Banksy: Painter of Trite
Is anyone else getting hella sick of Banksy?
In case you missed the 'Marmaduke'-deep subtext here, this is a painting of people lining up to buy a shirt that says 'Destroy Capitalism' on it. Get it? They're buying a shirt with an anti-capitalist message on it! This is as motherfucking ironic as 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.
For those of you who don't know, Banksy is the latest artist to capture the incredibly limited imaginations of auction-bidders, gallery-rats and museum curaterati the world over. He appears to have done this solely through the repetitive overboiling of the one concept he understands: Irony.
Oh my fucking God that dove symbolizes peace but that bulletproof vest du'int!
In case there is anyone in the sighted world who doesn't understand the profound juxtaposition here, Banksy has added a helpful sniper-sight to the dove, to really achieve the work's full tell-don't-show splendor.
None of this would bother me if Sucksy wasn't so fucking famous. Everything he does (like vandalizing a Paris Hilton album cover -- way to really slaughter those sacred cows, Banks) is greeted by RSS-clogging news alerts detailing the new facets of his shimmering genius. It's like being notified every time your 14 year old cousin writes in her diary.
Has anyone not looked at those kids wearing the Che Guevara T-shirts and thought 'you're a consumer, too, pal'? Heaven forbid an artist comment on this in a meaningful way, rather than just shallowly pointing out the first thing that pops into everyone's mind when they see goths at the supermarket. Banksy is like the amateur anarchist at your high school, pissed off at everything from government corruption to soggy cafeteria-fries, but incapable of doing anything more interesting than spray-painting his name on some street signs.
Oh, and the price of the last Banksy painting that sold at auction? $205,000. Now that's ironic.
Comments
you state hes famous, but he never gives interviews and has never been photographed.... so hes not exactly doing it for the fame. yes his art is famous.. but that is because people like it and write about it.. and the lucky few (or stupid in your eyes) actually buy it.
The fact, is his last 3 pieces were sold at auction for $ 385,000, $605,000 $1,870,000... at Sotherbys for Bono's Red charity.
Twat
On a completely unrelated note: RiD, you're so lucky you get to live in Denmark. I love that place. I'll be visiting for the second time come April. Anything new in Copenhagen in the last 4 years?
Love a good rant.
Banksy Prints - Di-faced Tenners
Hi All,
I am currently selling some of my Banksy collection - These are Di-Faced Tenners.
They are in mint condition and they have been stored in an acid free folder in my smoke free home.
I have uploaded photos here :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/banksyfreak/
There is also a video here on Youtube.
The video quality is no the best. Please see the photos for better detail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPBWnYhnQvk
I am also selling a Banksy Puma glove and a Banksy Paris CD (Please make an offer)
Feel free to email me - banksyfreak at gmail dot com
Payment via PayPal or bank transfer.
Thanks for your time !
Banksyfreak selling his stuff on your blog where you are doggin' him is pretty ironic, too.
I actually like the art itself. It's not genius, but it's art that I don't have to think about too much and I like the look of. I don't have any of it saved on my hard drive or hanging on any of my walls but I prefer his graffiti to puffy names or initials. Gangs will soon be contracting out their tagging work instead of doing it themselves. Good graffiti artists will be in bidding wars between the Bloods and Crips, commanding millions of dollars to tag contested areas depicting their rivals as rats -- no, I don't think so.
I like the 'Marmaduke-deep' comment, and I think that's a good comparison. The meaning is about as deep as Marmaduke, but the art itself is a good bit better than the average Marmaduke cartoon. Worth $1.87 mil? I don't think so, but that's perhaps a Supply-and-Demand type argument that I wouldn't win, but perhaps his art is a good investment, even if you hate it.
I think it's pretty impressive that his real identity hasn't been revealed publicly, but I'm sure it has been plenty of times privately, and maybe those people who've met him thought, "There's nothing to this guy. I don't care about him. I don't want him to be talked about. I'm not going to 'reveal' his identity because besides doing some paintings, he's nothing special, and I don't want to see him on CNN again." Some maybe thought, "He's a cool guy--don't want to mess up the good thing he's got going. Besides, since I bought some of his art, his mystique will keep the price rising until I want to sell."
Anyway, by me and you spending our time writing about him, we just encouraged other people to look him up and some will buy his art and raise the price of his art, even though what you wrote was negative. Adds to the irony...