Born: 1965 – 1974
Summary of Bansky
English graffiti artist and international trickster, Banksy has managed to become one of the world’s best-known artists despite maintaining a low-key presence on the streets. Following the founding principles of Street Art, he has created a recognised body of work that employs comedy, irony, subversion, and satire to convey important themes about human nature and the state to a wide audience. His distinctive stencil approach has elevated him from a spray-paint-wielding drudge to an accomplished artist in his own right. Guy Fawkes helped bring the art genre known as guerilla work into the public eye.
Artistry rests in his ability to employ irony and the power of the absurd to make audiences think about the severity of his messages about capitalism, advertising, politics, and mankind in a way that is both amusing and thought-provoking. When combined with a feeling of innocence and a willingness to speak out against injustice, he is able to play a powerful role as a powerful social mediator all disguised as art.
No matter how well-known Banksy has become, his preferred medium remains the street and impromptu public areas where his art may “pop up” guerrilla-style and preserve its resistance to being marketed to any certain socioeconomic segment and audience or market.
It has been the primary mode of operation for Banksy to remain anonymous because it removes the artist’s famous status and instead focuses on his or her work. Allows one to speak their mind without fear of repercussion.
Unexpectedly, Banksy’s disruptive persona has helped him become more widely accepted, as the world has taken notice of his distinctive style and absence of a noticeable ego drive toward artistic success. Similarly to the bridges he is trying to build, the artist has become a bridge himself.
As long as graffiti remains illegal, Banksy’s work continues to provoke discussion about the fine line between public art and vandalism. Banksy lives and works in the UK. Is the hypocrisy of celebrity shown by the fact that one street artist’s work on a building’s exterior is now valued and protected, while another less-known artist is jailed?
Biography of Bansky
In order to keep his identity a secret, Banksy has remained reticent about his past. He is said to have played for the Easton Cowboys football team in the 1990s and early 2000s as a goalie. Easton Cowboys member Will Simpson claims that during the 2001 Mexico tour, artist Banksy painted numerous murals throughout the towns they visited, including one that was “raffled off to make money for water initiatives in Chiapas (southwestern Mexico),” according to Simpson.
It is thought that Robin Gunningham, a former student at Bristol Cathedral School, is actually the artist behind Banksy’s work, as a number of former classmates and associates have claimed. According to others, Banksy is the work of an entire team of seven artists, not just one.
Early Life
A lot is unknown about Banksy’s background as an artist due to his secrecy. A creative ability to use original pictures to produce one’s own unique voice can be seen from the very beginning of his career; one that uses provocative and amusing images to promote anti-war, anti-capitalism and antagonise the establishment messages.
When Banksy moved to Bristol in the early 1990s and joined the DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), he became a freehand graffiti artist and a member of the group. Inspired by fellow street artist 3D, who went on to create the band Massive Attack, he began stencilling in the early ’90s. Stencils are usually created or printed onto acetate or card material, and then cut out by hand. In order to complete the process, stencils are attached to the wall and spray-painted. It’s the image that’s left when you take away the stencil. It was with the help of this initial signature tool that Banksy was able to produce pieces on the fly. A number of his early works depicted the usual suspects of the street art scene: apes, cops and soldiers (including rioters), riots, children and the elderly (including the elderly themselves). Street artists and the general public alike took notice of his prolific use of iconic-stenciled pictures all throughout Bristol and London.
It is no secret that Banksy, the prototypical street artist, used the city as a canvas to express his displeasure with the state of the world “”Brandalism,” or “any advertisement in public space that forces you to see it regardless of whether you want to or not…The people who truly deface our neighbourhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses in an attempt to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their products. Despite the fact that they want you to be able to hear their message from every possible surface, you are not allowed to respond. Well, they initiated the fight, therefore we’ll use the wall as our weapon of choice to take them out.”
It was Blek le Rat before him, who once said, “I began to spray some little rats in the streets of Paris because rats are the last wild species in cities and only rats would remain when the human race fades and dies.” Banksy followed in the footsteps of Blek le Rat. It is possible to see Banksy’s nocturnal animals as a sort of pseudonym or self-portrait of the artist, who works illegally under the cover of darkness, in his work.
