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]