I'm smitten: Street Art by Banksy

My friends know I love street art.  

Graffiti is totally another medium for modern art.  But of all the current artists, UK-based Banksy is the stand-out revolutionary.  I've been watching him for a few years, and I'm still impressed.  His work continues to gain notoriety, but his identity remains a mystery - he refuses to reveal his real name or face.  He's gotta be the most famous anonymous person alive today.  Or is that the most anonymous famous person?  However you want to slice it - the man is a mystery.

He used to sign his work, but now his style is so recognizable he doesn't even need to. 

He's genius, because he often plays off of existing graffiti in a space, to make it work in a new way...

Sometimes he even incorporates nature, or other pieces of signage or infrastructure...

The real reason he rocks though, is the apt social & political commentary in his work...  I find his work just as witty, creative and heartbreaking as any "museum approved" art.  He offers an alternative to most of the messages we're bombarded with in the media these days.  He strives in a very innovative way to make us all stop & remember how to think for ourselves...

“A wall is a very big weapon. It’s one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.”
— Banksy (Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall)

(If he were caught painting the one above, on the wall that defines the Israeli-West Bank border, he likely would've been shot.)

His messages are often intended to raise awareness about the consequences of poverty, war, discrimination and rampant consumerism.  He's trying to make us think about human rights and animal rights, and to consider our environmental impact...

Basically he's a badass vigilante social conscience.  A modern day Robin Hood, if you will.

He's here with a dose of perspective - the graffiti wake-up call the apathetic public so desperately needs.

"The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists... Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little."

- Banksy

I totally dig how he juxtaposes traditional art imagery with a modern street look.  It's an energetic mash-up that only a really savvy person could pull off.

“I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me.”
— Banksy

“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing.
And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can
make someone smile while they’re having a piss.”
— Banksy (Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall)

My personal favorites are this funny Star Wars one, below:

And this amazing early one below, where he manages to riff on freedom (twice!) both with respect to our own imprisonment within the relentless commodification of everything, and the cruelty of large animals imprisoned in zoos.  Break free!  This is the first one I saw that really impressed me with how much of a statement a motivated creative person can make with just a couple of stencils and a can of paint. 

And...

this one above, found in New Orleans right after the hurricane and the government's terribly slow response to help the people.  It really moved me when I first saw it - it struck a chord.  I can't put into words exactly why it resonates with me, I just find it particularly poignant.  This ability to convey emotion is what distinguishes an artist from a mere tagger.

Seriously, though, the fact that Banksy has to complete these pieces in such a fast & stealthy manner, to avoid getting arrested, makes me appreciate their artfulness all the more.  It's next level shit - part art, part adventure.  I can see why it'd be fun to do.  He'll make you laugh, and he'll make you want to cry, but he always, always makes a point.

“Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.”
— Banksy (Wall and Piece)

He's an artist cleverly making use of free speech, with a new vocabulary, in a new venue - and how can you not admire that?  The best part is, he doesn't take himself too seriously.  Banksy seems to do it all with a sense of humour, with tongue placed firmly in cheek.

To see more pics, check out his retrospective books, 'Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall' and 'Wall and Piece', or his movie 'Exit Through the Gift Shop', where he satirizes his own fame, street art, and skewers the whole "art as commodity" scene in general.  It's not to be taken too seriously.

(Any painting he does on animals is with non-toxic children's finger paint, FYI.)

Brilliance & hilarity!   
<Swoon>

 (all art by Banksy)

Watch the trailer:  

Exit Through The Gift Shop