According to Banksy’s statement, “You can look up to rats as an inspiration if you’re feeling sluggish, unwanted, or dirty. Their existence is unauthorised, they have no regard for social order, and they engage in sexual activity 50 times every day.” Although Banksy has stated that he painted rats for several years before anyone made this truth known to him, the term “rat” also functions as an anagram of the word “art. Unlike most vermin, rats are able to stave off human enmity and thrive in the face of human hostility thanks to their adaptability and resourcefulness.
When he first met Bristol photographer Steve Lazarides in the ’90s, Lazarides became Banksy’s representative until 2009. Lazarides recently said, “When I first met this scruffy, grumpy person back in 1997, I would have never predicted that 20 years on he would be the most recognised artist of his time and that his work would be examined on school curriculums.” Also, he adds “When I worked with him Banksy, we broke every rule in the art rulebook and a good number of laws. Now, he’s an international superstar and still has the potential to startle or amuse people.”
After Banksy’s professional partnership with Lazarides ended, he formed Pest Control, which serves as the sole representative and contact liaison for his work, in charge of authenticating the authorship of his pieces and delivering documentation of provenance to customers.
Mid Life
A shift from street stencilling to developing trickster projects, staging public interventions in well-established art institutions, and organising exhibitions occurred in the early 2000s for the street artist Banksy. Art as commodity or particular statements on how we are fed popular culture through mainstream mass distribution and challenged our common guilt in taking marketing, political, or media messages as reality were some of the themes of these endeavours.
Aside from his unofficial public interventions, the street artist continued to hold exhibitions and perform art interventions in established art institutions throughout this time period in 2000s. Like the bogus British £10 bills he printed with a photo of Princess Diana and the text “Banksy of England” on them.
A cheap soup can painting in the style of Andy Warhol was placed in the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City in March 2005. He also did this in the Brooklyn Museum.
At some point between August and September of 2006, Banksy altered 500 copies of Paris Hilton’s debut CD, Paris, and distributed it to 48 record shops in the United Kingdom (Photoshopped to show Hilton topless). Tinkerbell’s head was replaced by Paris’s, Paris stepped out of a luxurious car with a bunch of homeless people and the text “90 percent of success is just showing up” were all other variants of the image. There were songs with titles such, “Why Are You Famous?” “What Have You Done?” and “What Are You For?” In order for retailers to remove the guerrilla CD from circulation, the general people purchased many copies. Online auction websites saw the acquired copies sell for as much as £750.
A Guantanamo detainment camp prisoner, clothed with an orange jumpsuit and shackles by Banksy in September 2006, was displayed in London. At Disneyland in Anaheim, California, he hid the doll beneath the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride for 90 minutes before the attraction was shut down and the figure was removed.. Banksy was making a statement about our tendency to keep our eyes shut by presenting a stark symbol of political reality in a well-known escapist milieu…
Banksy rented a real 38-year-old female Indian elephant named Tai, painted in the same red and gold floral pattern as the wallpaper behind her, for his Barely Legal exhibition in Los Angeles in 2006. This “elephant in the room” was designed to serve as a reminder of how little we know about the plight of the poor in other countries. The elephant was not painted on the final day of the exhibition, despite her managers’ claims that she had appeared in “many, many movies and is used to makeup,” which meant that painting her was not a form of cruelty.
As part of a three-day event in London titled The Cans Festival, Banksy exhibited his work on May 3–5, 2008. (a play on words of the famous French film festival Cannes). From Faile in Brooklyn to Bandit in the Netherlands and Run Don’t Walk in Argentina to Australian-based artist James Dodd, stencil artists were welcome to paint their own artwork, provided that it did not cover or interfere with anyone else’s. It occurred in a traffic tunnel beneath London Waterloo station that was originally utilised by Eurostar. The site was kept under wraps until the project was finished, and only then was it made public. At least six months later, Eurostar agreed to keep the works intact.
Banksy performed a series of works in New Orleans, Louisiana, in August 2008, three years after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failure disaster. After Katrina, he remarked, “Three years later, I wanted to make a statement about how the cleanup operation had progressed.” Rebuilt levee walls afforded him “the nicest painting surface in the state of Louisiana,” he said.
