IT IS not big and it is not clever to paint swearwords on advertising billboards, according to one acclaimed Hull graffiti artist.
Nick Horsfield, aka Hull graffiti painter Si2, has hit out at an elusive guerilla artist, known only as Listen04, who defaced a Hedon Road advertising hoarding, saying his work lacks any "artistic merit whatsoever".
The hoarding contained an poster for the new Toyota Aygo car, complete with the advertising slogan "Go Fun Yourself".
Listen04 amended the slogan to "Go F*** Yourself" before posting pictures of himself with his handiwork on Twitter and Instagram.
But Mr Horsfield, who has enjoyed a 20-year career as a graffiti artist working on commissions across the country and for the 2017 UK City Of Culture bid, said Listen04 would struggle to gain the respect of other street artists.
He said: "I think if you can back up your cocky statements with real artistic merit and have 'paid your dues' on the street level then you can deserve the attention you are seeking.
"But I've looked at this guy's stuff out of curiosity and, as an artist who has spent years learning his craft and is constantly trying to improve in a very challenging medium, it does annoy me when these 'street artists' come along with no artistic skills whatsoever and expect to dip their toes into our culture for five minutes and gain respect for 'work' that's ripped off other people's ideas."
Mr Horsfield added that if Listen04 was trying to make a statement with his F-bomb, his message had fallen flat. He said: "It is not really making any type of statement other than they know it will get a reaction from those people who don't understand what real street art is.
"Personally, all that type of stuff is for people who really want to be part of the aerosol art scene but have no interest in learning how to actually paint because it takes years of dedication.
"Speaking for the true pure graffiti writers, they never will get the real respect from the street.
"Even Banksy, with all his money and fame, is looked down on by real writers.
"If you're a 'lay person' you may love the 'go f*** yourself' thing because you 'get' it, but the reality is anyone can stick a brush on a stick and turn fun to f***."
On his website, Listen04 describes himself as "obsessive and intensely private" who spends 12 hours a day working in a small room somewhere in the East Riding.
It carries on: "I find talking about my work extremely difficult. I have no flowery words of explanation. If you dissect it, it dies."
Advertising company JC Decaux, which owns the Hedon Road billboard site, said it planned to remove the offending poster as soon as possible.
