BANSKY THE TRICKSTER

BANKSY IN NEW YORK AND THEN THE WORLD!

Banksy                          from google image for education only

Banksy is a pseudonymous for a satirical graffiti artist from the U.K.  He is a mysterious figure of which little is known about. No one knows for sure what he looks like, almost like a changeling.

Bansky's Images are often satyr and always striking

His work is done with stencils and is satirical and always striking. He refuses interviews and is famously illusive.  As I was reading about Banksy and his recent artistic escapades in NYC it  brought to mind the Native American Mythic entity, the Trickster.   

For the Hopi he appears as Kokopelli and for other North Western tribes he appears as a coyote who often takes on the form of a coyote head and the body of a man.

 Like a modern Trickster, Banksy assumes mysterious changing forms and is famous for playing artistic pranks and stunts on the streets of the cities he visits.  The city streets literally becomes his canvas and nothing is spared from his creative imagination.  This past month in NYC his work shows up as graffiti, an art stand that sells print reproductions( but instead sold his real work for $60), and also as  a truck with pig puppets squealing on the way to market. It is almost Halloween and Banksy is said to have three more pieces to do before he leaves.  There is such excitement in the city to see where he will strike and what he will do. 

Bansky Graffiti Art

Quiet is the New Loud by Bansky     from google for education only

Not everyone is happy with his artistic stunts, Mayor Bloomberg wants him arrested.  Some New Yorkers defile his work while others steal it for hope of profit and others just enjoy the fun of it all.
It is believed that Banksy is from Bristol, England and grew up as an English school boy .  His work begins to appear in the 1990's in and around Bristol.  His work then appears in London and throughout England.  Then his work begins to appear in Europe and now cities through out the world. The spray can movement may have started in and around Bristol with graffiti artist in the 80's and 90's, but Banksy certainly has taken it to a new high art form that has captured peoples attention world wide.

Flower Chucker by Banksy

HERE IS AN EXERPT FROM THE WIKIPEDIA RESOURCE ON BANKSY THAT GIVE A MORE IN DEPTH LOOK AT HIS MOTIVATION BEHIND MUCH OF HIS WORK:

"We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves."

— Banksy, Wall and Piece^[119]

Banksy once characterised graffiti as a form of underclass "revenge", or guerilla warfare that allows an individual to snatch away power, territory and glory from a bigger and better equipped enemy.^[26] Banksy sees a social class component to this struggle, remarking "If you don't own a train company then you go and paint on one instead."^[26] Banksy's work has also shown a desire to mock centralised power, hoping that his work will show the public that although power does exist and works against you, that power is not terribly efficient and it can and should be deceived.^[26]

Banksy's works have dealt with an array of political and social themes, including anti-War, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism,anti-authoritarianism, anarchism, nihilism, and existentialism. Additionally, the components of the human condition that his works commonly critique are greed, poverty, hypocrisy, boredom, despair, absurdity, and alienation.^[120] Although Banksy's works usually rely on visual imagery and iconography to put forth his message, he has made several politically related comments in his various books. In summarising his list of "people who should be shot," he listed "Fascist thugs, religious fundamentalists, (and) people who write lists telling you who should be shot."^[121] While facetiously describing his political nature, Banksy declared that "Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world, I can't even finish my second apple pie."^[122]

THE ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG MUSEUM

CAPTIVA FLORIDA

RAUSCHENBERG MUSEUM(click to link)

from google image for education only

A trip I have always wanted to make is to the Sanibel/Captiva Islands of Florida, just off the West Coast of Florida.  Though Robert Rauschenberg spent a good bit of his life in NYC, he later moved to Florida where he worked and built a magnificent studio.  Another little known area of Rauschenberg's life is his work with Autism.  He offered workshops for public school art teachers to develop lesson plans working with autistic children and art.  When I was teaching in special education I applied once, but did not get in due to the large number of teachers who wanted the opportunity as well. I also admired his foundation work with the Robert Rauschenberg World foundation.
I highly advise if you live nearby or are a Rauschenberg fan like I am, you make the journey to go see his museum and studio. 

