So the infamous graffiti artist Banksy cracks the US. Who would have thought that an unnamed guy from Bristol would list his fans as Brad, Angelina, Keanu along with his already well established UK band of supporters. No-one really knows who exactly Banksy is, but he is supposedly the latest big thing in the art world. So is it the secrecy surrounding his work or the accessibility of it that makes Banksy so appealing? With regular press articles and the likelihood of viewing one of his pieces on your way to work; you’d certainly be hard pushed to find an artist so much in the public eye; but he must have gone relatively unnoticed for sometime considering the ever soaring prices of his work.
I saw his exhibition at Westborn Grove last year, and loved his thought provoking reworks of old masters paintings to include ironic symbols of modern urban living, although the addition of live rats made viewing the somewhat tentative!
The inclusion of a live painted Elephant in his most recent LA exhibition has sparked controversy, despite its owner saying no harm came to the animal. However, it’s hardly a surprising reaction to an artist that has courted controversy over his career ( many say Banksy has kept his identity a secret to avoid arrest). Whether you agree or not, this is undoubtedly a thought provoking picture of the week...
CK