Thursday 29th, March 2012 Michael Hemans Time Based Media GART 1B04 B.H.
Yael Banksy the Brand
Banksy, the controversial British artist, has for near two decades managed to elude authorities, whilst breaking through as a mainstream public personality and popular artist, all the while keeping his identity a secret. His message is one starkly opposed to the powers that be, and yet there is an aura of something underlying his method that seems awfully insincere. Banksy the ultra-anti capitalist, anti-statist rebel artist, acts like a corporate brand. He releases books, his prints sell for thousands of pounds, his actual paintings sell for countless more, and interestingly enough he recently composed the opening of a Simpsons episode and released his own movie, with copies for sale on DVD. Anti - establishment indeed. Where once the artist mightve appeared to be a legitimate rebel, an art anarchist, opposed to corporations, he now functions like one. Banksy s actions have contributed immensely to the commodification of rebel art that has recently taken place. Though his work is often critical of advertising, consumer culture and all things associated with the state and what one might call the corporate machine, he himself has created a brand (heretofore referred to as Brand Banksy) equipped with its own PR apparatus, promotional ad campaigns and consumables. The release of his movie Exit Through the Gift Shop, and his contribution to the opening of the Simpsons episode MoneyBart, has further
served to raise questions about his position as an artist. Though his message is antiestablishment, his actions are far from it. In his defense Banksy can be considered the first artist in many decades to receive mainstream acceptance and recognition. This can largely be attributed to the accessibility of his work (street as opposed to the gallery) and the ease with which the concepts in his work can be decoded (he refers to subjects in his work that can be understood by the majority as they satirize popular culture and factors recognizable to the masses like advertisements one does not need to be specifically educated to understand his work). Given that his street interventions and installations cannot be easily purchased, and certainly not by the masses it makes sense that he would produce consumable forms of his work, however given the anti consumerist message of Banksys work this does appear contradictory. His latest media works raise this suspicion further. Exit Through the Gift Shop, Banksys movie released in 2010. It follows the style of a mockumentary, revolving around the sudden interest and acceptance of Street Art by the gallery scene. It also involves interviews with the artist himself, voice masked and face blacked out of course, as well as other street artists such as Shepard Fairey. It does involve a narrative that revolves around a certain Thierry Guetta, also known as, Mr Brainwash, a French trader in vintage clothes and video camera enthusiast who by some unclear circumstance comes to document Banksy and Fairey on their many nighttime graffiti excursions. After watching the film one is left wondering if it were truly factual or a hoax, in the tradition of Banksys countless stencils and installations. This film oddly enough seems more like a publicity stunt than a legitimate punch at the established way of things.
The opening of the Simpsons episode Banksy directed shows blatantly that he is not so much interested in fighting the system, but in self-promotion. It consists of his usual dark humor, involving a Chinese sweatshop, child labor and animal abuse. It however does not critique these atrocities, but seems more to point the finger and laugh at them. Banksy has used his anti-establishment stance to draw popularity from the masses and boost his art career. In the recent years the work of the elusive Banksy has been sensationalized. As an artist that presents them self as a rebel, anti-establishment artist, it would be in keeping with his character to avoid mainstream popularity, and the commodification of his work. The opposite is true however. Banksy fosters his popularity and his bank book by releasing books, limited edition screen prints of his work, holds gallery shows and has his original work auctioned for hundreds of thousands of pounds. At first glance it might seem that he is insincere but a closer look seems to suggest that Brand Banksy is a macrocosmic satirical creation of the artist, critiquing the hopelessness of the contemporary Western social landscape where even rebellion, and anti-state sentiments are swallowed whole, sterilized and absorbed into the banal spectacle Western contemporary culture industry.
Works Cited
"Banksy creates dark Simpsons opener." The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC] 12 Oct. 2010. Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly. Web. 29 Mar. 2012.
Debra, Mancoff. "Banksy." Britannica Biographies (2011): 1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 30 Mar. 2012.
Feinstein, Roni, [email protected]. "Art In The Streets." CAA Reviews (2012): 13. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 30 Mar. 2012.
Osicki, J. "Exit Through the Gift Shop." Library Journal 1 May 2011: 50+. Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly. Web. 30 Mar. 2012.
