(artist) Banksy

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

Did you check out the website?
If not, You Have To Do~~~^^

Banksy is one of the artists I discovered during this London trip(summer 2009). He is not well known in Korea yet, but, for sure, there are some big fans for Banksy here, too.






Banksy is a famous but at the same time anonymous British graffiti artist. Although he has never revealed his identity, there is speculation that he was born in 1974 in Bristol.






My first impression was that his work was funny and I thought he was a genius. (Well, I basically and always, think that every artist is a genius^^) You can understand how I felt if you take a look at some of his art work.

Unfortunately, there are only a few of his pieces in this website but there is a lot more interesting graffiti and sculpture to be found.



The reason I like this artist is first, because he is technically great. I'm not sure if graffiti art is legal, but he works at night when nobody will see him.


In his recent book "Banksy Wall and Piece(http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Piece-Banksy/dp/1844137864), he recalls one night, when he was hiding from the police under a dump truck, he realized he had to cut his painting time in half or give up altogether. Eventhough he has a harsh working environment, his work is still perfect.



And his work is really funny, interesting, and easy to access. You don't have to get dressed up and go to a fancy gallery or museum to see his art. His great works are everywhere, right on the streets. And interesting thing is there is a "Banksy Walking Tour Map of London" in the bookstore with pictures of his art and how to find them. I should have done the walking tour! Darn it!




And he has his own philosophy. I'm not sure whether he does it for vandalism or political purposes. But I do think there is some sarcasm in his work. It seems like he satirizes the almighty dollar principle, and consumer waste, and addiction to shopping during this era, and maybe some other political issues. In his book, he used the word "Brandalism" ( Brilliant!! ). Here is a quote from his book; "Any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head"


He mainly uses stencil technique. While he was hiding from the police, he said he was staring straight up at a stenciled plate on the bottom of fuel tank and realized he could just copy that style and make each letter three feet height. I think that's when he started stencil technique.




I don't really know of the art criticism about Banksy, but in April 2007 his art work was sold at auction for 288,000 pound (US$576,000), so definately, collectors are paying attention to him, as a young artist.



Finally, here is one of my favorite Banksy piecese. Isn't it hilarious? Surprisingly, his window is exactly the same shape, size, and at the same height as the original window beside it. It's amazing. How could he do his work at that height without getting caught?