At the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, the Banksy vs. Bristol Museum exhibition debuted on June 13th, 2009. Over 100 artworks, including animatronics, sculpture, and installations (78 of which were new pieces), were on display. More than 8500 people attended the show’s opening weekend, and more than 300,000 throughout the course of 12 weeks.
It was in December 2009 when Banksy painted four murals about global warming to celebrate the closing of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2009. “I don’t believe in global warming” was immersed into the ocean.
A 7-foot-high version of Banksy’s “We’re weary of fish” was painted on the walls of the London Zoo’s penguin enclosure by the street artist. That’s not all. I’d like to leave.” I can’t stand the cold in here. There is a strong scent coming from Keeper’s room. The word “boring’s in the air.’ The elephants are kept in their enclosure.
Thierry Guetta, a budding street artist, worked with Banksy as an assistant and documentarian on multiple trips to Los Angeles in 2010. His words of encouragement inspired Guetta to follow Banksy’s lead and eventually turn into the well-known graffiti artist Mr. Brainwash. Banksy’s 2010 documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, was nominated for an Academy Award for its portrayal of this journey. In a statement, Banksy said, “It’s a tremendous surprise… I’m quite happy.” Award shows are something I dislike in general, but I’ll attend the ones in which I’m nominated even though I don’t agree with the notion. The last time I saw a gold-painted naked man in my home, it was myself.”
In Weston-super-Mare, United Kingdom, Banksy opened Dismaland from August 21 to September 27, 2015. As part of the large-scale group show, artists Damien Hirst and Jenny Holzer were featured. An overturned Cinderella carriage and a dark castle decorated the park’s temporary attractions.
Also in 2015, Banksy painted multiple murals in the “jungle” of Calais, France, in response to the Syrian refugee crisis, a location where thousands of migrants were attempting to enter the nation. Because, as the artist pointed out, “We’re often encouraged to assume migration is a drain on the country’s resources but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian migrant,” the artist featured Apple founder Steve Jobs in the mural. Over $7 billion is paid in taxes each year by Apple, which is the world’s most profitable company, thanks to a young man from Homs.
With the help of Sami Musa and Dominique Petrin, Banksy designed the Walled Off Hotel, a genuine hotel in Bethlehem, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of British colonisation in Palestine. Also, because the hotel housed an art gallery, it was surrounded by a wall that each of the rooms faced, rather than the traditional vacation vistas. Banksy’s art demonstrates a strong preference for viewpoints that favour social justice, yet works done in this region have been criticised by people and organisations like Change.org because of their one-sided, sometimes borderline antisemitic sentiments.
Graffiti artist Banksy returned to New York City in 2018 after a five-year hiatus, and the public was treated to a spray of new works. It was rapidly demolished, but the Bowery Wall Portrait of imprisoned Kurdish artist Zehra Dogan became an adopted work in the city’s fabric.
As 2018 came to a close, the world of art was shocked by a stroke of artistic genius from Banksy: a premeditated joke. An alarm went off inside the picture frame as soon as the gavel sounded to confirm the sale of Balloon Girl at a Sotheby’s auction and the artwork began passing through a shredder that had been concealed within. The stunt would go down in history as the first time art was presented in the middle of an auction in a guerilla fashion.
At this point in Banksy’s career, his stringent secrecy had been replaced with widespread global fame, which would influence the direction of his work for the rest of his life. Banksy was no longer protected by the codas of secrecy of the street art underground; he was now universally known, accepted, easily recognised, and sought after by the general public. In 2018, when he painted the Season’s Greetings mural on a garage in Wales, this became abundantly obvious. Children were shown eating snowflakes that turned out to be smoke and embers from a burning fireplace. Immediately, the town was abuzz over the likelihood that Banksy was working on it, and the garage owner voiced dread and anxiety over the burden of safeguarding the piece from damage.
As a result of this new reality, Banksy has become more visible to his public on social media platforms like Instagram, where he actively posts new works and claims ownership. Although he remains anonymous on these platforms, he connects with his public to affirm his authorship.
His works continue to challenge the current quo and shine light on our societal issues. Even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow and spread worldwide in 2020, Banksy stayed relevant by creating, giving, and dedicating an artwork to Southampton University Hospital.
