Leader of the Chalk and Crayon Collective, Bob Bedlinen has accused local Media Mogul, Mike Maxman, of being too ‘scared’ to run any news stories about the group’s art.
Mr Bedlinen raged “We enlisted Mr Maxman and his website to help us spread the word of our campaign which highlights the attempts of Smalltown and Dullbridge Town Council to censor our art, but it seems that he has bowed to council pressure and is to scarred (sic) to post our work.
This shows that the reach of the Town Council is not limited to sending out the Town Handyman to remove our art from the streets, but is actually far more sinister than that. Wake up to what they are doing people. They are taking away our voices. We need to rise up against Town Council oppression and place art everywhere.”
When asked to comment Mr Maxman said “Oh you SomersetClive reporters! You’re just jealous because the Chalk and Crayon Collective wanted to work with me and not you! Trying to make a story out of nothing. I’m not scared of the Town Council, I’m only scared of Squire Teflon and his close-friend and employer Mistress Bones.
This wasn’t deliberate censorship on my part, I merely felt that my readers had better things to read about.”
The ‘ObliviBIN’ installation, tied to a lamppost in Main Street, and designed to highlight SaDTC’s attitude to art, was later removed by the Town Handyman who spent several minutes reading the piece and scratching his head in confusion before tossing it into the back of his van. A passerby heard him say “I dunno what this is all about, but it’s really not on. It makes a complete mess of our otherwise pristine and tidy streets.”
SomersetClive reached out to Smalltown and Dullbridge Town Council for comment, but they refused to answer our questions.