Banksy

Banksy is probably the most popular, yet most mysterious,urban street artist in the world – and he works at incredible extremes. He has become an internationally known as a subversive graffiti artist – yet manages to maintain a secret identity. He is a counter-cultural prankster, but has art in major cosmopolitan galleries around the globe. Banksy’s work has sold to Hollywood celebrities for over a half-million dollars a piece, but much of his subvertising is freely (and illegally) drawn on public surfaces. He works against the mass media establishment, but has been featured in local, national, international news. He is on some level clearly a geek at heart but at the same time his art is always on the cutting edge.  

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Banksy in the Streets: Banksy is a household name in the UK, perhaps best known for his compelling stencil graffiti, found throughout major cities on walls and billboards. He avoids the abstraction of traditional tags, instead creating (often photo-realistic) urban street art images that respond to a given context and contain some form of social commentary. Of course, these are all highly illegal, which is part of the reason Banksy shields his identity.

Similar to the style of Kruger, I like how Banksy takes these innocent 1940's/1950's style photographs and deforms them in such a contrasting way to present new meaning. I think his unknown presence and mysterious celebrity like persona makes his social and political views all the more interesting. It's hard for the viewer to make judgement on someone when their personality is hidden, but it's not as easy to deter from the controversial stencils when they are being plastered around London. In that respect, I find Banksy's method of commercialising rather intriguing - reminiscent of the way the punk subculture would express their views on similar subject matter. One thing that does stand out about some of Bansky's stencils, is the way he makes them appear as though they are interacting with the wall/surface. He takes something natural and builds around it, which gives it this often deteriorated aesthetic, in conjunction with the point he is communicating.