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Banksy: From 'Civil Sculptor' To Dismaland & Beyond

Following on, I like the idea that what happened at Sotheby's was not exactly what Banksy planned. The title of the (new) piece, Love in a Bin, describes his intention that the whole picture would shred. That the shredder broke half way through leaves the new owner with something that was mostly created by the artist but partially created by circumstance. All rather satisfying, at least for me. I like the idea that not everything is under control.

If I did a History of Art course today I could probaly write pages of pretentious drivel about this whole situation. In fact, I may well write pages of drivel just to explain to myself why this event pleases me so.
 
It's much more of an overall hunch than awareness of any absolute evidence. But a strong instinct....

I feel the key points are:
  • sheer geographic spread of artwork locations
  • over-reliance upon stencils
  • high probability of unofficial emulators in addition to a core team (let's call that "the crop circle circle effect")
  • the implausibility of shy artists
  • 'Stig syndrome'... business-projected faceless quasi-celebrity
  • rapid switch-flick from marginal tolerance / fringe acceptance over to cult status (and instant monetisation)
There are more aspects...I shall expand later
 
A team rather than a movement I should think
Well- isn't a movement a core, with semi-associated teams? With an aspect of covert anti-establishment thrown in? And then, following acceptance, it might become mainlined into being movemental.
 
That "Banksy" is not one person? That Pest Control is the group of artists known as Bansky? Okay, I understand that. I thought that your thinking was specific to Girl With a Balloon/Love in a Bin, but the wider idea is fascinating considering the elements that were involved in the creation of this one particular piece.

My inchoate thinking is that this "stunt" at Sotheby's is an expression of art in the social media environment, and a signpost to where art could be heading - and a faceless, multiple identity art co-operative coalesced into one name acting as one to create the moment/piece is pretty neat. Not a movement exactly (right now) but an expression of the social, global coming together/dispertion of ideas. A physical meme, a movement in the making? If the future of art is this, as opposed to installations, I'm kinda stoked.

I'm sure that real art peeps have already thought this and dismissed it but I'm happy to have thunk it myself whilst drinking Lidl wine and mourning the loss of this (as it currently exists) fantastic bloody forum where I can talk to people who think...okay, the Lidl wine may have kicked in!

Speak to me more about ideas on art, I love this stuff (regardless of my lack of knowledge!)
 
A movement implies ideology. Several famous artists had people working for them. It could be the same for Banksy or it was always a team effort.
 
Are or which other people or groups of people are taking/working the idea of a social media event being a piece of art? I'm not arguing just asking because I don't know. What other pieces are there like this? I'd like to see them and some sign posts would be really helpful. Is social/media art a movement right now like the Impressionists or Pre-Raphaelites? Obviously artists use other people - Warhol, Michaelangelo, Hirst. But is this piece of Banksy's a part of a movement or just that person/group's most famous piece?

There has to be a book or website all about this kind of art...any suggestions?
 
I would just put it down as performance art. Though for once not done by some attention seeker.
 
aDrBanksyGirlBlueBoxSm.jpg
 
Are or which other people or groups of people are taking/working the idea of a social media event being a piece of art? I'm not arguing just asking because I don't know. What other pieces are there like this? I'd like to see them and some sign posts would be really helpful. Is social/media art a movement right now like the Impressionists or Pre-Raphaelites? Obviously artists use other people - Warhol, Michaelangelo, Hirst. But is this piece of Banksy's a part of a movement or just that person/group's most famous piece?

There has to be a book or website all about this kind of art...any suggestions?
The KLF setting fire to a million quid springs to mind ..

 
Sometimes modern art is truly funny...ART!
and if you enjoy reddit you might also be familiar with a redditor there: u/shittymorph. He has a thing that he does which he has refined over the couple of years that he has done it and it is always a joy when one of his posts unexpectedly turns up in a thread you are reading. This morning I had the utter pleasure of reading this

To the topic of funny art.
Banksys work not only includes many powerful, often controversial images, but they may also be found throughout the Internet as viral images, for example, here- https://guyhepner.com/artists/banksy-paintings-and-prints/
 
I have a source in Sotheby's ;) and so far as they know, the auction house know nothing about the self-shredder. But staff do get to have private viewings and previews, which is a nice perk! We recently talked about how, with the shredder malfunctioning and the picture remaining half-shredded and suspended, that a brand-new artwork was created in the form that neither Sotheby's or Banksy intended.
 
I'm not a fan... rather than seeming exciting, to me he's just reiterating the same basic idea Duchamp was getting at, working on expectations and definitions as opposed to actually doing something compelling with visual art. If the appeal is in the definition and not in the art itself, I don't care for it.

In other faux Banksy news, the tv show NCIS recently did a show where a Banksy-esq prank artist was killed - but then it turned out somebody else was the artist. At the end of the show, even that was in question.
 
Banksy is observing the lockdown and working from home. Perhaps more accurately, he's using his home for his work(s) ...

Banksy-Bath-Rat.jpg

Even Banksy is working from home during the lockdown

Coronavirus lockdown measures mean people around the world are making adjustments to their daily lives, and sometimes their homes.

