One of my favorite things to explore in new cities is the graffiti. Graffiti and stenciling have become new loves of mine, primarilty due to their unique ability to get across a message to any and everyone. People don’t have to go into an art gallery or museum to view these art works, they simply walk past them every day. Graffiti artists use the city as a living canvas, and because they work within the streets that everyone walks through they make you pay attention whether you want to or not.
The best example I can use to highlight an artist that has fully embodied this unique aspect that graffiti possesses is the renowned and controversial, Banksy. He uses his artistic talent to provoke thought and communicate political and societal concerns that he has. He channels his frustrations with the state of the world into beautiful, witty and often very funny artistic pieces and places them in a public place. He is well known all over the world for creating graffiti in the most unsuspected places, and deliberately uses specific locations throughout cities to further communicate his artistic statements. The city streets and people walking on them each day become an interactive part of his graffiti and are just important as the spray paint coming out of the can.
One of the most captivating things about Banksy is that his identity has been kept a secret even now after his artistic works have become famous and worth large sums of money. His work can be recognized from a mile away, and even though he does attach distinct tag marks to many of his pieces, the man behind the name Banksy is completely anonymous. This factor of the artwork adds to his overall message and point of creating graffiti. His purpose is to participate in society as a common voice of the people while questioning the structures and policies all around us. In a time where people are becoming more and more alienated from each other, Banksy employs humor, sarcasm and controversy in order to spark reaction, conversation and connectivity.
I’ll never forget the first time I spotted a real Banksy piece in downtown L.A. It was undeniably a work of his, without even having a tag attached to it because of his distinct style and message in all of his graffiti. It was the image of a cave man carrying a tray with McDonalds food on it, standing next to a phone booth. It is a common theme in many of Banksy’s graffiti pieces to pair contradictory images in order to challenge and provoke the viewers. Here this work was intentionally placed in a large shopping district of one of the biggest consumer driven cities in the world in order to challenge the motives and the mindset of the individuals passing by.
I’ll leave you with my favorite Banksy quote which really summarizes all of his artwork and attitude toward creating graffiti:
“Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw wherever they liked. Where every street was wash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a living breathing thing which belonged to everybody, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall - its wet.”
Preach!
Oh, and here is a final Banksy work that I think you will all appreciate:
We are all slaves to tesco.
Tiiiiiiiight.
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