Banksy who? Who Is Banksy?

Who is Banksy?

Banksy who? Banksy is one of our generation’s greatest artists. Banksy, who is most known for his innovative illegal- and legal Banksy graffiti art, murals and art expressions, amongst them some highly creative murals on the West Bank wall separating Palestina from Israel (see examples below), is rumoured to have been born and bred in Bristol, England. However, this article will not sink as low as the English newspaper the Daily Mail, which on the 12^th of July 2008 published an article were they claimed to have unmasked Banksy’s real name. As I see it, taking nothing away from his creative genius, just like Spartacus, we are all Banksy… _{(cheesy? yeah, I know... but trying to get a point across here.. go away, keep reading the article or something.)}

Quoting the artist himself, from his book “Wall and Piece” (2006), Banksy states in the introductionary statement;

“I’m going to speak my mind, so this won’t take very long.

Despite what they say graffiti is not the lowest form of art. Although you might have to creep about at night and lie to your mum it’s actually one of the most honest art forms available. There is no elitism or hype, it exhibits on the best walls has to offer and nobody is put off by the price of admission.

A wall has always been the best place to publish your work.

The people who run our cities don’t understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit, which makes their opinion worthless.”

This is only a snippet of the whole introductory statement, but it gives quite a clear view of what Banksy thinks of the deformed face which has been surgically placed on graffiti art and how it is perceived in the general public these days, mainly through the misguidance of mass media and other influential channels.

Stenciling technique / Pochoir

Banksy utilizes a spray technique known as stenciling/pochoir. A stencil is a template used to draw or paint identical letters, numbers, symbols, shapes, or patterns every time it is used. This stencil technique in visual art is also referred to as pochoir. The idea, according to his book “Wall and Piece” (2006), came to Banksy through quite a spectacular event;

“When I was eighteen I spent one night trying to paint “LATE AGAIN” in big silver bubble letters on the side of a passenger train. British transport police showed up and I got ripped to shreds running away through a thorny bush. The rest of my mates made it to the car and disappeared so I spent over an hour hidden under a dumper truck with engine oil leaking all over me. As I lay there listening to the cops on the tracks I realized I had to cut my painting time in half or give up altogether. I was staring straight up at the stenciled plate on the bottom of a fuel tank when I realized I could just copy that style and make each letter three feet (0.914 meters) high.

I got home at last and crawled into bed next to my girlfriend. I told her I’d had an epiphany that night and she told me to stop taking that drug ‘cos it’s bad for your heart.”

Just in case you did not get the witticism at the end of the quotation, here's a second chance; an epiphany is defined as “a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.”

Banksy works auctioneered

Just to set the record straight for those of you who have never heard of him, he has now risen to become one of the most highly acclaimed artists of all time, and according to Reuters (2007) on the 21^st of February 2007, Sotheby’s auction in London auctioned away three of his works, amongst them the Banksy work entitled; “Bombing Middle England”, which portrays three elderly ladies bowling… with bombs. This masterpiece was sold for £102.000 ($201,100), which is the highest ever price for an auctioneered Banksy work (per 15/11-2010). The other two works which where auctioneered were "Balloon Girl" and "Bomb Hugger", sold for 37,200 pounds and 31,200 pounds respectively.

After the auction, Elli Varnavides, head of the modern and contemporary art department at the Sotheby’s Olympia branch, stated that:

“"We are absolutely delighted. It's a sensational result. It's a record for any Banksy sold at international auction. There was a spectacular atmosphere in the sale room -- lots of hands flying and bidding panels waved."

Famous fans

Amongst these hands flying and bidding panels waving, there might have been some faces which you would have recognized without looking twice. Banksy has some incredibly famous fans out there, amongst them, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie; who spent £200000 on original Banksy artwork in a Los Angeles auction in 2006. Another celebrity who is a big Banksy fan is Christina Aguilera, who during a trip to the Soho gallery in London, where Banksy is exhibited, bought three of his works (one original, two prints) for £25000.

Palestine

Palestine has been occupied by the Israeli army since 1967. In 2002 the Israeli government began building a wall separating the occupied territories from Israel, much of it not authorized by international law. This is also known as the “Segregation Wall” in certain circles. Painting this wall with satirical graffiti in 2005, many of the pieces illustrating life on the other side, was one of the stunts which Banksy received most media attention for. BBC stated in an article entitled “Art prankster sprays Israeli wall “ that;

“Secretive "guerrilla" artist Banksy has decorated Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. The nine paintings were created on the Palestinian side of the barrier.” August 2005

Banksy  does not have a very positive view on this wall, and has said the following about the 680 km long concrete wall;

“Palestine is now the world’s largest open-air prison and the ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti artists”.

Which gives you a clear view of his outlook on the whole situation; here you can see some of the work portrayed by Banksy on the West Bank wall.

Art stunts

Amongst the other ‘art stunts’ which Banksy has done, includes putting up hoax pictures in the Louvre, Tate Modern, Brooklyn Museums; which sometimes have been on display for up to a week before being taken down. BBC wrote the following about the ‘Tate incident’ in October 2003;

“A painting smuggled into Tate Britain by graffiti artist Banksy went unnoticed until it crashed to the floor hours later.”

The picture crashed to the floor due to poor glue quality according to the artist himself, however he learned from his mistake and used proper glue in future similar stunts, for example in this one, from the Brooklyn Musem 2005; which lasted 8 days.

Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop

In 2010, a movie was released (rated per 16/11-2010, with a strong 8.2 / 10 on IMDB) entitled “Exit Through the Gift Shop”; basically, it is described as the inside story of what came to be Street Art. And the movie is described as;

“Exit Through the Gift Shop follows an eccentric shop-keeper turned amateur film-maker as he attempts to capture many of the world's most infamous vandals on camera, only to have a British stencil artist named Banksy turn the camcorder back on its owner with wildly unexpected results.”

Made mainly by the street artist known as Space Invader’s cousin, Mr. Thierry Guetta, it is a great, although provocative, film about the inside story of street art, well worth checking out. If you want to learn more about Banksy, I also suggest you invest in the book “Wall and Piece” (2006) which in its 240 pages illustrates with magnificent pictures and stories why Banksy is a great, great inspirational modern day artist.

Summary

Name: Banksy

Origin: United Kingdom

Links: http://www.banksyfilm.com

“Wall And Piece” Book. (2006)

“Exit Through The Gift Shop” Film. (2010)