Banksy

[Rocky]

Banksy is a pseudo-anonymous[2][3] English graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol[2] and to have been born in 1974,[4] but there is substantial public uncertainty about his identity and personal and biographical details.[5] According to Tristan Manco, Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s."[6] His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique, is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His art has appeared in cities around the world.[7] Banksy's work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.

What do you think of when someone drops the name "Banksy"? Does one think of a genius and mysterious artist leaving his mark on the world, an activist expressing his beliefs through his craft, or a vandal who needs to be locked up at all costs?

To me, Banksy's artwork is very intruiging, and it reveals his free spirit not only within his ideas and arts, but within itself. The man went to an art show and put his own painting up in front of a crowd, stating that 'the process of being selected for an artshow is boring and it is more fun to put your own art up.' Being from the U.S. I haven't really been able to see much of his work or heard opinions of other people about him because of the lack of knowlege of his existence, but I was just wondering if others have seen his art or would like to share their opinions on Banksy.

EDIT: here are some of his works.


Nice allusion, lol.


An interesting play on words.


A well-known picture redone Banksy-style.