Banksy is a street artist (or graffiti artist, if you prefer) from England. Banksy is a pseudonym. He uses the pseudonym Banksy party to avoid getting caught, but mostly because his art is not meant to glorify the artist, it's to serve as social commentary. It's supposed to make you think. His art is mostly satirical, and commonly uses stencils. His work ranges in size from a small rat on a street sign, to the entire side of a large office building.
Banksy's art has addressed political topics such as anti-war, anti imperialism and anti-capitalism. "We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves." His art has addressed philosophical topics like nihilism and existentialism. Mostly, he utilizes well-known icons and images as social commentary, addressing things such as greed, hypocrisy, poverty, and excessive lifestyles.
Banksy art has become the best known and most recognizable street art ever. Some of his pieces go for tens of thousands of dollars at art auctions. It's ironic that collectors and celebrities pay so much for the art that mocks them and their excessive lifestyles.
The primary purpose of his art is to make people think. His use of iconography as satirical social commentary doesn't necessarily advocate anything. But it breeds awareness, which leads to action. Banksy made big news when he did several pieces on the enormous cement barrier wall that separates the West Bank from Israel. This brought a lot of attention to the situation. It drew many photographers who wanted to capture his art. The photographers then photographed the lives of the people and shared plight with the world.
There is a fantastic documentary about Banksy and the rise of street art called Exit Through the Gift Shop. It premiered at Sundance in 2010 (In preparation for the premier, he painted several pieces around Salt Lake and Park City). The documentary was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
This artwork is amazing. I had to look at the one with the whole and the beach a few times before understanding. The beach looks so real, yet the whole and cracks looks a little cartoony. I actually think that I had to look at the one with the mountains and the living room before I got it. I don’t think that it is safe to assume that collectors and celebrities support everything Banksy mocks. Just because they are wealthy does not mean they are all live excessively. In fact many celebrities donate money to charity and hold good values.
ReplyDeleteI also appreciate banksy. I considered him when writing my own blog post, but I decided not to write about him since his work isn't at all digital media. I guess what might make your post understandable is because many people share his work via the internet, since not everyone can go to visit the wall where he most recently non-digitally spray painted his message. He really does advocate change and shows, through satire and irony, how pitiful and ridiculous some social situations are. Some of his artwork is sad, some inspiring, but they are always thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteThis is really neat. I love that the artist actually focuses on issue of importance and that many people will recognize. Furthermore, even though his art is quite popular, I admire that he does not draw attention to himself--using a pseudonym instead. I think that this actually adds a lot to his pieces. If he, as an artist, creates pictures but is not well known as a person, there is some sort of new value added to his art. Also, it is very unique to see images of important problems in graffiti--however, I feel like this makes the issues more real and understandable and allows people to ponder them more.
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