Saturday Surprise — Banksy

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Humour, Saturday Surprise, Social commentary

This week I discovered a new artist!  His name is Banksy, and according to Wikipedia …

Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director, active since the 1990s. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy’s work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.

Now, I happen to love street art, or graffiti if it is creative and done well, and Banksy’s is both.  Take a look for yourself …

banksy-1banksy-2banksy-4

banksy-11

banksy-10Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist in 1990–1994 as one of Bristol’s DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), with two other artists known as Kato and Tes.  By 2000 he had turned to the art of stenciling after realizing how much less time it took to complete a work. He claims he changed to stenciling while hiding from the police under a rubbish lorry, when he noticed the stenciled serial number.  Banksy’s art can be found all over the world, from Paris to New Orleans (header photo) … wherever there’s a wall!

banksy-6banksy-7banksy-8banksy-9

Banksy’s first known large wall mural was The Mild Mild West painted in 1997 to cover advertising of a former solicitors’ office on Stokes Croft in Bristol. It depicts a teddy bear lobbing a Molotov cocktail at three riot police.

Banksy_MIld_Mild_West_and_poster

Banksy, like nearly a third of all the people on the globe, is mostly stuck at home these days, but just like a singer’s gotta sing, a writer’s gotta write, an artist’s gotta make art.  So, Banksy made good use of the venue at hand, and … this is the result!

banksy-bathroom

I hear his wife was none too happy about the state of the bathroom, but … small price to pay for such a cool scene, don’t you think?  Easy for me to say, since I’m not the one who will ultimately have to clean the bathroom!  Take a closer look …

banksy-bath-1banksy-bath-2banksy-bath-3banksy-bath-4

Okay, friends, try to have a good weekend … get outside, go for a walk, see the buds popping out on the trees, maybe even take some bread crumbs along to feed the birds and squirrels!

40 thoughts on “Saturday Surprise — Banksy”

  6. I was introduced to Banksy’s marvelous art after my Son saw several of his creations in various parts of New York City. The fourth one from the top is one of those. Albert Einstein captures Banksy’s drive well in these words : “True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist.” Thank-you!

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    • I am now convinced that I am the only person in the world who never heard of Banksy before! But, if I had thought that any one of my friends would know of him, I would have guessed you, for you are truly a walking encyclopedia! Einstein’s quote is indeed perfect!

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  7. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    So glad you found him!! … “Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director, active since the 1990s. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. ‘

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  11. He is definitely different 🙂 Have you read about his trick of destroying one of his piece just after is had been auctioned? Cool idea, even though it did not completely work.
    (By the way, did you get my email? Hope we are not stuck in one of these disappearing-email-cycles again…)
    Have a lovely weekend! Hugs&Cheers!

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    • Jill, I put my comment here as I remember the self-destruct art moments after the auction. I think his name and stealth combine to build a larger than life crusader who steals blank walls and dresses them up. Keith

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    • Glad you liked it! Given that he’s from the UK, had you heard of him before? I’m seeing that most of my readers were already aware of him and I’m beginning to think I’m the only one who never heard of him before last night.

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  15. Check Craig Williams blog post for Oct. 3rd, 2019. It seems Banksy “borrowed” a lot of his inspiration from a Canadian cartoonist who lived in Glasgow in the late 90s and published her cartoons in a Glasgow newspaper. I’m not saying he isn’t a good artist, but he isn’t a very honest one.

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    • I did check out the article. I would only say, though, that all artists, whether musicians, painters, sculptors or writers get their inspiration somewhere. I don’t think that makes them dishonest. And if he took his inspiration from her in those particular works, he still made them his own. She was a political cartoonist, creating art from the things happening at the time, and he was a street artist creating art from the same things, so I would expect similarities.

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