Banksy, the ingenious lovable rogue with a spray can, is unquestionably the most successful street artist of our time. He surfaces from his hideaway every now and then to fuel our social conscience and stoke the leftist fire inside us that so often lies dormant. His work is on street corners, walls, buildings and is a refreshing insight to how one man sees the world, rats ‘n’ all.
Let Them Eat Crack
There are not many who can immediately sum up the current political air in a few brush strokes, or rather, can strokes. It stirs the soul to come face to face with one of Bansky’s pieces. And, it’s not often that you’ll pass a work of art on the street and readily appreciate it, make sense of the comic and political statement at a glance. His ability to rouse the public from their self-obsessed meanderings is uncanny.
Very Little Helps
The appeal of Banksy isn’t always instantaneous though, for some he’s a slow burner or is completely dismissed by those whose sense of irony has momentarily escaped them. Then there are his followers, who wait in anticipation of his next antics, pleased that someone finally has the courage to ‘stick it to the man’ – even though they may not necessarily like graffiti, because that is, after all, what it is. But, for a moment, the anarchic rebel struggling to break free in each one of us is satisfied.
Flight to Egypt
Banksy’s works are often seen as anti-consumer, as well as anti-capitalist. He intertwines his own political agenda, not very subtly, into his pieces, leaving the viewer with a lot more to think about than most street artists. Public spaces are being consistently lambasted with advertising, which most of us have become blind to. Banksy’s works makes us see the light of day, and once again question the necessity of so much advertising.
Pooh Bear – Caught in the Money Pot
Some would argue that because Bansky has made a fortune from his works, his stance on capitalism is somewhat contradictory. It may be naïve to say that he is totally anti-capitalist, if so he would not produce works that could be sold at all. Regardless, he at least tries to remove himself from the money-making side of his art.
Morons “I Can’t Believe You Morons Actually Buy This S&%t”
One of his recent installations is testament to this – The Village Pet Store, an animatronic zoo, which exhibited in New York last year and has now taken up residence in Bristol Museum, in the UK, and the artist’s hometown. None of the creations were for sale.
The Village Pet Store
It was a direct reaction to the escalating market prices of his works. People had stopped taking a real interest in the content and were buying them purely for investment purposes, sure that they would increase in value. So he didn’t produce anything for sale and instead created the animatronic pet store.
Tourist Info
We are now seeing ‘architectural’ work come on to the open market; actual pieces of wall, doors, stairs. But you can’t just claim them for yourselves, hacking someone’s gable wall is not only frowned upon by the boys in blue, but by Banksy himself.
Yukrat
If you’re lucky enough to have the artist spray paint an object belonging to you and you have legal right of ownership, then only you have the right to sell it. This is quite adverse to his thoughts on copyright. Banksy believes we, as enslaved consumers, have been guinea pigs to branding agents and advertisers for decades, so long that now the logos and brands are ours, not theirs, therefore we can do with them what we wish.
Destroy Capitalism
At the back of his book Wall and Piece, Banksy has written, ‘copyright is for pussies’; he carries this protagonist approach over to his art. If he defaces property, that property still belongs to you but now you can sell it for, say, £100K and be suitably reimbursed, rather than claiming for a new garage door through insurance.
Welcome to London
To own a piece of Banksy is to band with him in sticking it to the establishment, to satisfy the rebel inside and be sound that you share the same way of thinking. He is a common voice for so many, who don’t always have the chance to air their political views for fear of ridicule or retribution. The ever-elusive graffiti master is truly the people’s artist.
Rickshaw
Visit Bansky’s website to see more of his works, and visit his online shop, where everything is free for download – one of the bonuses of his stance on copyright issues.
Linda is a writer and editor, currently based in London, though she’s about to give up life in the Big Smoke for a life Down Under, and more sunshine. She’s constantly conjuring new and inventive ways of keeping her finances in check so she can afford all the travelling between hemispheres, although she’s definitely much better at the travelling than the financial side of things. Read more posts by
It is truly wonderful that capitalist societies have become so successful they can even support this fellow. It’s a testament to their essential benevolence. In other systems the charming Banksy would quickly find himself against the wall instead of painting on it.
@Vanderleun – Thanks for your comment. I totally agree…nicely expressed too
Quite the contrary. Any ruling establsihment that has staying power does so because they keep from being toppled. One of the ways of doing that is to keep those on the inside of their society from (1) assisting in outsiders’ toppling efforts, or (2) revolting from within. By being “supportive” of this guy (who I would call anti-establishment more than anti-capitalist) as the previous poster supposes, the government is merely creating an outlet for venting that, if sealed off, would probably be more dangerous to their power. In a society as apathetic as ours, it would take a lot more than banksy’s work to create a real danger to the establishment, and the establishment (correctly) reasons that doing something like arresting this guy would be more dangerous than “supporting” him.
But is our society really “supporting” him? We’re supporting him less than we support lady gaga, and that shit really IS vandalism (to my ears).
True Capitalism eventually turns into Communism, with corporations buying out the competition; we’re soon left with a monopoly. I’m impressed with Bansky’s work.
next time don’t speak leonardo capitalism ends with a open and free market. try school may do wonders for you
it all swings back and forth. thank you Bansky for your futile efforts at beauty in a no more normal time than yesterday.
None of Banksy’s work is any more impressive than your average cafepress t-shirt.
Get to his exhibition in Bristol, UK – (Be prepared to queue though – waited 4 hrs in the rain on a Tuesday!!!! other have waited longer!)
The whole concept of “art” is capitalistic. The minute someone sees themselves as an “artist” they become capitalist.
Umm, am a little confused, “But you can’t just claim them for yourselves, hacking someone’s gable wall is not only frowned upon by the boys in blue, but by Banksy himself.” Glad Banksy frowns upon people hacking peoples walls, wonder what his views are on people vandelising other peoples walls with graffiti.