7 ms·

The Story Behind Banksy

99 points by rsobers 14y ago

austenallred 14y ago
It's also worth watching the film "Exit through the giftshop" on Netflix. Goes over Banksy in decent depth, as well as some other famous street artists.
- muhfuhkuh 14y ago
  That was such a fascinating movie. Hopefully not spoiling much of it, but the way the subject of the documentary seesaws from Banksy to "the director" and back was really interesting. I'm not sure what to believe by the end of that documentary, but it sure was a wild ride.
  - sharkweek 14y ago
    I think that was the best part; the debate among friends at the end as to what we actually just watched
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - jjkmk 14y ago
    I think the character "Mr. Brainwash" was made up for the film, his art work was actually Banksy's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Brainwash http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Brainwash
damian2000 14y ago
His work is awesome, but I'd argue the fact he can sell a red phone box chopped in half for $605,000 makes him part of the art establishment, not against it.
- muhfuhkuh 14y ago
  But, he didn't ask for that; he just put it out there and let the art world have at it. The fact that most of his preferred canvas is illegal (and by that nature, ephemeral) makes him firmly anti-establishment.
  - rhizome 14y ago
    Absolutely. A stencil on the side of a building is fundamentally unsellable (though walls have been preserved/sold before).
- bennyg 14y ago
  A lot of people live and work in the "system," if you will, but are still vehemently against it. I work for the Man, and wish I didn't, ideologically. But I have health care, solid vacation allotment and decent coworkers, so I'll bide time until something way better and cooler comes my way.
- majormajor 14y ago
  “There’s a whole new audience out there, and it’s never been easier to sell [one’s art],” Banksy has maintained. “You don’t have to go to college, drag ’round a portfolio, mail off transparencies to snooty galleries or sleep with someone powerful, all you need now is a few ideas and a broadband connection. This is the first time the essentially bourgeois world of art has belonged to the people. We need to make it count.” I think this is the key takeaway—that it's easier than ever to get exposure, and that you can get acceptance and even commercial success without playing by the traditional rules. The irony, he added, that his anti-establishment art commands huge prices isn’t lost on him. “I love the way capitalism finds a place—even for its enemies. It’s definitely boom time in the discontent industry. I mean how many cakes does Michael Moore get through?”
- rhizome 14y ago
  Anything called "art" has been termed so by an establishment.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
bhickey 14y ago
Nice of them not to mention Blek le Rat (http://bleklerat.free.fr/ http://bleklerat.free.fr/)
- analog 14y ago
  They don't mention that he went to an expensive public school either.
  - jhull 14y ago
    what difference does it make?
    - keithpeter 14y ago
      Sensible question. Here is an attempt at a bit of an answer. In the UK, the 'public' schools are actually private and the more famous ones charge a lot of money. They are also registered charities which annoys some other people trying to run real charities (the ones that help poor people), but that means there are a few places made available on a scholarship basis at little or no cost. A good public school has small classes (8 to 12), individual attention, and focuses on the development of what they call 'character' in the pupils. The result is an education that provides considerable self-confidence (sometimes misplaced by the way) and self-reliance. When you think about it, an ideal education for an individualist social critic. Whose career can then be presented as 'eccentric' and thus the threat immunised.
      - speik 14y ago
        > Whose career can then be presented as 'eccentric' and thus the threat immunised. This is the part I don't understand. Who is immunizing? His critics? Or his work is immunized by having gone to public school? Seems to me that what he chose to do as an adult should not be discounted because of where he went to school as a child. From the article, and what else I know of Banksy, it sounds like he is a very self-made person. As you pointed out, it also sounds like his early education gave him the skills to see the absurdity and hypocrisy in the world and address it creatively. Why is that a bad thing? I'm confused.
lylemckeany 14y ago
Warning: A little shameless self-promotion coming. I wrote a blog post called What Street Artists Can Teach Us About Marketing, http://www.lylemckeany.com/2012/11/05/what-street-artists-can-teach-us-about-marketing/ http://www.lylemckeany.com/2012/11/05/what-street-artists-ca... When doing some of the research for it, I came across this great quote from Banksy: >We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.
equilibrium 14y ago
interesting rivalry between Banksy and Robbo http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/camden4.html# http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/camden4.html#
- miketucker 14y ago
  anyone else notice the inconsistency? the final image: http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo13-2.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo13-2.jpg contains the feet from: http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo6.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo6.jpg but this was supposedly painted over in: http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo8.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo8.jpg perhaps this is actually the final image in the series: http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo12.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo12.jpg
  - web64 14y ago
    The final image (http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo13-2.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo13-2.jpg) you are referring to is actually a paste-up made from photoshopping together different images. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pranksy/6564545965/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/pranksy/6564545965/in/photostre...
SparrowOS 14y ago
I was musing that I could probably lower my rent by painting graffitti. FBI didn't find in funny and took me to a mental hospital. I did every line in SparrowOS and all the songs, with God's help. I hired an artist for a few of the sprites. God says... the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. 11:5 And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. 11:6 And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. 11:7 And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David. 11:8 And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. 11:9 So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him. ---- FBI is intermixed with mental health, if you know what I mean. Don't worry, God is just -- you get blessings for persecution and it can't go well for them, retards! God says... electronic tenets pour loosest list Was excluded hardheartedness wantonly times returns indirectly wont_you_be_my_neighbor worshipper soul -i ---- David was a rebel!