STRONG WOMEN BRIGHT

Our friend and fellow glass artist Joseph Cavalieri is showing a new body of work about strong women that have influenced his life.  Please check out his show in NYC at the Dixon Gallery.(click)

9/11 Reflections/Milton's Story and Shepard Fairy's Art of Hope

Milton's Story

September 11th, 2001 will always be at time of tragedy, sadness and reflection for all Americans. Each person can tell you where they were and what they were doing when they found out our country was under attack. Milton's story was different than most because he was there, struggling to survive that clear September morning on the streets of New York City. Milton is an Episcopal Priest whose church was near ground zero. The church survived miraculously.

Milton was on his way to his church when the planes struck slamming into the twin towers at hundreds of miles of hour with a fireball of fuel, like a cannon balling huge balls of fire into the offices of people typing on computer , in meetings, and talking on phones. The building shook, smoke poured out the windows, confusion, what has happened, more confusion, what will happen? Milton stands transfixed, he rushes toward his church, the first tower starts to crumble, as is does, a rush of air, smoke and debris shoot down the stairs into the street with the force of hurricane winds. People are running, trying to find any open door to duck into. Milton can't get to a building the roar is over taking him, he rolls under a car near by and prays he will survive. He can't breathe the smoke and debris are so thick. He sees someone who needs help, he rolls out from under the car and grabs them, they go to the nearest door and people let them in, the door closes, more debris rushes past them. Helpless strangers in a room watch from glass windows as if in a fog that no one can see through. After the first building is hit and the debris storm clears people are thinking they need to leave the area, then the second tower is hit, people start to run to get away knowing what is coming. Milton turned around, there is a handicapped man that is left in the room, he can not leave him so he goes back and gets him....he helps him to get further away before the next debris storm comes. He leads the group to safety and a clinic where they will be helped. Nothing is running, no taxi's, no subway, nothing...where should he go, who can he help...now they are evacuating the city...he must leave, but go where...he lost his cell phone, no money, no wallet...he gets on a boat to New Jersey and somehow gets in contact with family who can take him in. That is Miltons story.

He told me his story on the week of President Obama's inauguration. That day the country was once again feeling hope. It may not be the way Milton would tell it, but I was captivated listening to him tell his story that day for 2 hours while we sat in the cafe of the American Indian Museum in Washington D.C. Milton made the cover of European magazines, someone took a picture of him rolling under the car in the debris storm. He made the cover the story was covered by Reuters. Milton is still an Episcopal priest, he now resides in Washington D.C

Shepard Fairey

I didn't know Shepard Faireys' work before the campaign of President Obama. Until I saw the work in person I thought it was painted and no collage elements. The portrait was displayed at a museum in Washington D.C. the day of the Presidents inauguration. It was an amazing day, a day of hope in a country that had been struggling with the after effects of 9/11. There was much to share from that day and that is for another blog entry with many wonderful photos taken showing the pride of African Americans and a feeling of at long last. But today we will talk of Shepard Fairey the artist.

The colors are bold, dramatic and clear. There is no background only the image of Barack Obama looking out into the distance of a vision he sees for America and that vision is hope. The pictures remind me of political posters of Eastern Europe during earlier periods of history. As I look closer I see collage elements, and stenciling, newspaper, and spray painted areas. It appears as the artist was working with larger areas first, the going back inside each separate area working in collage or the opposite laying out the collage and then stenciling the outline of the face over the collage. As you scroll down in the photo's below you will see the close up of mixed media elements.

When you look closely at each area, it becomes its own strong visual field, each shape defines a new area that could stand alone as its own whole.
I particularly love the area of the tie, collar, and neck line. When you look this closely it is almost abstracted, but still visually strong. To me that one section would be a painting in itself. That is what is interesting to me about Shepard Faireys work...each section in inherently interesting and the next.
If you remember there was much controversy over the work. The picture of President elect Obama had been taken by a photographer and Shepard had use the same apparent photo to work from. So who owned the image? Was it illegal for Shepard to have copied a photographers image. Who owns the image rights? I am not sure how the controversy settled out, but I am sure it is not one that is over in the art world. And Shepard himself has been taken advantage of, people copy his work, his style and use this image all with out permission. No royalties for the artists, little protection. It still is an amazing art work to see close and discover the hidden worlds with in.