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The following biography
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Wikipedia.org
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Free Encyclopedia.”
Banksy is a world renowned, London-based
graffiti artist whose artwork is often political and/or humorous in
nature. Although he has tried to hide his identity, his real name,
according to The Guardian, is Robert Banks[2], born in 1974[3] in
Bristol, England. His artwork has appeared throughout London and various
cities around the world. His street art, which combines graffiti with a
distinctive stencilling technique, has garnered him underground
notoriety and widespread coverage in the mainstream media.
****
Work
Banksy started as a freehand graffiti
artist. He was not completely satisfied with his work, however. He found
that the pieces did not send out the messages he was looking for. Then
he discovered the art of stencilling and soon became noticed for his
art.[4]
Banksy's stencils are often site-specific
and feature a wide range of striking and humorous images occasionally
combined with slogans. The overall message is usually anti-war,
anti-capitalist, anti-establishment or pro-freedom. Frequent subjects
include animals such as monkeys and rats (see image left), policemen,
soldiers, children and the elderly. He also makes stickers (the
Neighbourhood Watch subvert) and sculpture (the murdered phonebox).
In 2003 in a show called 'Turf War', held
in a warehouse, he inverted his art somewhat, by painting on animals.
Although the RSPCA declared the conditions suitable, an animal rights
activist chained herself to the railings in protest.[5]
Recently he has moved on to producing
subverted paintings; one example is Monet's Water Lily Pond, adapted to
include typical urban detritus such as litter and a shopping trolley
floating in its reflective waters, another is Edward Hopper's
Nighthawks, redrawn to show that the characters are looking at an
English football hooligan dressed only in his Union Jack underpants, who
has just thrown an object through the glass window of the cafe. These
modified oil paintings were exhibited at a packed twelve day exhibition
in Westbourne Grove, London in 2005.[6]
Confirmed art stunts
Banksy has claimed responsibility for a
number of high profile stunts. These include the following:
At London Zoo, he climbed into the penguin
enclosure and painted 'We're bored of fish' in two metre high letters.
At Bristol Zoo, he left the message 'Keeper
smells - Boring Boring Boring' in the elephant enclosure.
In January 2001, he traveled to the areas
controlled by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Chiapas,
Mexico, and in sign of solidarity with their movement, he painted some
murals with scenes depicting the struggle and also made stencils on the
walls of San Cristóbal de las Casas.[3]
He was responsible for the cover art of
Blur's 2003 album Think Tank.
In March 2005, he placed subverted artworks
in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn
Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [7]
He put up a subverted painting in London's
Tate Britain gallery.
At the aforementioned exhibition in
Westbourne Grove, there were real black rats living in the window space.
In May 2005 Banksy's version of primitive
cave painting depicting a human figure hunting wildlife whilst pushing a
shopping trolley was found hanging in the British Museum. Upon
discovery, the museum actually added it to their permanent
collection.[8]
In August 2005, Banksy painted 9 images on
the Palestinian side of the Israeli West Bank barrier, including an
image of a ladder going up and over the wall and an image of children
digging a hole through the wall .[9][10]
In April 2006, Banksy created a sculpture
based on a crumpled red phone box with a pickaxe in its side, apparently
bleeding, and placed it in a street in Soho. It was later removed by
Westminster Council. BT released a press release, which said: "This is a
stunning visual comment on BT's transformation from an old-fashioned
telecommunications company into a modern communications services
provider."[11]
In June 2006, Banksy stencilled an image of
a naked man hanging out of a bedroom window on a wall in central
Bristol, England. The image sparked some controversy, with the Bristol
City Council leaving it up to the public to decide whether it should
stay or go. [12] After an internet discussion in which 97% (all but 6
people) supported the stencil, the city council decided it would be left
on the building. [12]
In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced
up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut album, Paris, in 48 different
UK record stores with his own cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse.
Music tracks were given titles such as "Why am I Famous?", "What Have I
Done?" and "What Am I For?". Several copies of the CD were purchased by
the public before stores were able to remove them, some going on to be
sold for as much as £750 on online auction websites. The cover art
depicted Paris Hilton digitally altered to appear topless. Other
pictures feature her with a dog's head replacing her own, and one of her
stepping out of a luxury car, edited to include a group of homeless
people, which included the caption 90% of success is just showing
up.[13][14][15]
In September 2006, Banksy dressed an
inflatable doll in the manner of a Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
prisoner (orange jumpsuit, black hood, and handcuffs) and then placed
the figure within the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland
theme park in Anaheim, California.[16][17]
Banksy is due to hold an exhibition called
Barely Legal, which is billed as a "three day vandalised warehouse
extravaganza" in Los Angeles on the weekend of 16 September 2006. The
exhibition features a live 'elephant in a room', painted in a floral
wallpaper pattern.[18]
Technique
Some stencils are created by using a
computer to generate an image, and by utilizing a photo editing program
to break down that image into layers, which are then subsequently
printed and cut to be painted as the multiple layers of a stencil. Many
stencil graffiti artists, including Banksy, hand draw and hand cut
picture layers onto a medium such as cardboard or acetate, and, by using
free-hand techniques such as shading, create highly detailed images that
are quickly applied. This allows a stencil artist to incorporate far
more detail into a small piece of work than a free-hand artist can,
often in a piece ten times the size.