Bankys Legacy
Banksy was awarded the title of Greatest Living Briton on May 21, 2007. He shares credit for changing 1980s “bubble writing” graffiti into today’s “narrative-driven street art” with artists like Shepard Fairey, Zevs, D*Face, and Ron English. In terms of style and medium, the work of modern street artists such as Banksy and Swoon, as well as those using the “liquidated logos” approach of Zevs and Space Invader, vary widely. His protégé, Mr. Brainwash, has also inherited Banksy’s practise of using instantly identifiable images, such as corporate mascots and well-known historical paintings.
“Post-graffiti art,” a term coined by Banksy, is a form of “guerrilla art” that relies significantly on the context and location of the subject matter in order to subvert the authority of more powerful adversaries (such as corporations and governments). Through the use of corporate and government places (such billboards, storefronts, and barrier walls) and the co-optation of corporate and government images, these artists are able to achieve their goals (such as logos, mascots, political figures, and official currency). To showcase his work, Banksy first used an East London warehouse on Kingsland Road for his 2003 exhibition Turf War, which was one of the first of its kind.
Furthermore, Banksy’s art has sold for millions of dollars at auction, making him one of the first street painters to enter the commercial art market. A graffiti artist’s commercial success bothers him because he believes that “Commercial success is a symbol of failure for a graffiti artist.” He is a firm believer that “graffiti loses most of its innocence when it is not unlawful.” Artists that embrace mainstream success are considered as “sellouts” in the art world, which is a continuing debate. Banksy’s use of agents and intermediaries to facilitate the sale of his artwork has fueled the fires of discontent. Street artists, such Shepard Fairey, contend that they utilise their legitimate cash to fund more guerilla art that is not sanctioned by the government.
This has helped to legitimise graffiti as a legitimate form of public art, which has furthered the argument between vandalism as criminal action and the creative medium for an artist (in a way, becoming a symbol of freedom). Due of their modern value, even though they may have been considered illegal at the time of their production, many of his works survive on public buildings and other public locations. Many building owners have reaped the financial rewards of owning a genuine Banksy piece.
Banksy Facts
What is Banksy real identity?
According to The Mail on Sunday, Robin Gunningham is Banky’s real name. In the event that Banksy is Robin Gunningham, he would have been born on July 28, 1973, in the vicinity of Bristol and now reside in London, according to rumours.
Why does Banksy hide his identity?
In the early 1990s, when he was still living in Bristol, Banksy originally gained notoriety for spray-painting trains and walls. In the beginning, it was supposed that the artist remained unknown to avoid difficulty with the law because street art and graffiti might be deemed criminal damage.
Did Banksy ever reveal his identity?
When he first started painting on walls back in the early 1990s, he remained a mystery to the public. Thierry Guetta, Richard Pfeiffer, Robin Banks, and Paul Horner have all been mentioned as possibilities for his identity. None of these alleged aliases, however, appears convincing, and the identity of Banksy remains a mystery.
How does Banksy make money?
Despite the artist’s anonymity, the art he sells directly brings in a healthy profit. More than three decades of speculation have surrounded his identity.
Is Banksy a billionaire?
Graffiti artist and documentary filmmaker Banksy is worth an estimated $50 million. Though he’s a respected and well-known artist today, little is known about his true identity.
How is Banksy not caught?
Lazarides was Banksy’s agent, strategist, and intellect for 11 years, beginning in 1997 when he photographed the artist at work. Lazarides explained to the Guardian how the couple avoided arrest: “The trick is high-visibility jackets and traffic cones.” If you have them, no one can stop you.”
How do we not know who Banksy is?
Although Banksy has never revealed his name, the artist’s work is frequently cloaked in mystery. Banksy typically claims artworks via his official Instagram profile after they’ve been discovered. Artworks by him frequently address current social and political topics.
Who is Banksy’s wife?
Joy Millward is Banksy’s wife
How many Banksy paintings are there?
There are 30 Bansky Paintings
What happened to the shredded Banksy?
Almost three years after it was sold at auction for $1.4 million, a Banksy painting self-destructed and sold for $25.4 million at Sotheby’s on Thursday. This is a record for the artist.
Why is Banksy worth so much?
It’s Debord who would remark that the attention Banksy receives and how that collective attention reflects back to the audience as evidence of the value of his art is what makes his work so important.
How much is an original Banksy worth?
