Banksy: Artist or Vandal?
Banksy is probably the most elusive and sought after printmaker of our time. By using stencils, he can be considered a printmaker, leaving his “prints” on outdoor surfaces. He has carefully tried to keep his true identity hidden from the media despite his near celebrity status. Banksy’s stenciled street art pieces (shown in Fig 1.), through which he frequently expresses his opposition to politics, can be called controversial, dark, and witty. Many think his work is vandalism while others see it as an improvement to its urban surroundings.
Fig. 1(photo by Kaylyn Beck)
Many rumors and speculations follow Banksy due to his hidden identity. Some believe his name to be a Robin or Robert Banks. Others say that “Banksy” does not exist at all and is instead a collection of artists. Even his own agent has claimed to not quite know his true identity.[i] Mail Onlinesays to have identified him as a former public schoolboy brought up in a middle class family in Bristol. This is where Banksy allegedly became involved with graffiti, leaving school at 16 to pursue his interest in street art.[ii] A few years later he was hiding under a dump truck when he had a career turning epiphany. He was on the run from the cops while tagging a passenger train and realized he needed to cut his painting time much shorter or give up completely. As he stared up at the bottom of the truck, he noted the stenciled plate on the fuel tank and realized he could copy that style on a larger scale.[iii] Fig 2 shows an example of one of Banksy’s more popular prints.
Fig. 2 (photo by Kaylyn Beck)
Thus began Bansky’s launch into stenciled street art. The argument about whether or not he is committing a crime through his art is a much debated topic. Is he defacing public property or adding to its aesthetic value? According to the Journal of Criminal Law, some anti-graffiti movements state that graffiti “blights communities, creates a sense of urban decay and undermines processes by which communities maintain social control.”[iv] There seems to be much more to Banksy, though, than vandalism as evidenced by his manifesto. It is simply the story of humanity being restored to women in a concentration camp through the mysterious delivery of lipstick shortly after the camp’s liberation.[v] Banksy believes in more than just mindless destruction; he has purpose and reason. "Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums. Graffiti has more chance of meaning something or changing stuff than anything indoors. Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren't listened to. Graffiti is one of those few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make somebody smile while they're having a piss," says Banksy of his chosen art form.[vi] Another Banksy favorite in Fig 3.
Fig. 3 (photo by Kaylyn Beck)
Banksy is very “anti-war, anti-capitalist, and anti-establishment” and lets these political elements show in his work.[vii] For example, he has stenciled a painting of a blue sky peeking through a hole on Isreal’s border separating it from Palestine and placed a sculpture depicting a Guantanamo Bay prisoner in a Disneyland ride.[viii] He has also taken five hundred Paris Hilton CDs and changed the cover photos, replacing Hilton’s head with a dog’s head, and changed song titles to things such as “Why Am I Famous?” and “What Am I For?”.[ix] Banksy has been called a “sell-out”, though, due to the thousands he has made from selling his work to celebrities, bankers, judges, and art collectors, the very people he speaks out against and pokes fun at in his work.[x] Many of Banksy’s fans agree, though, that no matter who he sells his art to, seeing his art in public spaces is way better than looking at another bus stop advertisement.
It is hard to determine whether graffiti is vandalism or whether it is an improvement upon the aesthetic of its environment. It is safest to call it a crime, though, because if you allow one, you allow them all. Banksy, whoever or whatever he is, must practice guerilla warfare when attempting a new piece due to this, while keeping his identity a secret. It is ultimately up to the individual viewer to decide if his art is destroying public property or improving it. Judging by his incredible success and notoriety, it seems to be the latter. Banksy has the right recipe for keeping people interested: from all of his secrets to his unique, stenciled graffiti pieces, he knows exactly what he’s doing.
[i] Joseph, Claudia. "Graffiti Artist Banksy Unmasked." Mail Online. 12 July 2008. Web. 01 May 2012. <
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Edwards, I. (2009). Banksy's Graffiti: A Not-so-simple Case of Criminal Damage?.Journal Of Criminal Law, 73(4),
[v]Buzzell, Colby. "I Am Banksy." Esquire 144.6 (2005): 198-250. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 May 2012.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Weaver, Helen. "Banksy." Art In America 97.8 (2009): 157. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 May 2012.
[viii] Ibid.
[ix]"The Year In Banksy."Esquire 146.6 (2006): 224. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 May 2012.
[x]Hanrahan, Jake. "The Banksy Deception."Independent Blogs. 26 Aug. 2011. Web. 07 May 2012. <