Respect Authority

Are American capitalism and consumer culture rubbing off on Banksy?

The latest stop on the infamous British stencil artist’s impromptu American tour is none other than New York City, a veritable mecca of street art in its own right — the only odd thing is that it seems Banksy might not even be there. In the past week, New York has seen two huge wall murals reeking of the pseudo-anonymous artist’s drawing style go up seemingly overnight, however, he didn’t paint them!

Both pieces, “I Love NY” located at Wooster and Grand Street, and “Let Them Eat Crack” on Broadway and Howard, were commissioned by Banksy and are, in fact, entirely legal. Personally, while I find both pieces amusing, attractive, and thought-provoking, methinks the message gets a little diluted when they’re paid for, painted by somebody else, and maybe most importantly, covering illegal street art in the case of “Let Them Eat Crack,” which happily rolled over a large tag by graffiti artist Katsu.

Additionally, the timing seems more than a little convenient considering the Vanina Holasek Gallery‎ on 27th street will be hosting a Banksy show starting on December 2nd.

For the past couple months, Banksy has been leaving his distinctive mark all across America. He first stopped off in New Orleans, leaving a number of classic and controversial pieces in his wake. All of his work here (two shown above, more here and here) are typical Banksy stencils, as opposed to the markedly different approach in his New York murals. The image of the painter rolling over a graffiti stick figure resonates particularly strongly now, considering Banksy is more or less responsible for doing the same to Katsu’s tag. For some reason, I doubt the irony or the foreshadowing were intentional.

Shortly after appearing in the Big Easy, Banksy made a brief stop in Birmingham, Alabama and left one of his more incendiary pieces, seen above, on an abandoned gas station. The piece has since been removed, which is a real shocker. Nonetheless, despite its short life, the “Hanging Klansman” seems more stunning to me than either mural in New York — precisely because of its relatively small amount of exposure, brazen honesty, and yeah, the fact that if he got caught putting this up anywhere in the deep South he’d probably be the one hanging.

Nonetheless, commissioned work or not, I’d always prefer to see a giant rat appropriately wearing an “I Love NY” shirt on the side of a building than another impossibly stupid Svedka Vodka Femmebot or the like. I just think Banksy would do well to keep some of his own words in mind, before he falls victim to some of the vices his art has criticized:

The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.

[The World's Best Ever] [The Wooster Collective] [Banksy — Wikipedia]