Famed street artist Banksy has joined those who have had to adapt their working life, bringing his outdoor work inside.

"My wife hates it when I work from home," Banksy posted on Instagram Wednesday, alongside a set of images showing illustrated rats larking around in his bathroom. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/banksy-working-from-home-lockdown-scli-intl-gbr/index.html
 
Art Attack host Neil Buchanan is NOT BANKSY so STOP ASKING:
News story

Amazing how many fall for these online hoaxes. Banksy will be someone whose name you've never heard of. Maybe he works in a bank.
 
Art Attack host Neil Buchanan is NOT BANKSY so STOP ASKING:
News story

Amazing how many fall for these online hoaxes. Banksy will be someone whose name you've never heard of. Maybe he works in a bank.

Thought the Banksy team was revealed to be a group of (at least) three political activists.

Robert del Naja is supposedly the ringleader.
 
Weston used to have a great deal going on - in the 60s and 70s it had two piers, the lido, tons of pubs, restaurants, hotels, arcades, a model village, the Winter Gardens, a little zoo, waxworks (hilariously terrible)... but since the late eighties it's concentrated on becoming a town that doesn't have to depend on tourism - people can get a fortnight in Alicante or wherever for the same price with guaranteed good weather and a tide that doesn't retreat for a mile over the mudflats. As a town it knows that what's left looks a bit seedy - apart from the pier, rebuilt after the fire, which does a good trade - so what it did was expand massively inland, becoming second to Bristol in population a while ago, overtaking Bath, and serves as a dormitory for the former. It does still have a loyal fanbase for holidays though, and the surrounding countryside is lovely. I'm very fond of it, especially in the winter - it has that splendid bleakness.
And quite a lot of Mud!
 
Art Attack host Neil Buchanan is NOT BANKSY so STOP ASKING:
News story
I'd love it if it was someone like Buchanan, though. It would alter our perceptions of both ends of the artist's work.

My money's now on Ricky Martin (no, not that one) from CBBC's Art Ninja!
 
How about Mark Speight? Sorry, that's a bit dark.
 
From t'BBC news just now -

Banksy loses battle with greetings card firm over 'flower bomber' trademark


Banksy has lost a battle with a greetings card firm over the trademark of one of his most famous works.

North Yorkshire-based Full Colour Black challenged the artist's right to trademark his image of a protester throwing a bunch of flowers.

The European Union trademark office has thrown out his trademark and accused him of being "inconsistent with honest practices" when trying to protect it.

For a trademark to be valid, the holder must sell goods using the image.

But the authority said he had filed it in order to avoid using copyright laws, which are separate and would have required the famously elusive Bristolian artist to reveal his true identity.

The cost of anonymity, eh.
 
Yep, there's that ... And then there are the things Banksy has publicly stated that undermine his ability to claim proprietary rights at all.
The E.U. Rules Against Banksy in His Trademark Fight With a Greeting Card Company, Citing His Own Statement That ‘Copyright Is For Losers’

The European Union Intellectual Property Office also cited his anonymity.

The “Cancellation Division” of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) just issued a decision declaring a trademark owned by street artist Banksy invalid.

Further, an attorney says the mysterious street artist and his attorneys are themselves to blame. The “real nail in the coffin,” attorney Aaron Wood told the World Trademark Review in announcing the news on May 19, was the “public comments of Banksy and his lawyer.”

Wood represents a greeting card company known as Full Colour Black Limited, a specialty retailer of street art greeting cards, that went head to head with Banksy over its use of Banksy’s Laugh Now. One of the artist’s most famous images, the work shows a monkey wearing a sandwich board. Some versions of the image bear the inscription “laugh now but one day we’ll be in charge.” ...

Full Colour Black claimed that the art is a work of graffiti sprayed in a public place—and EUIPO agreed. “It was free to be photographed by the general public and has been disseminated widely,” the ruling states. “Banksy permitted parties to disseminate his work and even provided high-resolution versions of his work on his website and invited the public to download them and produce their own items.” ...

Furthermore, in his 2007 book Wall and Piece, Banksy had said that “copyright is for losers.” The ruling notes that the street artist explicitly stated that the public is morally and legally free to reproduce, amend, and otherwise use any copyright works forced upon them by third parties. ...

Another factor that played into the ruling was the fact that Banksy’s true identity remains a mystery. “It is also noted that as Banksy has chosen to be anonymous and cannot be identified this would hinder him from being able to protect this piece of art under copyright laws without identifying himself, while identifying himself would take away from the secretive persona which propels his fame and success,” the ruling states. ...
FULL STORY: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/banksy-trademark-full-colour-black-1971339
 
You've got to admit [maybe grudgingly] it's a pretty good stunt though..

If someone actually has paid £1 million for a stencilled picture, as Vardoger said, the shredding may not have 'destroyed' it as an artwork & may actually increase the value.
Well fancy that -

Partially-shredded Banksy back under the hammer at Sotheby's


Sold for £1.1 million in 2018, it now has an estimated price of between £4 & £6 million. An increase of 400% to 600% in 3 years if realised.

Must admit it would greatly amuse me if it didn’t even raise a million. Can’t see that happening though.
 
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