The Art of Banksy

In Covent Garden today visiting The Art of Bansky, a well curated exhibition about Banksy's life and works. I am not a fan of graffiti, I suspect not many people are, but his personality and quick mind are so engaging. They have done a great job of quoting him and his collaborators as well as displaying the art work that has marked his development over the years. This is his art from private collections which the owners chose to share with the public. There is nothing which is off limits for Banksy and seeing this art work over the years shows his commitment to being unconventional and radical at every juncture. 

He was born in Bristol in 1990 A young and irreverent soul. And as he very cleverly put it " Nobody listened to me until they didn't know who I was." He started doing posters for Greenpeace and was involved in Sleaze Nation and then in 2003 - 2005 he infiltrated well established galleries with some of his art. "Peckham Rock" was placed in the British Museum and it was 3 days before anyone realised. 

He collaborated with other artists over festivals and shows and would sign a copy of a print as a thank you note. In 2009 he had an exhibition in which he displayed a devolved Parliament replacing politicians with chimps. He produced a ten pound note with Princess Di on it. 

In 2017 he made the headlines again with the Walled Off city in Palestine.  He wanted to be able to produce art cheaply and so he started a company called POW - Pictures on Walls - Prints produced by them were sold for 35 pounds - now valued at 35,000. This is one of his better known ones.

While they were in Australia they snuck into Melbourne Zoo with posters and threw them into the chimp enclosure. So chimps were holding up posters saying things like "I am a celeb get me out of here"...

He is intriguing, unpredictable and disruptive. I really enjoyed discovering his many twists and turns and reading about his life and seeing how he had used his talent to make us all question how we see life.