Chatter Oks / #art

It's the 24th of June 2016 , I awake to find that we have left the EU, I read articles about it and I see those 12 stars on a blue background , I think to myself " we're not going to be a part of that anymore , let's take our star down". I wanted to make a statement as an artist it's important for me to do that amongst the sea of icons and cartoons I create. So at 8 ish in the morning I got my iPad and started to draw a man in Union Jack overalls on a ladder holding a bucket and erasing one of the stars.

I posted it up on Instagram , It got likes, it got viewed hashtags used #eureferendum #brexit #art

It wasn't a finished piece , it was a preliminary a piece that was mine a piece that I could go back to when we finally left.

It was an emotional time for our country, the youngsters concerned about their futures and the elderly voting out because there were hundreds of coaches of foreigners coming to claim benefits , take our jobs and steal our recycling bins.

We put it to the back of our minds and carried on as a nation.

So I wake up one day (May 2017) and check my social networks and see an article on the latest Banksy piece, a wall in Dover using the same concept as mine re the EU

This piece was "created" on the side of a building owned by the Godden Family who are property developers in the Kent area. They have had dealings with Banksy before they tried to sell a Banksy in Folkestone three years earlier and lost a high court battle as they were tenets of the building rather than freeholders .

The Godden family intend to sell this artwork for 1 million and give the money to charities in the area, this is all well and good, but I've got an Mot coming up very soon, plus I'd like some credit.

But Okse , why do you think Banksy copied your idea and what are the similarities?

1/ bloke is on ladder
2 / bloke is wearing overalls
3/ bloke is getting rid of star.
4/ bloke is using a bucket (even though he is chiselling)
5/ hashtags #eureferendum #brexit #art
6/ it's a bloody good idea.

Now I don't know how Banksy works nowadays , is he still a single person walking round town pretending to be drunk with pizza boxes with stencils on the underside to avoid police intervention, or has he got minions a la Damien Hurst putting ideas forward? Maybe this could have happened.

I've tried to contact him by email three times with all my concerns but have heard nothing back, you could say I've been blanksied.

Here's the email I sent:

" Dear Banksy,

Hello you, hope you're keeping well.

My name is Chris Oxenbury aka Okse (pronounced Oxy, used to spell it O-x-y until they brought out that spot cream...then discovered "Okse" means "vomit" in Estonia )

Anyway I'm a Black Country artist based in Leamington Spa and I'd like to let you know I recently saw a piece you'd done in Dover and it is very much like mine that I did 24th June 2016 the day the referendum results came in.

Here is a link please check the dates and feel free to have a gander at my other stuff.

https://instagram.com/p/BHB6WOFgo82/

I think it's very cool that you and I have had the same idea and it saddens me that I won't be able to create this piece now on canvas as I will be accused of Banksy plagiarism and then I'd have to be all like having to explain that I did it ages ago.

I was going to create it once we'd left properly.

I won't be able to make anything from it, I'm not doing too bad as an artist but I'm still starving and still trying to get my name out there. I've read that the owners of the building are going to sell it for a million! And I'm finding it hard to pay my council tax! :)

Anyway I'd love to have a chat with you about it, maybe you could give us a bell and you could put a cloth over the mouth piece like they do in the movies.


All the best

Okse "

So there you go , a non confrontational email, keeping it sweet , keeping it friendly.

I've spoke to other artists , some have been like shout it from the rooftops, some have been like, "just leave it". Also I've had "You can't sue him , you've got no money" (that was my mum)

So the internet is powerful and I'm going to use it, I'm not being deluded, I came up with the concept first, and I'm not lying , I've got proof.

So if you're reading this and you want to spread the word for me

Just post the following image on your social networks if you ever see a Banksy article or tweet this article about. I'd really appreciate it and when I get massive I'll doodle on serviettes for you to auction off.

Use the hashtags
#illjustleavethishere #okseb4banksy

Thank you x

if you're press and you'd like to chat further about stuff please drop me a line at info@theartofokse.com

and please feel free to browse my site whilst you're here to see what I'm all about.

Hello there , I know it's been quite some time since I posted a blog , the reason I haven't posted has been good, I've been pretty busy!

