yoba333 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Hello everyone, I wanted to get your opinion on the graffiti artist Banksy. He is one of the most famous graffiti artists in the world, yet the general public does not know his true identity. He has tagged walls in cities such as London, Bristol, New York, and Bethlehem. These usually get whitewashed after a while, unfortunately. I had the good fortune of seeing this Banksy in London near Notting Hill when I visited England last month. I wanted to see what everyone thinks of him, is he a vandal or an artist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McclaudEagle Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Technically speaking, he's a criminal. The things he covers with this "art" is not his property. It costs a lot of money to fix graffiti. It's like me throwing a can of paint over your car or something. It may look good, but because it's not my property, it'd be classed as vandalism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vindekarr Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Well, if you can do it in as impressive a looking splat as he can, by all means Mclaud, throw a can of paint on my car, anything's better than white. Im a big fan of this guy-and street art in general. I lived in Brisbane for several years and all the traffic light control boxes were graffiti'd over after a call was put out to decorate them. The graffiti then spread to virtualy every other unused, empty, ugly public ediface around the city, and some of them I can tell you now, are absolutely beautiful. I've got a couple of graffiti on my house but I've never bothered to report it, and would certainly never clean it off. Graffiti is art, and it shouldnt be a crime. If you dont like it, deal with it, it's not hard to clean with solvent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrant0 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I've got a couple of graffiti on my house but I've never bothered to report it, and would certainly never clean it off. Graffiti is art, and it shouldnt be a crime. If you dont like it, deal with it, it's not hard to clean with solvent.There is Art, and there is throw-up merely there for marking territory or as a way to get your name out there. The problem is that in order to get good enough to do art, you have to spend a good deal of time spraying things which are not in places that they shouldn't be. Having dozens of symbols and tags on a mailbox or brick wall isn't any better than the plain object and costs a city a good deal of money to clean it up because people don't always want some proclamation as to how Shorty's name is contrary to his size, and just how many "hoes" he has courted in a single week. Don't get me wrong... There is Art here... But it isn't respected on either side. Someone who does commissioned graffiti for a business owner is selling out. Someone who has their work displayed in a gallery is no longer in touch with the streets. But, someone who runs around putting art in public places without permission is a vandal. It's a situation without any real winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RZ1029 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I think Vagrant hit it on the head. What he does is art, no doubt in my mind. That being said, what he's doing is also technically vandalism, though I'm sure what he paints ends up looking better than it did before. I don't think that some graffiti should be a crime, like what you see Banksy doing, but I think other graffiti, associated with gangs and such, most definitely should be because it is the further thing from art and is often simply vulgar or inappropriate or self-promotion of a lifestyle that shouldn't be lived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harbringe Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 (edited) What Art! I thought this was a thread on Banks and are they vandals or artists as in con artists.Now I'm all disappointed. Take notice most replies say what he is doing is vandalism , but most respond in the poll he is an artist. That's odd isn't it. Testing Edited April 23, 2011 by Harbringe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csgators Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 (edited) What Art! I thought this was a thread on Banks and are they vandals or artists as in con artists.Now I'm all disappointed. I admit it, I thought the same thing. :laugh: I voted for it's a crime. It's not his property, period. I admit some graffiti looks OK but most doesn't. I've seen all the shipping containers all graffitied up and maybe there is one part that looks cool but the rest is just scribble and offends the eye. One thing I would support is a public wall dedicated to graffiti. There was a defacto one in Gainesville, FL at UF that had some great graffiti art, the first year I was there the whole wall had been painted black and a memorial was graffitied on for the victims of the Danny Rollings murders. Edit: Maybe graffiti was the wrong word for the memorial: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=GS&Date=20100821&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=100829920&Ref=AR Edited April 23, 2011 by csgators Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboUK Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Why can't he be both? I did pick criminal in the poll because he is doing it on property that doesn't belong to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marharth Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Both. He does art, but he also does art on something that is not his property. For example, I wouldn't want a big Mona Lisa painted on the side of my house, even if it did look good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ita Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 not his property.not his property.property that doesn't belong to him.vandalism You people have no hearts. :PIf I owned some ugly-ass brick building, I wouldn't mind if Banksy dropped by and gave the facade some artistic touches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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