99 points by rsobers 14y ago

It's also worth watching the film "Exit through the giftshop" on Netflix. Goes over Banksy in decent depth, as well as some other famous street artists.

muhfuhkuh 14y ago
That was such a fascinating movie. Hopefully not spoiling much of it, but the way the subject of the documentary seesaws from Banksy to "the director" and back was really interesting. I'm not sure what to believe by the end of that documentary, but it sure was a wild ride.
- sharkweek 14y ago
  I think that was the best part; the debate among friends at the end as to what we actually just watched
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- jjkmk 14y ago
  I think the character "Mr. Brainwash" was made up for the film, his art work was actually Banksy's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Brainwash http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Brainwash

damian2000 14y ago

His work is awesome, but I'd argue the fact he can sell a red phone box chopped in half for $605,000 makes him part of the art establishment, not against it.

muhfuhkuh 14y ago
But, he didn't ask for that; he just put it out there and let the art world have at it. The fact that most of his preferred canvas is illegal (and by that nature, ephemeral) makes him firmly anti-establishment.
- rhizome 14y ago
  Absolutely. A stencil on the side of a building is fundamentally unsellable (though walls have been preserved/sold before).
bennyg 14y ago
A lot of people live and work in the "system," if you will, but are still vehemently against it. I work for the Man, and wish I didn't, ideologically. But I have health care, solid vacation allotment and decent coworkers, so I'll bide time until something way better and cooler comes my way.
majormajor 14y ago
“There’s a whole new audience out there, and it’s never been easier to sell [one’s art],” Banksy has maintained. “You don’t have to go to college, drag ’round a portfolio, mail off transparencies to snooty galleries or sleep with someone powerful, all you need now is a few ideas and a broadband connection. This is the first time the essentially bourgeois world of art has belonged to the people. We need to make it count.” I think this is the key takeaway—that it's easier than ever to get exposure, and that you can get acceptance and even commercial success without playing by the traditional rules. The irony, he added, that his anti-establishment art commands huge prices isn’t lost on him. “I love the way capitalism finds a place—even for its enemies. It’s definitely boom time in the discontent industry. I mean how many cakes does Michael Moore get through?”
rhizome 14y ago
Anything called "art" has been termed so by an establishment.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

bhickey 14y ago

Nice of them not to mention Blek le Rat (http://bleklerat.free.fr/ http://bleklerat.free.fr/)

analog 14y ago
They don't mention that he went to an expensive public school either.
- jhull 14y ago
  what difference does it make?
  - keithpeter 14y ago
    Sensible question. Here is an attempt at a bit of an answer. In the UK, the 'public' schools are actually private and the more famous ones charge a lot of money. They are also registered charities which annoys some other people trying to run real charities (the ones that help poor people), but that means there are a few places made available on a scholarship basis at little or no cost. A good public school has small classes (8 to 12), individual attention, and focuses on the development of what they call 'character' in the pupils. The result is an education that provides considerable self-confidence (sometimes misplaced by the way) and self-reliance. When you think about it, an ideal education for an individualist social critic. Whose career can then be presented as 'eccentric' and thus the threat immunised.
    - speik 14y ago
      > Whose career can then be presented as 'eccentric' and thus the threat immunised. This is the part I don't understand. Who is immunizing? His critics? Or his work is immunized by having gone to public school? Seems to me that what he chose to do as an adult should not be discounted because of where he went to school as a child. From the article, and what else I know of Banksy, it sounds like he is a very self-made person. As you pointed out, it also sounds like his early education gave him the skills to see the absurdity and hypocrisy in the world and address it creatively. Why is that a bad thing? I'm confused.

lylemckeany 14y ago

Warning: A little shameless self-promotion coming. I wrote a blog post called What Street Artists Can Teach Us About Marketing, http://www.lylemckeany.com/2012/11/05/what-street-artists-can-teach-us-about-marketing/ http://www.lylemckeany.com/2012/11/05/what-street-artists-ca... When doing some of the research for it, I came across this great quote from Banksy: >We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.

equilibrium 14y ago

interesting rivalry between Banksy and Robbo http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/camden4.html# http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/camden4.html#

miketucker 14y ago
anyone else notice the inconsistency? the final image: http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo13-2.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo13-2.jpg contains the feet from: http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo6.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo6.jpg but this was supposedly painted over in: http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo8.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo8.jpg perhaps this is actually the final image in the series: http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo12.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo12.jpg
- web64 14y ago
  The final image (http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo13-2.jpg http://www.banksy.co.uk/QA/camden/Images_Large/photo13-2.jpg) you are referring to is actually a paste-up made from photoshopping together different images. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pranksy/6564545965/in/photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/pranksy/6564545965/in/photostre...

SparrowOS 14y ago

I was musing that I could probably lower my rent by painting graffitti. FBI didn't find in funny and took me to a mental hospital. I did every line in SparrowOS and all the songs, with God's help. I hired an artist for a few of the sprites. God says... the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. 11:5 And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David. 11:6 And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. 11:7 And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David. 11:8 And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. 11:9 So David waxed greater and greater: for the LORD of hosts was with him. ---- FBI is intermixed with mental health, if you know what I mean. Don't worry, God is just -- you get blessings for persecution and it can't go well for them, retards! God says... electronic tenets pour loosest list Was excluded hardheartedness wantonly times returns indirectly wont_you_be_my_neighbor worshipper soul -i ---- David was a rebel!