Banksy
Banksy is an England-based graffiti artist, political activist and film director of unverified identity. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy's work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Observers have noted that his style is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris.
Banksy does not sell photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, but art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.[6] Banksy's first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie", made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Banksy's Work
His work strikes a chord with many, particularly youth, for the blunt usage of messages within an art-form that was often regarded as existent only within the margins of society. Banksy isn’t seen as just an artist, but also as a philosopher and political spokesman against capitalism, war, theism, totalitarianism and fascism. By stirring the youth with broad and direct statements, as well as through his constant subversion of authority, Banksy has managed to develop a large following.
As a draftsmen Banksy is nothing less than solid. His work tends to be bold and sweeping, his style so distinct that it is difficult to mistake his work for anyone else. Through his incorporation of elements of surrealism, such as a dog shooting a record player, Banksy allows his vision to remain fresh. This quirky side to his artwork is doubtlessly what makes him so attractive to people around the globe. He also makes heavy use of irony, cleverness, wit and archness. Banksy’s street art is often centered around a single key idea. Instead of existing as art in itself, his work is often founded on external concepts. His view of the world is utterly simplistic, and in that very agreeable to many, especially youth. Banksy is particularly skillful in taking broad, complex abstractions and reducing them into something palatable. Instead of using ideas as a pretext for his art, his art is a pretext for his ideas. Banksy’s foray into social criticism speaks most strongly regarding this, where his art became a container for his statements.
Defacing
Given the public nature of the platform of Banksy's work and the artist's increasing fame, many of his paintings are defaced just hours after they are created. While some argue that to deface a Banksy is disgraceful and make efforts to defend the art by going so far as to build fences, others contend that vandalism is just part of the game.Before are some notable examples of defaced works. Simply hover over an image to see the vandalized version.
