Banksy Stencil Art
Foreword: Who is Banksy?
This piece is about the underground "Guerrilla artist" Banksy, who first came into the public eye through his prolific use of stencil art to "reclaim the streets". I believe this "campaign" is now evolving through the medium of "Brandalism" and he's playing more and more convoluted games with the whole idea of property, consumerism and branding.I was trying to find out what happened to his satirical statue of Justice as a prostitute. Apparently, the statue of Justice is still there, though her sword and scales have been stolen or mislaid.
Then I stumbled upon something I found even more interesting.
I began following a "google trail" and found missing web sites and pages, missing images, missing scales, missing statues, a missing artist and misinformation. I claim no special knowledge for myself! I'm probably just adding to the growing dog-pile.
Banksy: Case of The Missing Drinker
Nobody, it's said, knows what Banksy looks like. Banksy must know what he looks like, Clerkenwell police must know what he looks like, he's been interviewed, allegedly, so the occasional journalist must know what he looks like. When people say "nobody" what they really mean is "the public". This man seems to court publicity and run headlong away from it with equal passion.
You can now buy t-shirts bearing the slogan, "I'm Banksy, arrest me!" There was a website (http://www.iambanksy.com/) which seems to have just vanished. like a statue, into the night. I never saw the site but Bulent Yusef tells me that it featured photos of various people standing by Banky's art claiming to be Banksy. It's now fashionable to be a Banksy "fall guy", or is that was?
Will the real Banksy please stand up?
A picture that was linked to from here has now been deleted
I recall an urban myth about a commuter who liked to ride the train to work laying on the roof, why can't Banksy be some Surrey commuter that's just had it with his corporate life and by night turns guerrilla artist? In principle, why can't there be a whole army of Banksys? On the face of it, it does seem unlikely that every work attributed to Banksy is by Banksy, especially now that these can fetch large sums of money. The artist himself, apparently, recognises that a bootleg cottage industry has sprung up around him and doesn't object - in his past selling bootleg merchandise outside Blur concerts.
At Banksy's Turf War exhibition one of the living sculptures was a cow decorated with "animal friendly" paint depicting images of Andy Warhol. I'm sure this can't be accidental, Warhol was a director as much as a hands on artist who had other artists do the bulk of the physical painting work on his own behalf.
Even more intriguing though is the case of Banky's Rodin's Drinker - a statue based on Rodin's Thinker with the addition of a traffic cone upon his head, and some spray paint. This sculpture was part of a pair, part of a "BOGOF" statement. The idea being that there were two, one to be sold to a collector, the other to be moved to various venues around London.
Banksy seems quite sensitive about profiteering from his work, pledging never to sell his art to some chequebook wielding Tory collector, i.e., Saatchi. Being "alternative" and "street" there have been somewhat predictable backlashes from those who consider themselves alternative and street but aren't getting rich by it. Did I imply that Banksy might be getting rich, never! Banksy is said to have turned down offers of work from Microsoft and Nike, on a regular basis.
I suppose the logical conclusion, the spike of this backlash, is the kidnap of Banksy's Rodin's Drinker by a group of disgruntled artistically minded trophy hunters calling themselves AK47. You can read their "manifesto" on Guardian Unlimited, where nobody claims to understand it. For me AK47's manifesto seems to represent a kind of Marxist theory of art.
To explain why I think this I'll try to put it into "layman's terms" - consider Penguin Classics, the range of out of copyright classics published by Penguin. The jackets of these often present the book as being "as relevant today as the time in which it was written", or as a "paradigm" of the short story or novel form, i.e., in the case of Kafka's Castle we're told, "The story of K., the unwanted Land Surveyor who is never admitted to the Castle nor accepted in the village, and yet cannot go home, seems to depict like a dream from the deepest recesses of consciousness, an inexplicable truth about the nature of existence."
This seems to strike a chord with AK47's claim that, "Criticism, dependent on rational illusions, appeals to a society that values only commodity-type art, separated from the artists' possession. In short, branded detachment activated by the artist self or those in possession of the product/art are cowardly and futile acts. Separate "things'", "forms", "objects", "shapes", etc, and the beginnings and endings are more convenient fictions: and there is only the disintegrating order that descends from artist through artisan via terrorism towards final decent to thief, much like the time-line that can be swamped at any moment. Therefore the "object" itself resembles an eroded rock from which further ideas leak."
Kafka's work has been separated from the time and the person who produced it. That's the line these book companies often take when selling old books. Though it has to be said, they also do often seem to suggest that books are paradigms of their times, or even precursors to wider historic movements of ideas - it's often a case of whatever sells, sells, I suspect. I often get enthused by these types of statements, I love buying books, but it's sales at the end of the day.
So what of Banksy? At Banksy's alternative Jubilee party a lady dressed as Queen Elizabeth I was seen selling copies of his two books (Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall and Existencilism) - marketing it remains.
Perhaps by treading the line between criminal, brand-name and artist Banksy is asking people to analyse the three ideas and their interplay? I really don't know, and, to be honest, I don't particularly care. The pictures and sculptures I find quite attractive and challenging. No one seems to have noticed that name Robin Banks is a bit like Bill Stickers - robbing banks.
Will it all end like it did with Ronnie Kray, an old man on his death bed telling all, or his version at any rate, wheezing because of all the paint fumes?
"So, Banky, where are all the statues buried?"
I imagine a nurse plumping up the light green pillows behind his back at this point, he raising a frail looking finger decisively, and then dying without telling.
If anyone has any comments on this or further info please get in touch.
Updates
Since writing this piece another picture has emerged, allegedly of Banksy, The Evening Standard lead on the story. In his latest exploit Banksy has been filmed vandalising the huge wall that segregates Palestinians and Jews, in Israel / Palestine. You can see images and download a video report on the Channel 4 website.
There have been various news reports of Henry Moore's sculpture being stolen in Britain, on the BBC, £3m Henry Moore sculpture stolen and on Channel 4 News' website, Art murmurs.