So I'm going to use this post to tell you what's been going down in Okse Town! (do not try and google maps it,there is no such place)

Now where do I start Art in the Park was good , if you don't know what Art in The Park is, it's a yearly event held in Leamington Spa where many creatives gather together and showcase their works, it's just buzzing with creativity you can smell it and it smells of hot dogs...but saying that it could have been the hotdogs they were selling ...did I not tell you there's food too?

My mate Kate asked me if I'd like to join her at The LSA ( Leamington Studio Artists) tent , she said I would be able to showcase my art, she was like "do some caricatures or something".So I decided to draw Pokemon Trainers and their favourite Pokemon.  I thought it'd be quite chilled..it went cra cra (that's how the yoot are speaking ) 

I ended up doing loads my time management was rubbish so I was glad to have Kate by my side helping us out. Kates got an Art Gallery by the way ,it's very cool She runs it with her business partner Kate , luckily there isn't a third partner called Kate, KKK thats be awkward! ...Anyway here's their site  http://www.deasil.co.uk/ 

Was also great to hang out with Artist Caroline Shotton and her lads.She's a Cow Lady..She paints cows not that she's literally a cow that'd be strange and rude.

Pokemon Trainer drawings are available here on the site https://theartofokse.com/products/pokemon-trainer

Art in The Park 2016 http://www.artinpark.co.uk/

What else has been happening?

Pep and Jose

Middle of August I was asked by BBC Manchester if I'd be up for doing a weekly animation based on the rivalry between Man United and Man City. Pep and Jose. 

Now a lot of my friends know that I'm not that big on football I know who Gazza  ( he cried ) , Lee Sharp (he went to my school and Emlyn "I know it  , I know it , I know it " Hughes ( Question of Sport )are so I jumped at the chance.

I brought my mate Scott Gibson on board who is an editing wizard and we did the business. 9 weeks of getting the script Wednesday night, Thursday morning would be spent creating assets for the visual gags, audio at 12 pm , then to the studio creating all the lip sync and secondary motion, While Scott would put the visual gags together all ready for Friday morning.

Working with our mystery writer was great ( he's like Banksy, though I reckon he's either a Blue or a Red so wants to keep schtumb). The voices were provided by The Mimic Men ..."hang on Okse" I hear you say "I've heard of them" , yes you have they've been on BGT doing The A-Z of Impressions, very funny and great impersonators... "Ooh betty" is about all I can muster. Oh and by the way ,don't worry I couldn't really hear you

It was just a good bit of fun, I learned loads mainly about pies and other Northern food.

oof, Wigen Kebab.. I wont explain.. just google it :)

if you want to see Pep and Jose they can be seen here 

Pep and Jose Episodes

That was a very busy time and it lead to more work in collaboration with www.elburydesign.com a great team of professionals based in Cornwall creating an explainer video. 

We're going to be adding this as another service The Art of Okse can provide,so if its something your business is interested in please dont hestitate to drop us a line.

from Elbury Design 

As well as doing all this cool work there has also been time to have fun , I went to see Tape Face, for those of you haven't seen him he's the Boy With Tape on His Face (literally ) who got through to the final of America's Got Talent, I've known him for years and had painted him many moons ago. So when I saw him I started drawing cartoons of him on Instagram that he reposted and they got a lot of attention.

So I took my friend Neil along to see him, such a funny act, he's a mime artist who does a lot of audience participation. "Okse that sounds hideous audience participation!" No it's brilliant , you won't have seen anything like it and everyone who goes up on stage end up being a mime, it's so clever!

I gave him some framed versions of the art and he was very happy, well it think he was, he had tape on his face.

He's  given me a lot of exposure social networking wise and for that I am truly thankful. 

Me and Tape Face...or Tape Face and I 

I feel like I'm waffling loads but a lot has gone on I've just created a series of emojis for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire , thought it was going to be a small local thing but it's gone world wide.

A  lovely lady called Diane Hill was telling the BBC CW That there weren't emojis for her generation so they asked me to come on board and create them , here,s a news clipping with the story 

 We've been interviewed by loads of people all over the world and I've been on the tele which is quite cool. So if you've come to the site via the news story "hiya" 

another thing I've been doing inktober on Instagram , if you search #zoeyandthezombie you'll see what I've been up to. 

I think that enough for you, it's been a cool productive couple of months .

I'm taking orders for Christmas so drop us a line,

We've also released a new Sid James print  along with others.

These can be purchased here .

https://theartofokse.com/collections/prints

Take care , I'll do another update in couple of months. 

L8rz!