At Sotheby’s, the Self-Destructing Artwork of Banksy Sold for a Record $25.4 million, 18 times the Non-Shredded Price.
Why is Girl with Balloon so famous?
The artwork serves as a reminder of the positive aspects of life. Some see Banksy’s Girl With Balloon as a reminder to cling on to hope even when it seems out of reach, while others see it as a symbol of lost childhood innocence.
How did Banksy become the most famous Vandal?
A large chunk of Bristol’s underground scene was inspired by his work, which was influenced by local artists. Since then, he has used stencilling to speed up the process of creating his graffiti, which was formerly done freehand.
Why Banksy paint monkeys?
The monkey serves as a symbol for humanity at Banksy. He takes issue with people who simply follow the rules without questioning them or coming to their own conclusions.
How do you spot a Banksy?
There are two important indicators of a real Banksy piece, according to him: the location and the subject matter. Graffiti artist Banksy, on the other hand, prefers to target the general population rather than just his own neighbourhood.
Famous Art by Banksy
Kissing Coppers
2004
This iconic artwork depicts two (presumably male) British police officers kissing, in what appears to be a loving embrace, in full, traditional British attire. On Trafalgar Street in Brighton’s downtown area, this piece was originally spray-painted on the Prince Albert pub’s side. To begin with, a Banksy colleague approached the bar owner on his behalf to ask whether he could use the space to create the piece. The owner of the tavern claims, “As soon as I saw it, I thought, “Oh no.” Our actions were a complete surprise to me.” A bunch of uniformed police officers showed up in front of the tavern to take pictures of the artwork, much to his joy. Perspex cases were used to protect a copy of the piece in 2011, which was then flown to the United States and sold at auction.
There are numerous ways to interpret this work. To some extent, Banksy is promoting tolerance for sexual orientation in society by portraying authoritative figures as pro-gay. That he depicts police officers rather than regular residents is noteworthy, given that the people he uses to portray his victims in a sensitive way are frequently the ones tasked with eradicating his acts of vandalism. While some think he’s making fun of the cops by depicting them in a vulnerable, intimate state, others see the work as a positive portrayal of the police force and the deep ties that exist between partners and teammates on the force. Banksy’s use of sarcasm to urge us to construct a bridge of empathy amongst expected ideological foes is evident in this work.
Rage, the Flower Thrower
2005
A Perspex overlay has been applied to this piece, which depicts a man dressed in conventional riot gear, with a bandana covering his face and a cap worn backwards. I can see him taking aim with his weapon and getting ready to hurl it, like someone going to launch one of those deadly Molotov cocktails. In contrast to the other men, this one is brandishing a bouquet of flowers as a weapon (which are the only part of the mural to appear in color.) In Jerusalem, on the main road leading to Beit Sahour, Bethlehem, this sculpture can be found on the side of a garage.
Banksy is promoting peace by exchanging a weapon for a bundle of flowers, and he chose to place this message in a combat zone. Additionally, the painting conveys the idea that tranquilly is only possible through constant, diligent effort on the part of the artist. His use of art to convey socially relevant ideas is further demonstrated by this bouquet, which commemorates those who have died in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Napalm Girl
2004-2005
A family-friendly face of American capitalism, the country that unleashed Napalm on Vietnam, Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald are two examples of American capitalism. Consequently, the art of Banksy turns into a critique of not only the United States but also capitalism. The terrified expression on the girl’s face is a stark contrast to the wide smiles on the faces of the other two characters. American civilization, as depicted by Banksy in a single simple image, has a cheerful, carefree veneer and a very dark, underbelly that drops bombs on people and commercialises war. In the words of Banksy, “People who break the rules commit the world’s worst crimes, not those who follow them. People who obey orders are the ones responsible for dropping bombs and slaughtering villages.”
2005
Claude Monet’s classic picture Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies (1899) has been given a new life by Banksy. The original painting by Claude Monet depicts a serene picture from his own garden, complete with lush foliage reflected in the still lake. Even though Banksy used the same materials as Monet did to create the original artwork, the pond now contains two abandoned shopping carts as well as a traffic cone.
