How Awesome is Banksy

Every time Christie's has an auction they have an open exhibition beforehand to showcase the works for sale. These shows are a hidden London bargain, completely free and open to the public. When my dear friend Cari was in town Jason too use to see the Post-War and Contemporary Art exhibition at Christie's South Kensington where he works (yes, we both work at Christie's now... long story). To be perfectly honest, while I'm a HUGE fan of modernist poetry, modern art isn't really my scene. While Cari and Jason were oohing and ahhing I spent a lot of time exclaiming "really? 25 million pounds for that?" One small piece in a corner did catch my interest though. It was a drawing by someone I've admired for a long time, the graffiti artist Banksy.



You may have heard of Banksy, he is pretty famous nowadays and his art work can be found hidden all around London (that is until the city officials find it and take it down). He's sort of a rogue, anti-capitalism, anti-establishment performance artist. He's done a few things in the US and around the UK but he works primarily here in the capital. Big billboard type images, tiny little ones stenciled onto random walls. Some of it is very serious and political. Some of it is funny and irreverent. it all makes you think though.

Some Banksy feats, according to Wikipedia:

- At London Zoo, he climbed into the penguin enclosure and painted "We're bored of fish" in seven foot high letters.


- In 2004, Bansky walked into the Louvre in Paris and hung on a wall a picture he had painted resembling the Mona Lisa, but with a yellow smiley face akin to the Wal-Mart character for a face. He is quoted as saying: "To actually [have to] go through the process of having a painting selected must be quite boring, It's a lot more fun to go and put your own one up."


-In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut CD, Paris, in 48 different UK record stores with his own cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse. Music tracks were given titles such as "Why am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?".


How awesome is that? I love that this guy is just running around highlighting the ridiculous and whimsical in the world.

This got me wondering, if this guy is so revolutionary and anti-commercialism, what is his work doing up for auction, selling to the highest bidder for thousand and thousands of pounds. I found the answer on Banksy's official website:

I don't agree with auction houses selling street art - its undemocratic, it
glorifies greed and I never see any of the money.

Way to go Banksy! No sell-out is he. Like I said, I'm no art expert, but I do think that Banky

's work raises interest questions about, among other things, the intrinsic value of art. It brings a lot into focus when you consider that his work is simultaneously a criminal public nuisance, and a collection of masterpieces auctioned off to the wealthy. Every day I sit in this high security warehouse, and I watch various objects, supposedly worth millions of pounds, come and go. Some of it I get, a Monet, an ancient Chinese icon, a Rodin sculpture, those are things I can at least understand the value of. Other things completely baffle me. But, whether i get it or not, I constantly wonder: is any piece of art really worth £26 million? Even if it is meaningful/rare/beautiful/would look really good behind the couch? I don't pretend to know, but in my gut I think there are probably more worthwhile ways to spend that much money. I appreciate art, but from what I can see, not much of the art industry is about art itself, it seems more about art as an investment, or art as a status symbol. Which I think is silly on a superficial level and tragic on a deeper one.

Maybe that's what is so cool about Banksy. Art in a gallery, or a private home, or in my warehouse, is for the few in privileged. But when you stick your masterpiece on an overpass, well then it really is for everyone. And maybe when your work is mostly anonymous, and unsolicited and it is easier to be irreverent and unpretentious and make your statements without critical concern, maybe that is a purer kind of art. Or maybe not, but it is kind of refreshing.

That's just my (mostly uninformed) two cents.