Banksy Tribute

I was thinking when we were doing critique in class about how I seemed to rely heavily on manipulating reality instead of just coming up with an entirely different world like many of my classmates had done. This got me thinking about other artists that do the same thing. In particular, I thought about a popular London graffiti artist that goes by the name of Banksy. In truth, this is probably just an excuse to talk about his work, but what the hell.

Last year I was shopping around downtown when a book cover caught my eye. It was the cover of Banksy’s book Wall and Piece. It’s basically a compilation of his work coupled with some hilarious stories about his late night tagging escapades. Graffiti is something usually reserved for postulating gang symbols and such, but here was a guy using cardboard stencils to create some really interesting images in downtown London. Not only was he using stencils, but he was using his imagery to create some really vivid social commentary. I thought it was great!

What I consider the best part about Banksy’s work is his use of comedic opportunity. He manipulates the structures already set around him and has his character’s interact with their surroundings in an unusually hilarious way. He also manipulates the viewer's expectations, something I've been thinking about exploring in my own work.

Banksy's art isn't all fun and games, however. After Katrina hit in New Orleans, Banksy traveled down there and used his graffiti to express his displeasure with the way the disaster was handled by the government.

Here’s his website if you want to check out more:

http://www.banksy.co.uk/