Real identity
The registrant of Banksy's website is one
Stephen Lazarides, a photographer, and it has been suggested that
Lazarides is Banksy. However, Lazarides apparently claims to be Banksy's
manager, and is credited with much of the photography in one of Banksy's
recent publication, Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall. Lazarides
now has a gallery on Greek St in London's Soho called Laz Inc, where
Banksy originals can be bought, and also manages a website,
picturesonwalls.com, which has the exclusive sale rights for all of
Banksy's cheaper limited edition prints.
Whilst creating artwork for Wall of
Sounds's "Two Culture Clash" in Jamaica, a number of photographs were
taken of Banksy by the event's official photographer, Peter Dean
Rickards. After the pair had a number of disagreements[19], Rickards
sold his photos to the London Evening Standard, where they were
published[20]. Rickards then published an article on his website with
photographs he claims are of Banksy.[citation needed] There were
arguments for and against the veracity of the photographs.[citation
needed]
A Brian Sewell spoof website claims to show
a photograph of Banksy.[21] Banksy's parents think their son is a
painter and a decorator.[22]
Controversy
Peter Gibson, spokesperson for Keep Britain
Tidy, asserts that Banksy's work is simple vandalism. This political
purpose behind his 'vandalism' is reminiscent of the Ad Jammers or
subvertising movement, who deface corporate advertising to change the
intended message and hijack the advert.
Banksy does paid work for charities (e.g.,
Greenpeace) and can demand up to £25,000 for canvases. It has also been
alleged that Banksy has done paid work with corporations such as
Puma[23] although this has been denied. This has led to him being
accused of being a sellout and a careerist by other artists and
activists.
Due to the shroud of secrecy surrounding
his real identity and his subversive character; Banksy has achieved
somewhat of a cult following from some of the younger age group within
the stencilling community.
In 2004 the Space Hijackers gave out spoof
vouchers outside a Banksy exhibition to highlight the artist's
hypocritical use of anti-capitalist and protest imagery while doing work
for corporations and art galleries.
Bibliography
Banksy has also self-published several
books that contain photos of his work in various countries as well as
some of his canvas work and exhibitions, accompanied by his own
subversive and often witty writings. His first book, published in
black-and-white, is Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall followed by
the full colour Existencilism. In 2004 he published his third book, Cut
it Out. Random House published Wall and Piece in 2005. It contained a
combination of images from his three previous books, as well as some new
material. [4]
References
1. ^ Ben Clerkin. "Banksy's living
room complete with matching jumbo makes graffiti artist the darling of
LA", Daily Mail, 2006-09-14. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
2. ^ Vikram Dodd. "Natural History
Museum exhibits an unnatural specimen", The Guardian, 2004-04-08.
Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
3. ^ a b Manco, Tristan [03 2002].
Stencil Graffiti. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-28342-7. Retrieved on
2006-09-19.
4. ^ a b Banksy [2005]. Wall and
Piece. Random House. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
5. ^ "Animals sprayed by graffiti
artist", BBC NEWS, 2003-07-18. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
6. ^ Banksy Show Tonight in London
(2005-10-13). Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
7. ^ A Wooster Exclusive: Banksy
Hits New York's Most Famous Museums (All of them) (2005-03-23).
Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
8. ^ Jeff Howe. "Art Attack". Wired
(13.08). Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
9. ^ "Art prankster sprays Israeli
wall", BBC NEWS, 2005-08-05. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
10. ^ Sam Jones. "Spray can prankster
tackles Israel's security barrier", The Guardian, 2005-08-05. Retrieved
on 2006-09-19.
11. ^ "Artist's cold call cuts off
phone", BBC NEWS, 2006-04-07. Retrieved on 2006-9-19.
12. ^ a b "Artist's saucy stencil for
city", 2006-06-21. Retrieved on 2005-09-19.
13. ^ "Paris Hilton targeted in CD
prank", BBC NEWS, 2006-09-04. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
14. ^ Claire Truscott; Martin
Hodgson. "Banksy targets Paris Hilton", The Independent on Sunday,
2006-09-03. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
15. ^ Paris Prank Confirmed
(2006-09-07). Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
16. ^ BREAKING: The story Disneyland
doesn't want you to know (2006-09-08). Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
17. ^ "Artist Banksy targets
Disneyland", BBC NEWS, 2006-09-11. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
18. ^ "'Guerrilla artist' Banksy hits
LA", BBC NEWS, 2006-09-14. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
19. ^ "THE AFFLICTEDYARD: Doing the
Lord's Work Since 1999", The Photography of Peter Dean Rickards.
Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
20. ^ "Banksy revealed", London
Evening Standard, 2004-07-30.
21. ^ Banksy revealed?. Retrieved on
2006-09-19.
22. ^ Simon Hattenstone. "Something
to spray", The Guardian, 2003-07-17. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
23. ^ Banksy, Pictures On Walls &
Puma snuggling up?. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
****
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