Unwelcome Intervention
2005
As if on a sandy beach, two little boys are building sandcastles with buckets and shovels in this painting. In Banksy’s characteristic black and white stencil design, the two boys, one standing and the other kneeling, glance back at the viewer. When viewed from above, the mural appears to have a portion of grey wall that has been damaged. Colorful images of a tropical beach paradise can be seen through this fake hole.
The piece’s context is critical, as it does with a lot of “guerrilla” Street Art. In August 2005, Banksy painted this and eight other murals on the Israeli-Palestinian separation wall in the West Bank (including a dove with a bulletproof vest and a heart-shaped target over its chest, a child beneath a ladder stretching to the top of the wall, and the silhouette of a young girl being lifted upwards by a bunch of balloons). According to the Palestinians, the wall’s purpose is to enforce racial segregation, whereas Israel views it as an anti-terrorism measure.
“The Israeli security personnel did shoot in the air threateningly and there were quite a few guns pointed at him,” Banksy publicist Jo Brooks said. Nonetheless, Banksy questioned, “How illegal is it to vandalise a wall if the wall itself has been considered unlawful?”
On the other side of this big barrier, perhaps the grass is greener, or perhaps the landscape is better (even if we know that it isn’t). This composition plays on this notion. Perhaps the artist is saying that removing the barrier is the only way to create a better political landscape. The artist’s use of children in this and other murals on the wall challenges us to contemplate the toll that the local strife takes on those who are innocent. The children’s direct look engages the observer even more deeply in the art.
- “You paint the wall, you make it look lovely.” That was Banksy’s
- to a Palestinian guy who told him while he painted these murals in 2005. then stated “We do not want it to be beautiful; we despise this wall; go home.”
One Nation Under CCTV
2007
On the wall of a Royal Mail building in Newman Street, London, a mural was painted. While a police officer looks on, a youngster in a red-hooded sweatshirt and black shorts paints the text “ONE NATION UNDER CCTV” in the bottom right corner.
A CCTV camera was able to see the mural since it was located in its field of view. As a matter of fact, Banksy constructed three storeys of scaffolding in the dead of night and completed the entire piece in a single evening. There has recently been a lot of debate about excessive surveillance in the UK and around the world, and this piece is an attempt to address this issue. Security cameras have been teased by Banksy before, when he stencilled the words “what are you looking at?” on a blank wall in front of one.
In October 2008, the Westminster City Council announced that the piece would be painted over since it was illegal graffiti, regardless of the artist’s celebrity. According to the council, “Banksy is no more entitled to paint graffiti than a six-year-old.” Council planning committee chairman Robert Davis told the Times, “If we condone this, then we might as well declare that any youngster with a spray can is generating art.” In April of 2009, the piece was painted over.
It has been the subject of many of Banksy’s previous works that the condemnation of Street Art as illegal vandalism and the regular removal of it have been focused on. Alternatively, the fact that so many of his works disappear so quickly only adds to the excitement and fervour that surrounds Banksy’s art. The author of a Banksy biography claimed in 2013 that Banksy “is an artist who has got people scurrying around the city wanting to view his work before it gets painted over.”
Mona Lisa Bazooka
2007-2008
The Mona Lisa is one of the world’s most iconic paintings, and in this work, Banksy riffs on it (1503-4). A rocket launcher is pointed towards a female protagonist in his characteristic black-and-white stencil style while she wears a headset. The first time it emerged was in West London’s Soho neighbourhood.
If you look closely, you can see more than meets the eye in Banksy’s juxtaposition of art history’s most celebrated woman with a lethal modern weapon. As compared to da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Banksy gives her a more threatening, combative, and dynamic attitude She maintains the same serene face as in the original, but her inviting smile is ominous in a far more horrible way when placed next to the formidable weapon. Alternatively, it can be interpreted as an indictment of how numb the general public has become to the constant horrors of war, which always seem to take place in faraway lands.
Power Washer
2008
In this painting, a maintenance worker in an orange vest is shown scrubbing art off a wall with a power washer. As a result of the deed, an ancient cave painting, similar to the wonderous find in France at the time, appears to have been wiped out.
A comparison between prehistoric cave paintings and graffiti is being drawn by Banksy in this piece. Even while it’s common procedure to have the latter cleaned off of walls, it would be unimaginable for the former. While certain works of art are deemed valuable, others are labelled “vandalism,” and the artist examines this dichotomy.
