Banksy

Arts & Sciences Arts & Entertainment
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I just finished reading a great article in The New Yorker about the immensely popular graffiti artist, Banksy. If you’re not familiar with him, he’s from the UK, wishes to remain anonymous (and is still pretty much so despite attempts by some to out him), started out with playful anti-authoritarian street art in the UK, but has now become rich and famous selling his works online, in galleries and even through Sothebys (one work for over US$500k) and the like.

While he’s obviously very talented and entertaining, questions still remain about how great an artist he really is, whether its worth paying all that much money for his work, whether he (and others) should have a right to paint on public (or someone else’s private) property just because it may be good art, etc.

Here are some of his paintings.

On the West Bank security wall

Merry Christmas

Doctored Paris Hilton CD he distributed 500 copies of in UK

Advert for his LA show

Brad and Angelina at his show (Brad bought a few pieces)

In response to the immense popularity of his work

So, what do you think?

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Here’s a few more.

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I think he has interesting sense of humour, but I won’t spell much money on his artwork.
They are too heavy and carry too many issues, I prefer to see some pieces that comfort me.

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Good stuff. I like it. More interesting than a sheep in a tank of formaldehyde. Art expressing more than just “Hey! I’m Art!”

Refreshing. If fools want to pay half a million quid for it then let them. I’ll give him 400 quid to do my gable end with the face sitting Victoria.

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[quote=“kate.lin”]I think he has interesting sense of humour, but I won’t spell much money on his artwork.
They are too heavy and carry too many issues, I prefer to see some pieces that comfort me.[/quote]

Yea, I agree. I think he’s a very talented graphic design artist with a good sense of humor but because his works are so bold and, as you say, heavy with messages, they may be more suitable for the sidewalk than the living room.

[quote=“Lord Lucan”]Good stuff. I like it. More interesting than a sheep in a tank of formaldehyde. Art expressing more than just “Hey! I’m Art!”

Refreshing. If fools want to pay half a million quid for it then let them. I’ll give him 400 quid to do my gable end with the face sitting Victoria.[/quote]

I agree. More entertaining than lots of modern “art.” As for the million quid comment, it’s hard to read the writing on his last painting I posted in my first link, but it’s a painting of a Sotheby’s style art auction with the words “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit,” a sentiment he’s repeated in various works.

Questions: just because he’s talented and his works are amusing to most people and many people pay large sums of money for them, should that give him a legal right to paint them on public places without prior consent? Should the city leave them? Does that open the door for every grafitti “artist” regardless of talent or lack thereof?

Here’s a well-known work of his that people valued at over 300 thousand GBP, which London transit workers cleaned up by painting over it.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6575345.stm

On the other hand, he did this one on the side of a building in his probable hometown of Bristol, UK, and the Bristol city council allowed the public to vote whether to keep or remove it and of about 1000 voters, 97% said to keep it, so they did.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/5193552.stm

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I would like to know how he paints these large public works in full view in a place like London (which is supposedly bristling with security cameras) without getting caught. He must be very fast and very good. Good planning, templates?

Interesting work, though. Cool stuff. I like it. If people want to pay big bucks for it that power to him.

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No. No. It would, if the answers to the first two were yes.

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By the way a few of those pics are NSFW, in case you didn’t notice.

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Banksy’s latest target

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/08/31/Banksy-Mocks-BP-Spill.aspx

BP playground ride

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hjIuMx-N7c&feature=player_embedded

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I enjoy his twisted sense of humour, and his willingness to tackle any subject.

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My favorite Banksy is ‘Early Man Goes to Market’

Banksy hanged it on the wall of the British Museum right next to other art from that period where it stayed for 3 days without any officials noticing.

There was a sign right next to it that said: “early man venturing towards the out-of-town hunting grounds. This finely preserved example of primitive art dates from the Post-Catatonic era.” With an explanatory note that said: “The artist responsible is known to have created a substantial body of work across South East of England under the moniker Banksymus Maximus but little else is known about him. Most art of this type has unfortunately not survived. The majority is destroyed by zealous municipal officials who fail to recognise the artistic merit and historical value of daubing on walls.”

He also hung his own art in the Tate Britain in London in October 2003, which was not noticed until it fell to the ground, and has done the same in four New York galleries.

He ran a competition on his website for fans to have their photographs taken with the rock, offering a shopping trolley as a prize.

The British Museum praised the way his rock was hung and the style of the sign, which was “very similar” to their own design, and it later became a part of their permanent collection. It was later being exhibited at Banksy’s own shows where it had a sign saying it was “on loan from the British Museum”.

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It’s good that some people have a sense of humour about his work.

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Saw about this one at the old packard plant in detroit a while back

It was subsequently moved

freep.com/article/20100515/E … -firestorm

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I’m very happy with the idea that he is painting on public space or on private walls, mostly because he’s not defacing them but improving them.

The key theme of his work is anti-establishment. It works best when it is painted in a medium that is also anti-establishment – that is on public land. When he does not paint illegally, his work suffers for it. Most reviewers have been disappointed by his few gallery exhibitions and they recognise it has been because there is no associated adventure.

His work gives pleasure to a lot of people – in fact there are some pretty widespread campaigns to prevent his work from being painted over. Many feel that once he’s painted a wall then he has reappropriated the wall from private enclosure and given it to the public – his work then belongs to everyone. Of course, if the establishment stopped painting over his work then his work would not be as influential.

I don’t suppose you are aware of the rivalry that has been built up between him and King Robbo. Robbo is pretty much a pioneer and figurehead of tagging graffiti artist – ie just leaving your mark. Banksy recently painted over one of King Robbo’s graffitos that had been standing since the 1980s, which basically instigated furore in the graffiti community. The two of them are busy now painting over each other’s work.

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That picture with the onlooker’s reactions is pretty amusing

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I find his stunts mildly irritating, but that one was funny.

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I’m surprised he didn’t have a never gonna give you up video playing behind it. They say the prank may have actually increased the value of the painting. He is a genius though.
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