FIND out what the ROTA artists really think of York in their new show, From The Walls, Urban Mythology.
On show in the Art & Design foyer at York College, Tadcaster Road, this Return Of The Artist exhibition reflects five artists' attitude to York and the city's influence on the artist, direct or subliminal.
One name leaps out from the five: Dexter, the retro graffiti artist whose cult status grew apace last month when he was arrested and "de-arrested" by the police for suspected criminal damage at a city car park.
Dexter, 48, had written George Best Man United '71 on a run-down brick wall off Leeman Road, not in paint but environmentally-friendly flour and water that washes off in the rain - at least it would have done if landowner Network Rail had not asked him to remove it straightaway.
"When the officers came to my house I proved the graffiti was flour and water by eating some of the left-over paste," he said at the time.
Now a photograph of his Best endeavours forms part of the From The Walls show, along with "very large" photos of the equally biodegradable retro works Yanks Out Of Vietnam and The Times They Are A-Changin', created at other York locations.
Milladdio is exhibiting paintings of the Slug and Lettuce and Victor J's bars, Micklegate Bar Museum, Pulse clothes shop, caricaturist Justin Morris and DJ Grinny Grandad.
On display too are works by Open Studios member David Patrick; digital pieces by archaeologist John Oxley; and "Emotional Maps" by map-maker Graham Martin, following his Mapping Parliament Street participatory art event in March.
That day, he asked shoppers to contribute to three maps: the Anecdotal Map, an avenue for thoughts, feelings, memories and experiences of Parliament Street; the Fantasy Map, a chance to redesign the street as imaginatively as possible; and the State Of The Mind/Retail Therapy Map with its colour-coded pins to express a shopper's mood that day and tags for writing lists of purchases or "perhaps your current state of debt".
These three human maps are accompanied by Martin's own Parliament Street map, inspired by his research and personal viewpoints.
The ROTA exhibition runs until May 22, and opening hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Admission is free.
Updated: 10:50 Friday, May 02, 2003
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