Banksy: Is Graffiti Art?

The piece of art I choose is a piece of public art by the artist Banksy. Banksy is a well known graffiti artist from Bristol, England; although his identity is not known and only a few people have ever interviewed with him and they have kept his identity a secret. Banksy’s art is a combination between graffiti writing and distinctive stenciling; most of his art topics are politics, culture and ethics. All of his art has a strong meaning to it and his way of expressing that is publicly on the streets that we walk down everyday and he has traveled all over the world making his mark.

The piece by Banksy I choose is a one of nine pieces he did in August of 2005 on the Israeli West Bank barrier on the Palestinian side. This has been one of my favorite Banksy pieces ever since I found out who he was. I remember the day I found out who he was, I was in Boarders downtown and I was looking at all the art books when I stumbled upon his, and I feel in love and have followed him ever since. I selected this piece in particular because of what it stands for; they are building this giant wall though the farmland to separate Israeli from Palestine on the Israeli side they cover the wall with flowers to make it look beautiful, as for the Palestine side it is just a giant blank gray wall. I feel as though he did this to give the wall character and at the same time give the sense of escape, of freedom. Banksy sees a situation like these and seizes the opportunity to say something in the way he likes to express his feelings. I have always interpreted the painting as though he painted so when you looked at it you got sense of escape, that there is another side. I strongly believe that graffiti is beautiful, but there is a difference between graffiti art and tagging, tagging is just someone being immature and inappropriate. You will find that a lot of graffiti art has meaning to it and the details that a lot of these artists put into some of their pieces are just as intricate as Michal Angelo.

To learn more about Banksy just see the link below. I hope you enjoy the meaning of his art and find it to be intriguing as well as the fact that no one knows who he is. I will end with a quote from Banksy about graffiti.

“What’s your definition of the word “graffiti”?

B: I love graffiti. I love the word. Some people get hung up over it, but I think they’re fighting a losing battle. Graffiti equals amazing to me. Every other type of art compared to graffiti is a step down—no two ways about it. If you operate outside of graffiti, you operate at a lower level. Other art has less to offer people, it means less, and it’s weaker. I make normal paintings if I have ideas that are too complex or offensive to go out on the street, but if I ever stopped being a graffiti writer I would be gutted. It would feel like being a basket weaver rather than being a proper artist.” (Swindel)

Hope you enjoyed. Thank you for listening.

Links and sources:

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

http://swindlemagazine.com/issue08/banksy/