Banksy’s art in one single word represents rebellion. He speaks against social injustice including wealth inequality, racial discrimination, terrorism, labor abuse, and police brutality. What he does is offer unique social critique and rebel against the majority thought. He represents the counterculture which may produce protests, debates, concerts, social media campaigns, and concerts (Harzman 2). What Banksy does not approve of however is commercialization, branding, or mass production and sale of his work. He is against corporate and commodity culture.
Unfortunately for him however, he is commercially successful, and his artwork has been sold in auctions, this makes him an antihero in many ways. In fact, Banksy is perhaps an un-brand. If you have seen girl with a balloon, you know that it is an art piece which has obtained a high degree of fame and iconic registry – that is primarily because of the recent stunt where the balloon girl was shredded at an auction. Banksy never wanted his work to be ripped off walls and commodified and seen as a piece of sales meat, but that is exactly what happened.This stunt was a significant attempt to stick it to the man. To say, quite strongly, “this is who I am, and I’m not going to stop being myself.” Ripping the work off the street and selling it is legal but morally questionable in the eyes of Banksy (Hansen). It makes us think about what other things in society are morally questionable and yet still legal. That is what he does- he makes us think. There is repetition of thought, idea, and voice which makes his work successful and unique. He stays true to character the entire time too. With a built-in shredder, the work was shredded at the auction to express more of the Banksy un-brand.
The question of whether it was a publicity stunt remains, however, and as with all things, it is up to us to form an answer. With Banksy’s identity being mysterious, nothing is quite so certain about this man with no face. With that, he was able to remain true to character in this way – an outlaw, with a “I don’t want to take it without a fight” motto. This stunt was, in fact, very representative of who he is and the identity that he has taken – a great graffiti artist.
Most recently, there was a painting of chimps at parliament which was sold at an auction. This painting was entitled Devolved Parliament, for obvious reasons as it shows chimps running the house of commons. It makes us question how we are running our lives this late in the game (it is almost year 2020). Are we doing things with civility, or is it as animalistic and as unintelligent as a parliament run by apes themselves? That is the question. Although it is not a science fiction remake of the Planet of The Apes. The piece is a critique on the values and politics of parliamentary procedure and the way things are done in government. Are they who run clueless officials? Do they know what they are doing? Perhaps it is not progress but in fact regression. That is the point Banksy makes. It may be that these are the questions that fit into Banksy’s views on the 9-5 corporate workplace structure as well. This piece most recently made it into the headline of The Times article as a record setting monetary high of $12 million (Times)
His most unforgiving piece being one entitled Napalm in which two famous commercial figures (Ronald Mcdonald and Mickey Mouse) are seen holding hands with the naked crying girl who was in a famous photograph from the Vietnam war. It’s very charged work and Banksy has the shock that we need delivered to us. It speaks to his character of social rebellion,going against the common ideology, and questioning how things could be the way they are. Why does money poor into those who already have serious wealth when there is such inequality? Isn’t that a crime? Banksy questions the consumerist ideals of society. McDonalds is a billion-dollar corporation. Mickey Mouse is a cute and happy go lucky mouse. One will feed us mass produced food and the other will entertain billions of children. Both industries generate millions of dollars while people throughout the world still suffer. Banksy picked the famous image of the crying girl in Vietnam to go with the two in contrast – this is a Pulitzer prize-winning photograph of a victim of a large napalm attack due to the Vietnamese war. It isn’t easy to look at, and in fact, presents us with several questions – the main on being, why does this still happen in a society that is capable of such wealth and rich technology? Banksy is, after all, a political activist who questions the legality of several practices in contemporary society.
