CHAPTER 6 Public Space ae Banksy—“The Most Honest Artform Available’ In her New Yorker profile of Banksy (published May 14, 2007), writer Laura Collins describes the artist in this way: The British graffiti artist Banksy likes pizza, though his preference in top- pings cannot be definitively ascertained. He has a gold tooth. He has a silver tooth, He has a silver earring. He's an anarchist environmentalist who travels, by chauffeured S.U.V. He was bom in 1978, or 1974, in Bristol, England—no, Yate. The son of a butcher and a housewife, or a delivery driver and a hospital worker, he's fat, he's skinny, he's an introverted workhorse, he's a breeze- shooting exhibitionist given to drinking pint after pint of stout. For a while ‘now, Banksy has lived in London: if notin Shoreditch, then in Hoxton. ‘The Wikipedia entry on Banksy calls him a “pseudo-anonymous English graffiti artist.” Even his own Web site (Banksy.co.uk) offers little more than samples of the artist's work and a manifesto detailing the origins of his radicalism. That, of course, is the way Banksy prefers things. Very little is known for certain about the graffiti artist who works at night to create detailed, radical statements about power and Ccontflict—local and international. {In Banksy's introduction to Wall and Piece, a 2008 collection of his work, the art- {st challenges critics who would put grafiti in the category of vandalism rather than art, For Banksy, graffiti is not only art but the most democratic of art forms. He writes, * Graffiti isnot the lowest form of art. Despite having to creep about at night and lie to your mum, it's actually the most honest artform available. There is no elitism ot hype, it exhibits on some of the best walls a town has to offer, and nobody is put off by the price of admission.” Banksy often uses his work to comment on that high-art! ow-art divide so common in some critics’ circles. In one piece, for example, Banksy depicts a city worker sandblasting cave-paintings—pethaps the earliest form of “graf- fit.” In another, he portrays a museum guard keeping an eye on graffiti—in this case, ‘a painting of an art frame surrounding the scrawled words, “Smash the System.” Graffiti artists worldwide have long had to dodge police in order to make their art on public walls. For Banksy, the people's right to claim public walls as open space for free expression is inherent in a free society. For that reason, Banksy uses his art to make bold—sometimes outrageous— statements on local politics, social conditions, and even on other art forms, One plece shows aid workers being held back while news reporters and documentary photographers take pictures of a small child, bleeding and standing among the rubble of what used to be a home. In one of his most famous acts of guerilla street art, Banksy managed to sneak up to the West Bank wall and paint what appeared to be’a hole in the wall looking onto a calm and luxurious beach scene. In England, Banksy's graffiti art typically comments on police harassment, closed circu surveil- lance cameras, and living conditions. Using detailed stencils prepared in advance, Banksy can work quickly to create remarkably detailed murals and signs. Ironically, his art has become so popular and well-respected by many in the con- ‘temporary art world that local museums and village councils have acted to preserve and protect it. In several ofthese attempts, however, the council paints over what it considers the offensive part of the image, leaving behind a well-crafted painting. with the satire blunted or eliminated entirely.able” Collins op wer els vital hile graffiti Sof the graffith ver and the art- ver than writes, and lie itism or = put off igh-art/ Banksy of “graf ke their space geous— ns, One nentary ong the la street eared to ngland, surveil: vance, the con- cer what daintinga2 CHAPTER 6 Public Space SUGGESTION You can find imoge files for Banksy's art throughout he Internet and especially at Bonksy's FOR READING officiol website www banksy.co.uk. Take some time to look ever that site. Read Banksy's manifesto. As you look atthe images reprinted here, consider what you see in relationship to Banksy’s assertion tht public walls are public spaces for all of vs to use as places for free speech ond free expression ond especially as places to stand in opposition to the world of commerce. EXPLORATORY WRITING Inhis introduction to Wall and Piece, Banksy argues forthe rights of {and even the neces- sity for) sreet artists to begin “speaking up." Ino brief writing, simply describe what you se@ in the images reprinted here ond suggest your own reading for what is going on in ‘each and why the authorities might be so quick to want fo remove them from public walls CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Shore your exploratory writing with Nwo or three of your classmates. How do your readings of these images differ? What does each reading odd to the others? WRITING ASSIGNMENTS 1. In his introduction to Wall and Piece, Banksy writes that “graffi is only dangerous in the mind of three types of people: politicians, advertising executives, and graft | VISU,