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Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Posted by Gavin Lucas, 9 August 2011, 12:06 Permalink Comments (13)

A car burns, while aggressive figures in hoodies go on the rampage, watched by the police... You might well think that this new piece of street art (by Eject) in Salford, Manchester is a timely comment on the unforgiveable rioting and shameless looting that has been taking place in London and beyond over the last few days. But you'd be wrong. It is, in fact, part of a promotional campaign for new 20th Century Fox film release Rise of the Planet of the Apes...
The film company, working with agency Beatwax, has commissioned various street artists around Britain to create new works based on the storyline of the film and also on the simian slogan, Evolution becomes Revolution. "In any In any revolution, the first signs of civil unrest appear through sloganeering and anti-establishment graffiti on the streets - the writing being literally on the wall," says Bruce McClure from Beatwax. Here are a few of the artworks to appear so far:

Above, this work by Smug, appeared at 1038 Argyle Street in Glasgow a few days ago

This four-panel artwork by Cheo is on Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch in London

And this work by Aroe is on Fleet Street in Brighton
Stop frame painting-of films of each of the pieces can be viewed at youtube.com/thehailcaesar
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is released in the UK later this week. More info at apeswillrise.com
13 Comments
Forget the film. The timing of this is simply superb.
2011-08-09 12:15:26
Agree, great project and very timely. But maybe you should think carefully about the connotations of "aggressive monkeys go on the rampage whilst police watch".
2011-08-09 13:12:06
Gavin Lucas - if you are reading this comment, could you please contact me on info@nemetiphotos.com , possibly would like to use some of the photos for national newspaper publiaction. get in touch please, thanks
2011-08-09 13:33:25
Nicely timed Gorilla marketing.
2011-08-09 13:48:11
Agreed. Nice artwork, but sod the film the timing of this couldn't have been dreamt up by the best marketeers in the world. So very apt.
2011-08-09 13:59:46
@funkion
Agreed, that's been changed to avoid any unintended offence
2011-08-09 14:25:26
Really poor introduction to this piece.
'The unforgivable rioting and shameless looting'...is your opinion, which lacks both depth and context.
Concentrate on writing about creativity and leave your political opinions at the door.
Thanks
2011-08-09 14:49:05
Wow... it's amazing! I love it
2011-08-09 15:59:23
@nick
the current political environment is the only reason this campaign is worth acknowledging. If we don't discuss it all we can do is leave empty comments like the one above.
2011-08-09 16:48:18
I went to see the Glasgow one, but its been painted over already, its now advertising Channel 4's street summer season. Its a shame as it looked amazing.
2011-08-10 14:30:56
@nick
How could anyone with a working moral compass describe the riots as anything but shameless or unforgivable? This is not a moot point. Nor is CR the BBC.
2011-08-12 14:46:06
The 4 panels on Great eastern street were painted by End of the Line...
2011-08-12 17:25:56
Forget the riots this was a brilliant piece of work!
2011-08-18 20:25:51
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