Hammer Boy
2013
This recent Banksy piece is a great example of how guerrilla street artists incorporate their surroundings into their work. With a huge mallet in his hand, Banksy depicts the silhouette of an immature youngster striking something in front of him in this piece. The red fire hydrant (or rather, a siamese connection for the fire service) that the youngster is about to run into has a pipe coming up from the top that leads directly to a circular red item several feet higher than where he is currently standing (possibly a fire alarm). With the addition of the young boy and his mallet, the ordinary plumbing fitting is converted into a “strength tester” (the classic carnival game where a player must strike a mallet to hit the bell at the top).
Viewers are encouraged to rethink urban environments, surfaces, and items through works like Hammer Boy by artists such as Banksy and other street artists. Street artists, like skateboarders and parkour practitioners, have a similar mindset. In the minds of all of these people, city areas and surfaces have no set purpose. Participants, on the other hand, have the flexibility to repurpose and co-opt the city. As well as storing water, fire hydrants can also be used as a child’s toy. Not only can a handrail be used to support and hold oneself, but it may also be used to do daring acrobatic feats.
Love is in the Bin
2018
As a symbol of unadulterated faith and hope in the face of overwhelming odds, Banksy’s renowned Balloon with Girl artwork was auctioned off by Sotheby’s in October 2018 for $1.04 million. A bizarre alarm sounded from within the frame of the painting the instant it was declared “sold.” The source of the noise was unclear. As soon as the artwork started to sink through its bottom, which turned out to be a shredding mechanism. This is despite the fact that Banksy later confirmed that the device stopped operating, leaving half of the painting intact in the frame. In an Instagram post, Banksy shared a video of a shredding with the words “Going, going gone” in the caption, prompting many to suspect that the artist had hidden an infiltrator in the room. However, he quickly took down the video after it had been seen by his large social media following.
It was the only artwork ever created at a live auction that established the female buyer’s status as the purchaser of one of the art world’s most renowned capers, but she elected to keep the work, now retitled Love is in the Bin. “The auction result will only propel this further and given the media attention this stunt has received, the lucky buyer would see a great return on the 1.02M they paid last night, this is now part of art history in its shredded state and we’d estimate Banksy has added at least 50% to its value,” said Joey Syer, co-founder of an art dealing website, as quoted in the Evening Standard.
There is a video that shows how the shredder was put together, and Banksy says it was done so that the piece could be sold at auction. “The drive to destroy is equally a creative urge,” he said in a quotation.
BULLET POINTED (SUMMARISED)
Best for Students and a Huge Time Saver
- Banksy is an anonymous street artist who has become one of contemporary art’s most well-known and influential figures.
- His work frequently includes political or social commentary, and he is well-known for his distinct stencilling style and use of public spaces as a canvas.
- Banksy rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when his work began to appear on the streets of Bristol, England, and later in other cities worldwide.
- “Girl with Balloon,” “Flower Thrower,” and “Kissing Coppers” are among Banksy’s most well-known works.
- Banksy’s identity is still unknown, but he has given several interviews and has been the subject of much speculation and investigation over the years.
- Banksy’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and has sold for millions of dollars at auction, despite his criticism of the art world’s commercialization.
- Many other street artists’ work and the growing acceptance of street art as a legitimate form of art bear witness to Banksy’s influence.
- Despite his success, Banksy continues to use his art as a tool for social and political commentary, frequently addressing issues such as capitalism, war, and the environment in his work.
- English graffiti artist and international trickster, Banksy has managed to become one of the world’s best-known artists despite maintaining a low-key presence on the streets.
- Following the founding principles of Street Art, he has created a recognised body of work that employs comedy, irony, subversion, and satire to convey important themes about human nature and the state to a wide audience.
- His distinctive stencil approach has elevated him from a spray-paint-wielding drudge to an accomplished artist in his own right.
- Guy Fawkes helped bring the art genre known as guerilla work into the public eye.
- Artistry rests in his ability to employ irony and the power of the absurd to make audiences think about the severity of his messages about capitalism, advertising, politics, and mankind in a way that is both amusing and thought-provoking.
- When combined with a feeling of innocence and a willingness to speak out against injustice, he is able to play a powerful role as a powerful social mediator all disguised as art.
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
