Issue #8 - Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Posted by Denny Hatch
BANKSY: Invisible Artist,
Self-Marketer, Multi-millionaire
One of the very few snapshots of the elusive Banksy affixing his painting onto a bare wall in the Brooklyn Museum.
“I’ve
wandered round a lot of art galleries thinking, ‘I could have done that,’”
Banksy once wrote. “These galleries are just trophy cabinets for a handful of
millionaires. The public never has any real say in what art they see.”
One day
Banksy discovered his sister throwing a large number of his paintings into
trash, “and I asked her why? She said, ‘It’s not like they’re going to be
hanging in the Louvre.’”
Banksy
was inspired. “I thought, why wait until I’m dead?”
During
one week of March 2005, Banksy slipped into four major New York City
Museums—The Met, MOMA, American Museum of Natural History and the Brooklyn
Museum.
Using
very strong glue, he stuck onto unused walls brilliantly painted, weirdly wild
pictures such as the faux 17th century portrait below shown hanging
(briefly) in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum.
One
amazing result: hundreds of gallery-goers paused in front of these elaborate
put-ons and then moved on without a clue they were being had.
Curators
eventually removed the pictures. But Banksy could claim his works had hung in
major museums.
The Bristol Mural
One
morning in late June 2006, the city of Bristol awoke to find a Banksy mural
high up on a blank wall of the Brook Young People’s Sexual Health Clinic, “one
of the biggest providers of sexual health advice for young people in the U.K.,”
according to the clinic.
The mural
was executed in the dead of night atop a 20-foot ladder. Banksy created a tense
scene in which a cuckolded man—presumably a husband—angrily is looking out the
window. Behind him, looking worried and guilty is his wife in scanties. Hanging
off the windowsill is her stark naked lover.
Brook
Clinic’s medical director Annie Evans e-mailed Banksy to say her team at the
clinic are “bouncing with joy.” She wrote, “Did you realise how utterly
appropriate your latest subject matter was, given what goes on in the building?... Thanks a bunch and we’ll do our best to look after it.”
Fame and Fortune
Over the
years, Banksy has blitzed the UK with hundreds of graffiti images in myriad
styles: 17th century realism, Impressionist, Op/Warhol, Pop Art, comic
book and cartoons from silly to sinister, happy to horrifying, always outré and
outrageous.
He has
also produced an avalanche of paintings and lithographs for sale. He even
decorated a live elephant for the opening of his American exhibition in Los
Angeles.
His works
have sold at auction for six figures up to $1.1 million at Sotheby’s, Christies,
Bonhams and, of course on eBay
Banksy has
never been officially photographed and operates in the deep shadows.
Takeaways to Consider
• By covering the UK with brilliant graffiti—giving
away his art FREE!—Banksy generated
massive media coverage worldwide.
• He is a master of creating wants.
• He is
currently worth $50 million.
• He
welcomes Visitors.
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Word
count: 500
Banksy didn't originate the "free samples" school of artistic self-promotion. Keith Haring was doing the same in the 1970s (or was it the 1960s?) covering spaces meant for subway posters in New York with examples of his own art. And I wouldn't bet money that Haring was the first, either. That said, Banksy' stuff seems to be the most fun, and the sharpest shiv in the ribs of the art establishment that I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to write, Peter, and for the Keith Haring story. Haring sold his art for millions and was involved in lawsuits.
Deletehttps://news.artnet.com/market/keith-haring-foundation-evades-40m-lawsuit-275606
Being a snoop, I love to Google people [first name last name "net worth"] — to get a fix on how well the person did. Actors, artists, musicians, etc. Always surprises! Do keep in touch.
Good for Banksy and all the other artists with chutzpah to display their work in public places. Who determines the value of an artist's work? What "experts" control the value of the art we see. Marcel Duchamp said that if the artist says it is art, then it is art. Let's hope more people inventively show their work.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey, Thanks for taking the time to Comment. Been following Banksy for 12 years. Few photos of him. Is he really Robin Cunningham?
Deletehttp://artdaily.com/news/25150/Is-Robin-Cunningham-the-Mysterious-and-Unknown-Grafitti-Artist-Banksy-#.WpV_GGaZNTY
Is this really Mrs. Banksy?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367954/Mrs-Banksy-unmasked-Graffiti-artists-wife-Joy-Millward-pictured-time.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Ya gotta love the guy. Cheers.
Wonderful piece, Denny. I wish I could afford some of his work. As Jeffrey above writes, what 'experts' determine of value is what we see and the wonderful work created by 'unknowns' is frequently, almost always, discarded. That's where social media comes in. I did a piece about a Brazilian grafiti artist whom I met decorating a wall in a public garden near my apartment and the result has been recognition, and some sales of his work. https://www.google.com.br/search?ei=LMYOW6v8AoitwASxqZNI&q=Huffpost+GringoView+Thiago+Bender+&oq=Huffpost+GringoView+Thiago+Bender+&gs_l=psy-ab.3...31711.44775.0.45879.13.13.0.0.0.0.288.1990.0j9j3.12.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.0.0....0.w218OXIBZ2Y But best of all, when I go out the front door in the morning, one of his figures is smiling at me from a telephone pole. I smile back.
ReplyDeletePeter, thanks for writing. I too would love a Banksy. Alas, we downsized from a 5-story house (4 flights of stairs, ugh) to an 2BR apt w/vu and no room. 2 reasons why we don't by stuff: we are pensioners and no room in the small apt.
DeleteDo keep in touch. Cheers.