MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
yep, had his book for a while, tis good it is.
I like the second pic but the other two do nothing for me.
I see he's taken to going over people's pieces now. Nice.
well people go over his, ever driven into Bristol from the M4, the bridge used to read B A N K S E Y but now it seems to read something different every week 😀
Enjoyed Banksy's work for quite some time now. I would see his work appearing around Shoreditch a good few years ago. Gets a little stick now for selling out but I still like him.
The 'window' one, which is in Park Street, Bristol, always makes me laugh when I see it. Banksy is a graphic genius, his ideas and his excecution of them never fails to amaze me. I wish I had a fraction of his creativity.
Have his book - have several other street art/non-commissioned art/graffiti/vandalism* books too. Hangover from a 'mis-spent' youth I guess.
Whether it's to your taste or not is up to you, but most of Bansky's stuff is quite clever in terms of the observations made. He does seem to be getting a bit up himself though lately, what with the whole thing with going over other peoples stuff when there was no real need to. Don't buy the "other's go over his stuff" argument in that it hadn't been there for 20 years or however long, plus in the book he actually courts the interaction of others with several of his 'pieces'.
*delete as appropriate ;D
The exhibition was fantastic.
A 5 hour wait to get in ,but still worth it 🙂
See loads of it round East London
seems all been done using stencils.
Does look a cut above the rest when you
see it.
The one I like is the two kids saluting a Tesco carrier bag.
Some how the carrier bag has been defaced a few times
In two minds about the bloke myself. On the one hand, his work often doesn't have much of a message beyond "woah dude, corporations are bad, and stuff", and his style borrows wholesale from an 80s French artist, [url= http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=blek+le+rat&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=3C5MS-TOGYbu0wTNhayADg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB0QsAQwAA ]Blek Le Rat[/url]. He's clearly a great marketer of his abilities, which doesn't necessarily make him a great artist. But it's well-executed, often very audacious, and seems to have had a knock-on effect on a new generation of graf artists who want to bring some social consciousness into their work.
Is the 2nd image really a banksey? It doesn't appear to even be in Europe and it's a single stencil. Hardly comparable to the other 2 pieces.
Used to live down the road from the "Mild, mild West" bear lobbing the molotov cocktail on Stokes Croft. Always brightened my day walking past it
Surfr, yes, it's on the Gaza wall. Various graf artists have been over there to paint it.
I agree with Mr Agreeable.
Blek Le Rat has the edge on banksy to me. His images are not just about "a message" and he has a good understanding of the aesthetics of his work which banksy seems to lack.
The book is well worth getting. Nice to see a bit of witty political comment.
Does Blek Le Rat preced Banksy? If so it appears Banksy has ripped off Blek to a degree.
I don't know much about art and probably represent a fair degree of the great unwashed, but from what I knew from the media Banksy was one of the 'originals'.
Has anyone got any photos of the guy?
No, the photos of him (?) placing his works in The Louvre, Natural History Museum etc. he's in a disguise.
There was a newspaper a year or so ago though that thought they'd exposed him with a picture. Not sure what became of that though.
Loving the 'IT'S JUST VANDALISM' tag at the top. I never new Brian Sewell was a mountain biker.
His art is witty, well executed and inspires others: I think there's less mindless tagging in the streets now that good graffiti is accepted.
The exhibition was the first art exposition that made me laugh out loud, it was subversive and fun, and I go see plenty of art. He is definitely an artist.
He's got a film coming out on the 5th March:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8471145.stm
Art for most people has been dead for ages. Talentless people /self publicists like Tracey Emin and that prat who does the dead animals have helped people despise 'Art'. Banksy has rekindled interest in art for lots of people, bringing originality, humour and actual skill instead of snobbery, emperors clothes and pretension. Who could complain about that?
Defacing someone elses property by imposing your view of art onto it is vandalism.
Street art is something entirely different.
Personally, however clever and witty something is if it falls into the former grouping I think its antisocial and should have no place in our society. So Bansky vandalism is still vandalism. Banksy artwork on the other hand is clever, innovative and welcome.
As for selling out. Surely the whole concept of shared art is to deliver it to the widest possible audience. In fact Graffitti is really more guilty of this than most other art forms.....isn't it? So how is obtaining a mainstream outlet for his work selling out? Or transferring that to cycling should we all be riding self build bone shaker bikes with varying degrees of suitability for purpose??
When has Banksy ever vandelised anything?
I'm looking to shift my banksy bomb hugger print circa 2003. If you know anyone that fancies it, feel free to get in touch. It's not really me anymore!
I got his book for christmas.
Was'nt a fan cos i didnt know who/what it was. but a bit of a fan now 🙂
Banksy's an artist.... pure and simple..
Dan I think the second photo's one of the ones he did on the Israeli security wall around the West Bank....
DBK
Tagging is where it's at, still graffiti just like bansky's.
DBK's work is the best under the susspension bridge tunnel on the Portway and a telephone kiosk in Lawrence Weston and lamp post in Shire.
Did nt he paint the first pic on the side of a clap clinic ?
The picture of the guy hanging from the window, yeah
Banksy's work does not deface walls, it enhances them. So it's "free" civic art in my book.
I read an interesting article a while ago about his stuff in Gaza, apparently he had quite a few oh shit moments where the Israeli's were thinking of shooting him as a terrorist/non-Zionist.
So he spent a fair bit of his time face in the dirt with boots on his back. Still continued to paint the wall so fair play to him, especially as accidents do seem to happen at a fairly regular frequency over there.
Am I the only one here to think he is massively overated?
Probably.
Suckers!
we've been a bit of a fan of Banksy round this way since the late 80's during Britains first golden age of graffiti art...
this guy is my favorite though;
I got his book for christmas.Was'nt a fan cos i didnt know who/what it was. but a bit of a fan now
well done.
very good.
we need more people like this guy.
Absolutely love Banksy. The combination of wit, subtlety and audaciousness needed for some of his work it brill. Much better than the hag tracy emmin anyday. (Excuse spelling, its early).
i don't follow art especially, but the effect banksy has had on bristol is fantastic. wander through stokes croft and new street art is happening before your eyes. people are actually excited to see what will happen next, and the other artists that have emerged just keep raising the bar
yet another reason why bristol is the best place in the world 🙂
his recent exhibition was fantastic (what queue? 7pm, last two days, walked straight in!)
Real urban hero!
(Rumours are about he used to do the artwork for our sound system many years ago but I'm not so sure)
Am I the only one here to think he is massively overated?
Care to follow that up with reasons why he's overated ? Is there something else comparable that's under rated ? Do you think his work lacks meaning, lacks technical merit or skill ? Or do you just not like it and are making a value judgement based on taste?
Personally I'd say he's rated accordingly with the number of people who like what he does.
Wasn't 3D one of the pioneers of urban 'art' in Bristol?
3D.. banksy... Inkie.. Glodie.. and a few others that I can't recall..
Goldie was from Wolverhampton - no?
Im off to dig out my dusty copy of Spray can Art the book of choice at school in the 80's 😉
Yeah.. Goldie was from the midlands.. but Glodie however was definately from Bristol.. the nice bit just by Clifton.. near the old glodmine..
The glodmine? That must be the cave under Burwalls on the other side of the gorge, just up from the cycletrack.
I see plenty of his stuff in and around London
Most of them put a smile on me face So good work.
A great one is children saluting a Tesco carry bag
attached to a flag pole in Essex rd Islington.
This has been de-faced a couple of times.












