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Banksy

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Artists

   Banksy (1974- ) is a world renowned, Bristol-based graffiti artist
   whose artwork is often political and/or humorous in nature.

   His street art, which combines graffiti with a distinctive stencilling
   technique, has appeared throughout London and in cities around the
   world. Publicity in the media has made his name well known to many
   people.

Work

   Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist, then he discovered the
   art of stencilling and soon became noticed for his art.
   Anarchist rat by Banksy
   Enlarge
   Anarchist rat by Banksy

   Banksy's stencils 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. Subjects
   include animals such as monkeys and rats, policemen, soldiers, children
   and the elderly. He also makes stickers (the Neighbourhood Watch
   subvert) and sculpture (the murdered phonebox), and was responsible for
   the cover art of Blur's 2003 album Think Tank.

   In 2003 in a show called 'Turf War', held in a warehouse, he painted on
   animals. Although the RSPCA declared the conditions suitable, an animal
   rights activist chained herself to the railings in protest.

   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 Flag underpants, who has just thrown an object through the
   glass window of the cafe. These modified oil paintings were exhibited
   at a twelve day exhibition in Westbourne Grove, London in 2005.

   In 2006, Banksy held an exhibition called Barely Legal, billed as a
   "three day vandalised warehouse extravaganza" in Los Angeles on the
   weekend of 16 September. The exhibition featured a live 'elephant in a
   room', painted in a floral wallpaper pattern.

   After Christina Aguilera bought an original of Queen Victoria as a
   lesbian and two prints for £25,000 , on 19 October 2006 a set of Kate
   Moss paintings sold in Sotheby's London for £50,400, setting an auction
   record for Banksy's work. The six silk-screen prints, featuring the
   model painted in the style of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe pictures,
   sold for five times its estimated value. His stencil of a green Mona
   Lisa with paint dripping from her eyes sold for £57,600 at the same
   auction .

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 'I want out. This place is too
       cold. 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.
     * 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.
     * He put up a subverted painting in London's Tate Britain gallery.
     * 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
       added it to their permanent collection.
     * 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 .
     * 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."

    Naked Man image by Banksy, in Park Street, Bristol, England. Following
      popular support, the City Council have decided it will be allowed to
                                                    remain - (wider view).
                                                                   Enlarge
    Naked Man image by Banksy, in Park Street, Bristol, England. Following
      popular support, the City Council have decided it will be allowed to
                                                   remain - ( wider view).

   Stencil by Banksy on the waterline of The Thekla, an entertainment boat
                               in central Bristol, England - (wider view).
                                                                   Enlarge
   Stencil by Banksy on the waterline of The Thekla, an entertainment boat
                              in central Bristol, England - ( wider view).

     * In June 2006, Banksy created 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. 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.
     * 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.
     * 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.

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

   Although he has tried to hide his identity, according to The Guardian
   his real name is Robert Banks , born in 1974 in Bristol, England; while
   the BBC says it's Robin Banks .

   The registrant of Banksy's website is Steve Lazarides, a photographer.
   Lazarides is Banksy's agent. Lazarides now has a gallery on Greek St in
   London's Soho called Laz Inc, where Banksy originals can be bought. The
   website - picturesonwalls.com has the exclusive sale rights for all of
   Banksy's limited edition prints.

   A Brian Sewell spoof website claims to show a photograph of Banksy.
   Banksy's parents think their son is a painter and a decorator.

Controversy

   Banksy art in Brick Lane, East End, 2004.
   Enlarge
   Banksy art in Brick Lane, East End, 2004.

   Peter Gibson, spokesperson for Keep Britain Tidy, asserts that Banksy's
   work is simple vandalism. The 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 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 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 arguably hypocritical use of
   anti-capitalist and protest imagery while doing work for corporations
   and art galleries.

   In 2006 during a much-hyped exhibition at a Los Angeles warehouse,
   artist Jeff Gillette "banksied" Banksy by entering the exhibition with
   a concealed artwork (Gillette is well known in the Southern California
   contemporary art world for his sarcastic juxtapostions of realistic
   painting and popular cartoon imagery) of his and mounting it to the
   wall. In a widely circulated email publicizing this guerrilla activity,
   Gillette noted that his small painting was up for at least twenty
   minutes but was taken down and destroyed by the security staff.

   The Los Angeles Coagula Art Journal commented on the Banksy phenomenon
   by featuring twenty pages of photos depicting local contemporary
   artists holding signs that read "Nothing About Banksy in this Issue".

Reviews and comments

   Hitchhiker to anywhere, Archway, London
   Enlarge
   Hitchhiker to anywhere, Archway, London
     * "He does all this and he stays anonymous. I think that's great.
       These days everyone is trying to be famous. But he has anonymity" -
       Brad Pitt

     * "Banksy has never let the world know his real name - and he has
       never even posed for a photograph. Funny kind of celebrity" - Paul
       Vallely in The Independent.

     * "...he's often feted as a genius straddling the bleeding edge of
       now. Why? Because his work looks dazzlingly clever to idiots. And
       apparently that'll do" - Charlie Brooker

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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