Banksy
Wall and Piece
Century Books
Copyright is for losers™
Note from the publisher this book contains the creative/artistic element of graffiti art and is not meant to encourage or induce graffiti where it is illegal or inappropriate.
Banksy’s advice to fellow taggers and creative types:
Its always easier to get forgiveness than permission
Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something to stay in for
Try to avoid painting in places where they still point at aeroplanes
Graffiti writers are not real villains. Real villains consider the idea of breaking in some place, not stealing anything, and then leaving behind a painting with your name in four foot high letters the most retarded thing they ever heard of
The easiest way to become invisible is to wear a day-glo vest and carry a tiny transistor radio playing Heart FM very loudly. If questioned about the legitimacy of your painting simply complain about the hourly rate
Crime against property is not real crime. Ppl look at an oil painting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access.
The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only aout wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Fame is a by-product of doing something else. You don’t go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit.
Best defacing of a Banksy stencil.: Converting his Mona Lisa with rocket launcher in Soho in 2001 to Bin Laden with a launcher (they do share similarly subtle smiles)
Best location of a Banksy: The side of a cow…I love animals and would never laud or advocate anything that caused harm, but the cow didn’t look traumatized, probably enjoyed the attention, and maybe its fame will keep it away from the slaughterhouse
Worst location of Banksy: Tagging the Placa del Veronica statue. But upon further review he just tagged it with his name while all the other garish defacing was done by others, so actually this is retracted.
3 comments:
The Banksy book is inspiring. It's also got that same "I-feel-like-a-bastard-who's-done-nothing-with-his-life" effect that David Choe's life/work always does to me.
I particularly liked his "sculptures" of sabotaged CCTV cameras with birds eating the wires.
He (Banksy) had some work hanging in a gallery in NYC recently. A friend of mine went and commented that it's kind of strange to see his work hanging in a sanitized room like that. He of course had nothing to do with the show itself, it was just a sale put on by a collector.
Also, here's some mindblowing shit you might like. I saw a fantastic video installation/wall art piece of this guy's work at the Jonathan Levine Gallery.
http://www.blublu.org/sito/video/video3.htm
Yeah I don't think his work selling affects his cred at all whether he profits from it or not. I just saw an article in GQ about an art auctioneer who sold a Banksy for 1.8mill.
The Blu stuff is pretty great. I just wish they got better shots of the finished pieces in those time lapse videos.
Thanks!
Post a Comment