For everybody who says Banksy is overrated...
Hotsauce84
8,450 Posts
STFU AND KIM.
Tonight's episode of The Simpsons...intro directed by Banksy:
Tonight's episode of The Simpsons...intro directed by Banksy:
Comments
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Banksy is NOT overrated.
Kindly,
parallax
(admittedly I never watch it)
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Claims to be street but we always knew he was really trying to be 'gallery'
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NOT STREET ART
he's selling out
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23876238-banksy-under-fire-for-promotion-stunt-at-hmv.do
I don't see how that's selling out. He snuck that in there himself to promote a DVD he (supposedly) put out himself. HMV themselves said they weren't expecting to see that.
"Out for fame" + hands-on guerilla marketing =/= selling out in my eyes.
That rat is not a piece. Graffiti is not 'street art'. Keep trying.
i guess what i mean is, his work is anachronistic in that he deals so much with anti commercial / anti branding themes and yet he's built a brand and a merchandising empire with a considerable turnover. he's not in it purely for the art is he. it makes his work seem less honest and more cynical than perhaps it once was.
Maybe he has, but I don't recall ever hearing the man call himself a "street artist." I'm pretty sure it was a term that was bestowed upon him by people who find it easiest to define it that way. After all, it is ART generally done on a STREET, isn't it?
Besides, reading is fundamental:
Perhaps I should write that on a wall for you? I have an old can of scarlet Krylon and decent handstyles. It wouldn't be a thing really.
I feel you, but what is the man supposed to do? Give it all up and start selling cars for a living? He walks a fine line that he seems very aware of and he does it well. Granted, it took me watching the documentary to see it that way (I had the same doubts a lot of folks have), but now I have a newfound respect for the man.
Shepard Fairey owns a successful clothing line, Andre3000 (tried to) sell overpriced menswear, Ice Cube makes kids movies... I ain't mad at 'em.
Well, I don't think any of us can say with any certainty whether or not he's still in it for the art, can we? The way I see it is that he recognises the very contradiction you mention, and is now playing about with it. What's he doing with that Simpson's title sequence, for instance? Is he making a direct comment on the "Simpsons Industry"? Is he taking the piss out of passive-aggressive PETA-style "every time you buy a pair of Dunks, a unicorn dies" campaigning? Is he saying, "Look, all of us participate in this kind of shit, either as producers or spectators, but if you've come to me expecting to be told what you should do about it, you've come to the wrong place"? Is he saying all of those things? Is he saying none of them? The mere fact that what he does can still throw up such questions (above and beyond the perrenial 'that's not graf'/'it's not much more than stencil-work' criticisms) means he remains an important artist, as far as I'm concerned.
i wonder if the simpsons thing is simply because someone forwarded this to matt groenig.
Sell out?
What fantasy land is the audience in? "he's not more REAL than this dude......."
Dudes who rocked trains wanted other artists and the public to SEE their shit.
Joe Schmo makes T-shirts....whoopdeedamndoo in 2010. That's like "get my brand out there" 101.
Let Banksky live and go get some Gap jeans.
1)lots of people, though not saying they are more authentic than people who create art for money.
2)when your art is based on notions of authenticity / "realness" and filled with harsh critiques of capitalism (though not exclusively, his art seems largely critical of any social system) it kinda goes with the territory that you should be critiqued if you support / operate within those systems right? To criticize and then cooperate is to be politically hollow / unauthentic right? specially within graffiti which is a pretty militant artform.
3)yes they did, but when it moved from trains to galleries there was an ideological split right? and banksy prides himself on the guerilla aspect of exhibition, not conformist notions of how art should be packaged, presented and sold.
4)lol at the gap jeans remark.
The whole Banksy vs Robbo thing is fucking lame.
If his 'art' becomes any more self referential I think I might just throw up.
also
The Simpsons fell off years ago.
Not a sell out, just mad lazy. Taking stickers he was putting up in like '93 and putting them on t-shirts in 2010, lame.
I can appreciate banksy for what he is. but still, with the fawning?
They did it for other writers and the public - not to become the toast of A list hollywood and a hot collectors/investors commodity; although some graffiti writers did move on to gain mainstream and gallery acceptance. with ensuing and legitimate debate. Most graffiti writers make piss-poor 'modern artists', who can never gain the stature they had in the graff world in the art world. Nor should they have to - unless the motive is to earn money. In which case, all you can say is: fair enough, too bad.
If banksy had started out where he belongs - (in trendy galleries across the street from wine bars) there never would have been this real/sell-out /fake-graff debate. It would have just taken him a hell of a lot longer to gain any attention, if he would have achieved any attention at all.
Even in the simpsons intro he references himself as being graff or street by having banksy tags. & this is what annoys some people to some extent about banksy - especially graff people who suddenly can no longer disassociate themselves from, or get lumped in with, the 'street art' monicker. Banksy has a 'street' rep, and to a large extent this has legitimised him in the eyes of the mainstream - when in retrospect, the 'street' aspect of banksy all seems to have been a gimmick to gain mainstream acceptance and/or publicity. Most writers only seek recognition from other writers.
Bombing trains is something alltogether different from wheat-pasting faux warhol posters all over the financial district with a writer from ID magazine in tow. Or is it?
All this talk of 'street art' makes me itch.
'street art' = 'urban'
Still, it doesnt mean YOU cant be a fan of 'street art'. This is after all, a forum to debate personal taste.
That will be all.
I cant name one "political" artist that isnt part of some system/industry, even if theyre critiquing it.
Off the grid = no audience.
I never heard of folks lumping Graf writers w/ Street Art cats.
Sidewalk Chalk Drawings = Steffi Graf???
In the Getting Up video game(Marc Ecko hatt?) that came out a minute ago, the hero had to go to various Graf heroes to get "skills". One of the "tasks" was to learn how to "Wheat Paste" posters of your logo. I didnt see that as some encroachment on Graf's "purity". That was just a game, but whateves.
Was Basquiat really tryin to go All-City? Was the SAMO collabo some legit shit or some bourgie kid from Brooklyn co-opting Graf?
In the context of Graf he maybe wasnt killin shit, but in the context of the Art World here was someone that successfully fused the graf line quality w/ established historical Art world styles.
Does that hurt Graf? Can real Graf cats pull off what he did?
Does Banksy(dont care about) diminsh Graf/writers contributions?
Anyone using a spraycan need an realness check? Can The Duke Rapp?
Who the fuck in this thread is "fawning"?
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You're whole rant was pretty much a straw man argument, as you obviously have a bee in your bonnet about Banksy and 'street art' vs 'real graf', in general.
Such discussions belong in the 'forum to debate personal taste' of your mind / subsection: YAWN. or 2001.
I don't find nearly as much of a connection between Banksy and Warhol's work as I do Warhol and Paolozzi's.
see fer yerself...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Paolozzi
Either that or they're trying to generate some tempest in a teacup "controversy" in the hope that people will actually start watching the show again.
WORD.