Banksy the Sell-out Collective
Here is an artist, or a collective of artists, claiming to say fuck the pohpoh and the hierarchy by painting the walls with stencils and spray paints and designs that are supposed to evoke political discourse. The 'man' that everyone online claims to know but also no one knows. Interesting.
I smell BS. Big time.
When I was in college studying Graphics in the late 2000’s, Banksy was all the rage for every student. Lecturers would encourage the class to be "edgy", "political", and "use satire" in every design project we had. Banksy was seen as the game changer or the one lord and saviour paving the way for all young and hungry artists who the high art society just throw in the rubbish. All we ever studied were the murals. The rats, the gay police officers, that bloody balloon girl, and of course the dude throwing a flower bouquet instead of a grenade. "woah so clever!" I thought, not gonna lie.
The holiness started to wash away when I saw his work in a gallery. "Gallery show?" I thought to myself. Thinking back on how he is apparently wanted by the authorities for his work and property damages, yet, he is celebrated in a museum gallery? open to the public? It didn’t make sense then and it still doesn’t if we take in account all the shit he is wanted for and that he is always hiding.
The turning point was when Dismaland opened and all the rage was how Banksy, as one person, set the whole thing up over night. Bollocks to that. I realised Banksy is a brand. Not a person, or perhaps not anymore, but a brand with a large scale organisation and management. There are many theories on who Banksy is but I think it’s a collective nowadays. Fair play that some of the income and materials like the bed mattresses got donated to the refugees, but I feel like it was done under the impression of keeping it all edgy and making it seem like the middle finger is shown.
As if Banksy wasn’t a sell out already by this point, and that little respect I may have had for him disappeared during the 2018 retail scandals involving BoohooMan and H&M. Both decided to use murals by SPzero76 and Revok with no credit or compensation. The graffiti and creative world united in hopes to take down campaigns using work for free, however, Banksy was nowhere to be seen or heard. In fact, Banksy has an official licensed collection with Boohoo. The very brand that disregards everything artists like Banksy practise. If you didn’t think they are a sell out, well, I’m sure you do now.
MORE ON BoohooMan & H&M SCANDALS VIA LINKS.
Then came the staged shredded painting. The fact that people fell for its edginess and as a fuck you to the high art made me laugh and shit myself at the same time. Are you fucking dead mate? The auction and Banksy both probably came up with this to put both on the map. Make shit tons and get on every media outlet in the world. The perfect PR and marketing strategy. The girl with the balloon is the most basic bitch piece Banksy has ever created and possibly because of that decided to spice it up by shredding the original, which I doubt it was the original. At this point Banksy is a collective of performers. Performing elaborate stunts in public. Meanwhile real graffiti and mural artists struggle to show their real identity or make a living without getting into trouble. You tell me who the real creative here is. Who the real street and urban creative is. The sellout with huge sponsors or the covered faces by the rail tracks?
This is a pure opinion piece and you are absolutely right to disagree with me. After all, I’m probably talking out of my bum here but please don’t come up to me arguing Banksy is the best. I can name you so many others who are wicked. In fact, here is the list of some of my favourites.
PS: Fully aware not all of these are “illegal” but the point is they are way better than Banksy.
