We All Need Heroes

FAMOUS YET ANONYMOUS

Chapter: Lawless & Daring Devils

Banksy is probably the most infamous street artist alive. To some a genius, to others a criminal. Always controversial, he inspires admiration and provokes outrage in equal measure. Since Banksy became famous with his trademark stencil-style “guerrilla” art in public spaces – on walls in London, Brighton, Bristol and even on the West Bank barrier. His work has sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. He also has dozens of celebrity collectors including Brad Pitt (together with Angelina Jolie) and Christina Aguilera. What is unique about Banksy is that he prefers to keep his identity under wraps and shies away from publicity. He has struggled for years to maintain the secret of his identity, and even today it remains shrouded in mystery.
    Banksy’s talent isn’t limited to painting and the occasional pencil drawing. He has been responsible for a number of social commentaries. In 2006 he replaced hundreds of Paris Hilton CD’s with CD’s of his own creation. He has also been sneaking his own work into several art museums, including a prehistoric-looking piece at the British Museum, which the museum decided to add to its own permanent collection. Some of Banksy’s most high-profile and memorable graffiti was done in Palestine. The 425-mile-long barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians looked like social injustice and a huge blank canvas to the guerrilla artist. He created nine paintings there in 2005, most of which were ill-received by the local population. When he was working on one of the pieces, an old man approached him and said that his paintings had made the wall look beautiful. Banksy thanked the man, but the man responded: “We don’t want it to be beautiful, we hate this wall. Go home”. Another of his controversial stunts was made in California. He had a Guantanamo Bay prisoner inserted into the landscape of a ride at Disneyland. The figure remained in place for an hour and a half before the staff of the park removed it.
    The growing fame of Banksy and his work has resulted in a huge following of people who have extensively documented his art with photographs, collected prints and custom tattoos of his work. Along with his fame, Banksy appears to have accumulated quite a fortune, with his work being shown in famous galleries around the world and purchased by collectors at astonishing prices.
    In England, graffiti removing squads are being ordered to restore destroyed Banksy art while removing regular graffiti. This has started up debates on the different values of street art and graffiti. When asked to comment on being given preferential treatment, Banksy answered: “If you think my graffiti is overrated you’d be right. I only hope that one day I get the lack of recognition I deserve”. Love him or hate him, Banksy is without a doubt one of the most influential artists working today. He has affected the art world across the globe.

Possible Moral
Any form of art is a form of power. With street art, Banksy found a way to express his social and political opinions to the world. His art talks about the environment, war, human rights, giant corporations etc. Combining dark humor with facts, his art moves the audience. It tells a story that hopefully will enlighten the viewer. His art has started debates about the Israeli West Bank barrier, the Guantanamo bay prison and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London to name a few. At the Olympics his artwork served to remind the world that outside the glossy bubble of the event there was real impact issues – including the legal and moral dilemmas of using military drones.


Story from We All Need Heroes: Stories of the Brave and Foolish.
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