Aliyah Rossa D.

Llanes

11-Onesta

Banksy’s “Mona Lisa Smile” Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”

1. Describe the artwork.

` Banksy’s parody of ‘Mona Lisa’ and way of putting his own artwork at a
well-known museum without anyone knowing became a controversy. Some
people might find it as if the artist is mocking the classic painting of Leonardo
Da Vinci but my interpretation would be how art critics/ audience focuses too
much on the smile of Mona Lisa, instead of appreciating the whole visual of the
woman in the painting. I think it’s a way of Banksy telling the audience that the
beauty of an art doesn’t come from a certain aspect only, in order to understand
the meaning of the art you consider every elements of the artwork.

2. Compare the two images

 The original masterpiece has a beautiful woman with a mysterious smile; the
subject of the painting can make you feel calm at some way. As for the parody,
the picture clearly warmer in color and the face of ‘Mona Lisa’ completely
changed into an acid-smiley face its size was also cropped smaller to focus onto
‘Mona Lisa’s Smile’.

3. What qualities of contemporary art are manifested in the new artwork?

The colors used are strong and the content is symbolic;; Usage of prints, images
and icons to produce another artwork. It also combines past and the present and
it revives interest to existing forms of art.