“BANKSY” THE ART OF STREET ART

Born out of the Bristol’s DryBreadZ Crew in England, an anti-establishment graffiti artist known as Banksy was bombing the trains of the underground and the streets of his home town Bristol. This artist whose true identity is yet to be established, was setting down his roots with free handed graffiti for what would become his now famous subversive and  satirical street art beautifully represented through bold stencils.

One of Banksy’s Earlier works from Bristol, England.

Banksy recently sold a piece for nearly half a million dollars “untitled Fuck the Police”

  

Banksy in his unofficial biography famously said of Blek le Rat

“Every time I think I’ve painted something original I find out that Blek le Rat has done it as well, only 20 years earlier”.

 

 

Banksy’s work was starting to pop up all over london with often anti-goverment and anarchist undertones it inspires rebellion in its viewer and is often mocking to authority. In the world of underground street art he was starting to make a name for himself, even if its a pseudonym.  The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist and the subjects often include rats, apes, policemen, soldiers, children.

 

Banksy’s ‘bad art’ provides Bethlehem’s imprisoned population with a view of the Swiss mountains. photo: Stuart LittlewoodIn August 2005, Banksy, on a trip to the Palestinian territories, created nine images on the Israeli West Bank wall this garned international media attention.  

 

 

A year later at an exhibition in Los Angeles called “Barely Legal” the show featured appearances meg starts like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and a live pink elephant which brought criticism from animal rights ativist, but it didnt matter,  Banksy began to explode into the mainstream selling pieces to Christina Aguilera and Kate Moss for over

 

100,000 dollars. The anti capitalist was raking it in. 

 

Queen Victoria in a lesbian situation, this piece was bought by Christina Aguilera

Banksy Went from the street to the Gallery

 

His journey was not complete and in 2010 he made his debut as a film maker with   Exit Through the Gift Shop: A Banksy Film.  This was a very entertaining film about an L.A street artist named Dr Brainwash and his adventures into the underground world of street art.  I highly recommend it to anyone who loves art, street art, stencil art or documentary films.  There was some rumors on whether or not this film was fabricated by Banksy himslef as retaliation to the mainstream for the co option of his artwork. Which in my opinion  just adds to the films complexity. 

According to the blog Supersplice  whether Brainwash was Banksy, or that Thierry Guetta was a dreamed-up character/identity that does not exist and that the Academy Award nominated documentary was a complete put-on. I began to do some light digging and was surprised to find out that many had surmised that the critically acclaimed documentary, from the outset, was a complete ruse.

 

• Vanity Fair: Shepard Fairey Swears to God the Banksy Movie is Not a Hoax
• The Times of London: Is Banksy’s ‘Exit Through the Giftshop’ a hoax too far?
• The New York Times: Riddle? Yes. Enigma? Sure. Documentary?
• The Huffington Post: Why Is Exit Through the Giftshop Nominated for Best Documentary?
• NY Magazine Vulture: Is Banksy’s Mr. Brainwash an Art-World Borat?
• Movieline: Moment of Truth: Banksy is Selling, But Are You Buying?
• Artabase: The 21st Century’s first WTF Art Moment: Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop
• LA Weekly: Banksy Revealed?
• Fast Company: Here’s Why the Banksy Movie Is a Banksy Prank