in progress as new tags, stencils and scrawls appear.

There was no way I was going to be able to find the lot, so here are a few of the more interesting doors I stumbled upon.

They leave the cathedral doors alone

Frank Kozik Kaws Companion: Getting on a bit

We've seen this little fella in a variety of guises and sizes, but this customised version by Frank Kozik takes some beating.

Here we get the Kaws Companion as a kind of rusty robot, all plates and rivets, like some relic of the industrial age.

Quite fitting that he's been called the '500 Years Later' version.

He looks quite hard actually.

He'll be available from the Toy Art Gallery

Via Slamxhype

Hackett x Monocle polo: A step in the right direction, at least

I am very slowly warming to Hackett. I should like the brand already really - it has the English fop thing going on quite nicely these days and also fits with my philosophy of supporting UK labels now and then.

All the same, no matter what good they do, there will always be that image of the oversized polo shirts with the name emblazoned diagonally across the front writ six inches high.

You know, the shirt once favoured by those with a fondness for Reebok Classics and tracksuit bottoms.

Will this ghost of the Hackett Hoodlum finally be put to rest with this Monocle collaboration on the 'Perfect Polo Shirt'?

I would dearly like to think so. But something tells me it won't. Not just yet.

Banksy in New York

So Banksy is still in America then. This time he's chosen the Big Apple for his latest offerings.

And you've got to hand it to him - he's right on the money as usual, summing up the moment nicely.

He's also the first person I can think of to offer a new take on that synonymous New York heart logo.  Like we needed to see more of it.

Via Freshness

Park Guell Barcelona: Gaudi's theme park

If you get off the tube at Vallcarca on Line 3 and follow the signs, you enter the Gaudi park via an outdoor escalator, stretching into the distance like a motorised stairway to heaven.

Reach the top and it's plain to see why the architect Antoni Gaudi (1852 - 1926) chose this spot for his gingerbread theme park. The view stretches out across Barcelona as far as the eye can see.

This is the back door to the Park Guell - an altogether less crowded entry to the park and one which can lead you to a false sense of serenity. Follow the winding paths to the left and you are taken past a little hill with a cross, through glades and across a pillared walkway which looks like it came straight off the set of the Flintstones.

But well before you find yourself down by the main attractions - the pink walled Gaudi museum, and the main entrance flanked by a couple of Hansel and Grettel houses which leads up to the "Doric Temple" and the plaza it supports above, you are greeted by the sound of a thousand under-fives as they search in vain for the rollercoasters.

Because that's exactly what Park Guell is. A theme park without any rides. A great place to marvel at this strange man's creations, but kids must feel like they've been conned.