Urban Graffiti as Art: Banksy
The work of the British urban guerrilla artist known only as Banksy.
To many the sight of a wall scrawled with spray paint is an eyesore and depressing.
It purports a careless society. It reminds us of vandalism and thugs on the streets.
But what if the graffiti was intelligent, thought provoking or just plain funny?
Such is the work of the British urban guerrilla artist known only as Banksy.
Thought to have first appeared in Bristol, his works are usually of layered stencil.
One of his commonest images is of rats.
Sometimes by adding them to an existing notice or object, what is plain and uninteresting becomes amusing. In the next two images he brings a smile to the face by decorating a “No Swimming” sign with a rat in a lifebelt, and of one breaking into a meter.
Not only the walls are used for his work. The pavements are used to add to the image, and sometimes one wall is not enough.
,
The above picture of the Cop Snorting Coke is one of many images of the police, that he has done over the years since he first started in the early 90s.
Perhaps it is a challenge for them to catch him. (Not an easy job as he remains completely anonymous, known only to close friends and his agent.)
Perhaps not. Maybe it’s just his sense of humour. He’s placing them in situations we would not normally see them in.
Other topics that he covers are more thought provoking, like these children swearing allegiance to the supermarket giant Tesco.
Much of his work appears to be commenting on how he sees modern society and the way we live today.
Is it art? Does society think it is?
The answer must be yes, as local Councils, under pressure from local inhabitant are working to preserve these works.
How long will they last? Who knows, but as the value of his studio works rise into the hundreds of thousands of pounds and there are web sites that show the map locations of “Banksys”, I have a feeling that many Councils will keep them as Tourist attractions.
This was the first in a series of articles.
There are now MANY more articles on Banksy by this writer, including
Banksy Film: Exit Through The Gift Shop
Banksy Storms New Orleans: Banksy vs.. The Gray Ghost
Banksy in Bethlehem: Art and The Barrier Between Two Nations
All can be found at
Liked it
A neighbor of mine’s son does graffiti art on paper and is very good at it too. Guess if put in proper place it can be appreacited. Nice pics and a good written article. Thank you!
bansky is the best.. 
I like this. It’s a very interesting take on art. I like the pictures, in that they made me think. I hope Bansky’s work survives for many generations yet to come.
Take Care,
Kiki Stamatiou (Joanna Maharis)
I like this article and I like Banksy’s art.
Good one C.
freedom of expression. gotta love it.
The pictures are absolutely extraordinary – thank you for creating this wonderful article.
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
First time I saw this: It’s raging arts. Another creative form of expression and I think this Banksy guy really let it out with his touch on the walls, and they are really good…
Excellent article. I’ve always loved graffiti art, or I should say, well done graffiti art, and not the scrawling. I’ve always liked Basquiat. It’s just a shame he died when he was at his peak. His art I think is what catapulted the whole idea of graffiti art. Again, well done.
This was thoroughly enjoyable.
It is a very basic and latent human tendecy to scrible or draw something on a wall as it was the first way of communication we ever had. This early stage civilization element is still very much alive within all humans, as an inherited urge or as psychologists call it, the collective concious. Banksy has just given it a vent and it turned out to be marvelous. I personally feel that its much better to have something like that on the walls instead of plain concrete structures.
And C, you deserve an ovation for taking so much pain to go around collecting all those pics and doing that research. Good show.
Thank you all for your remarks. You’re quite right Sen, after all the first examples of art were cave and rock paintings.
It’s a form of art, and some of them are really great!
Excellent stuff! A cool read and great images!
Awesome art work. Great article.
Awesome Article. The only good graffiti we get around here is the occasional artwork on a train passing thru
Very good.. I wrote about graffiti in college, but had never heard of Banksy. But that was xxx (you don’t wanna know) years ago :X
I wish it had been shown to me back then. i was an art student at the time as well.
He has a unique talent…..and I say it’s ART!
Great compilation on an outstanding artist
I’m glad that I clicked on it, it’s just too good to miss!!!! You’re so good and the art!!!
Good graffiti pictures, Banksy has a good sense of humour!
Wow… amazing!
