Banksy's Mark

Graffiti art, some loath it and some love it, the two rarely meet in the middle. Then came Banksy.

But before we get to Banksy, what have we always understood as graffiti art? It's crude, crap, terrible logos, bad type treatment, smeared and hard to read because the kids use the same spot and graffiti over each other. People don't like it because it's a mess and mainly because it's an eyesore. The first thing the city tries to do is paint over it and I would typically agree with them.

I once looked though a book on Graffiti art and tried to understand it better. I realized that these kids were trying to express themselves to the world and say no to conformity and following the rules. This I understand and I think most would agree. But why don't they learn how to be better artists I wondered. Then it hit me. Every artist needs a canvas and they are using what they have which isn't much. I guess that's how Banksy started, he looked at a wall or a bridge underpass and began to express his "political" and "social" conerns. Maybe he was crap in the beginning but now he's a genius.














These two images are only a couple examples of what's he's done. Click on the link above to truly see the scope of his work. He incorporates the surroundings into his art and makes a dull spot suddenly unique. What local person, city official or paid city worker would want to get rid of it. It goes back to experession, freedom of expression which goes to the hart we believe in the UK and US.

Banksy is doing what needs to be done and a long the way adding some irony and humor to what would be a very dull street.