The English Street Artist Banksy

“In contrast to government-commissioned public art, street art is illicit and subversive in nature. Therefore, most street artists, including Banksy, use pseudonyms to avoid legal prosecution for vandalism.”(Chung 27) Banksy’s street art does not focus on competing with rival artists, but focuses on engaging with a broader audience in a deeper level. He provokes his audience by deeply expressing out various social practices that helps viewers to reflect and confront certain aspects together as a community. (27) The underlying message of Banksy’s art can lead towards an active involvement of street art within the community.

The reason he is able to continue to release controversial art in highly populated, public places without consequences to his person solely because of his anonymity, and that his work represents itself enough without him. His work is criticized by many, but as it is an inanimate voice of opinion, Banksy is able to use it to his advantage, and plaster his opinion on current issues, wherever he can/wants.

Banksy is the alias of a world renounced graffiti and street artist. The main concept behind his artwork is political activism, satire, and brandalism. An example of this is his 2010 piece portraying a Native American Indian holding a “no trespassing” sign. It conveys great irony in American history for the American colonists took over the natives’ land while searching for freedom themselves.

Banksy is one of the most famous and mysterious street artists in the world. Helen Weaver, the art in an American magazine writer stated that,” Banksy was born in 1974 and was raised in the Bristol UK area. When he first started spray painting, he was ten years old.” “(1). Weaver Helen.” Banksy.” Art in America. Sep 18.2009. Web.11 Nov.2015. Banksy enjoyed the attention he received from the public. He loved using street art to express his inner feelings. He mostly uses graffiti to express his feelings. In the early years the authorities worked hard to remove his pictures from public places. They considered his art vandalism and destructive to the public. Vandalism is when someone deliberately destroys the public or private property, however, the public fought to save some of his pictures from authorities. Banksy is a very influential artist in his time. He was well respected and recognized by his fans all over the world.

B.N.E. is an anonymous New York-based street artist. To sum his career and fame up in a nutshell, he is basically “all city, but international all city.” It is very likely that you have passed one of his works in some form, even if you did not recognize or realize it at first. He has left his mark on mailboxes, phone booths, signs, parking meters, street lights, and walls, all around the world, from the US, to Canada, to South America, to Europe, to Asia, to Australia; it is just a lot easier to simply say that B.N.E. “has been places.” However; despite being internationally known, his identity remains unknown to the public, the artist being recognizable by name alone. The only characteristics made public regarding B.N.E.’s identity are that he is a New York native male in his early 30’s, and his accent further suggests that he is indeed from New York. Regardless, he considers his “brand” to be as recognizable as international household logos like Starbucks, Pepsi, and even Tommy Hilfiger. But there is more to the artist than his brand.

Banksy, as most would say, marks the pinnacle of the street art movement and what it can become in the following years or even decades; a true art form. Not only has Banksy turned the movement into an art form, but has also turned it into a future catalyst for change since his work is now the spectacle of a global public, watching and analysing his artwork which is why it has been turned into an instrument of advocacy and a visual expression of protest which in of itself can be called a form of

Banksy once said, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” Banksy, the director of Exit Through the Gift Shop, a documentary that goes through the heart of street art strongly emphasizes that art is not about money, but rather about expression and passion. He supports his argument mainly through his strong visual and audio tactics. Visuals are much stronger than any other sense. A reoccurring factor that influences the viewer’s thoughts towards the argument is where Banksy focuses the video.

“Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a documentary about French immigrant Theirry Guetta and his passion for filming street art. The majority of his film takes place in the city of Los Angeles and follows Theirry Guetta on his quest to interview numerous graffiti artists including Banksy, an infamous graffiti artist from Britain. Banksy’s street art started out small but he eventually worked his way up to be a bigger and better sensation and soon his stencils were seen all throughout the country of Britain.

Who Runs the Gift Shop: A Cultural Critique of Banksy’s Documentary Banksy is a street artist who is both famous and infamous for the work he does. His 2010 documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop only adds to this. As the popularity of reality television and the cult of celebrity become ever more present in the current culture, drawing the line between what is real and what is fake becomes more and more difficult. What works such as Exit Through the Gift Shop do is raise the question: How much do these distinctions matter.

Banksy is a street artist who has used his talents to protest things in the world around him. From poaching to suicide bombings, his art covers a variety of subjects.2 One of the big things about Banksy’s art is that he uses stencils to quickly put his art up on the wall.3 While his true identity isn’t commonly known, the art that he has created has ended up around the world.4 I don’t think he is a vandal since what he does is art. The art uses protest to contribute to society. His art is well done and deserves recognition.

The nature of Banksy’s work is iconoclastic in the way he blatantly designs images to rebel governmental authority or depict the failings of

Banksy or as said to be shortened for Robert Banks is the graffiti artist who will never be caught. His technique of stenciling makes it easier for him to get the job done fast and efficiently. Banksy states that being anonymous can be “crippling” and hard to do. In an anonymous email said to be from Banksy he states,

Banksy is a very renowned street artist who keeps his identity unknown. His artwork is portrayed by “striking images, often combined with slogans, [which] engages political themes, satirically critiquing war, capitalism, hypocrisy and greed” (“Banksy Biography”). He first started his bold street art in Bristol, his hometown located in London, but quickly spread to the United States of America. In the U.S., Banksy targeted the most populated cities; this was due to the fact that it was easier for him to spread his messages. With a crowded location, his lessons will extent over an audience much quicker.

I believe there are two ways of looking at a situation; you can focus on the bad or choose to see the good. Street art is a topic that falls under one of those situations. Many people associate street art with gangs, vandalism, violence, and other controversial topics. Being realistic, it is understandable why society may have this opinion of street art, but it also serves many other significant purposes. Street art can be used as a medium to voice political and social opinions of a community, and also spread awareness. Banksy, an anonymous street artist, is one of the most controversial street artist in the world due to his intriguing and eloquent street art. He is known for crossing boundaries between art, philosophy, politics, sociology, humor and narcissism. His impactful art has appeared in America,Australia, Canada, England, France, Israel, Jamaica and Palestine. Many of Banksy’s pieces, such as Reverse Pat Down, Comment Heart Request, Irony, and Graffiti is a Crime have expressed and drawn attention to political and social issues

While one expects to be surrounded and moved by art when they enter a museum or visit an art gallery, the art which permeates our everyday lives, street art, is often undermined as “not real art” or simply vandalism. In a context other than a formal art environment, however, street artists are able to use the environment that their work is created in or on to contribute to the larger meaning of their piece. Street art “is a paradigm of hybridity in global visual culture, a post-postmodern genre being defined more by real-time practice than by any sense of unified theory, movement, or message” (Irvine 1). Arguably the most well-known street artist alive today, Banksy, a British street artist, creates pieces ripe with social and political satire as well as calls to action. His works, spanning across the globe, are excellent examples of way street art can move beyond aesthetic pleasure and convey powerful social and political messages. Crucial to their message, however, is the external context of each piece. Street art depends on an understanding of its surroundings to be fully impactful and understood. In the case of Banksy, his work, “Follow Your Dreams/Cancelled” in Boston’s Chinatown, conveys a powerful message about the illusion of the “American Dream” and society’s limitations on success and would not succeed in conveying such a message without its strategic placement. Additionally, Banksy’s politically-motivated works in Israel and Palestine utilize the controversial