Banksy

Banksy is a graffiti artist based in the United Kingdom. His identity is unknown and he likes to keep it that way. The closest we could ever get to him was in 2010 when he produced and started in his own movie called ‘Exit through the Gift Shop’ which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

Banksy’s technique is based on stencils. He first started stencilling the public streets in the early 1990s and hasn’t stopped until then. Banksy says this about his unique technique: “I use whatever it takes. Sometimes that just means drawing a moustache on a girl's face on some billboard, sometimes that means sweating for days over an intricate drawing. Efficiency is the key”. He tells stories and sends warning messages using his stencil art. He got a lot of criticism from other street artists for using stencils because they consider it ‘cheating’ but Banksy does did not listen to anything they said because he stands by what he truly believes.

His art is about political views and social conflict. It has been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy doesn’t like to do interviews or speak in public because he is really cautioned of his identity and he likes to keep it private. But sources say that Banksy was really inspired by Richard Hambleton. Banksy stands by the truth within art and doesn’t believe it should be sold but told. For this reason he does not sell his work through commercial art galleries.

In my opinion Banksy is an extraordinary artist that not only produces great works of art but also has valuable point of views. His art is great with lots of meaning. Even though he stays anonymous, it’s amazing that it still gets so much attention. I love the fact that he proved everybody wrong with his stencil technique and kept doing what he loves the most. I also admire his courage and the fact that he doesn’t really care about money or how much his art is going to sell for. He keeps producing his art because he loves it not because of the profit his going to make. Overall I think Banksy is amazing, I really like his work and the message he sends across.

 Useful websites: All visited on 05/10/2014.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2450674/Banksy-speaks-Famously-anonymous-graffiti-artist-gives-rare-interview.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy

http://banksy.co.uk/out.asp