The GAN? guide: Banksy around the world
Hulk, London
London is a familiar stomping ground for the spray-can wielding scofflaw. This classic Banksy piece popped up on a bench in a small public garden in Hackney, with themes of super-heroism, anger-driven transformation or perhaps just physical mass.
|
Brooklyn, NYC
This crafty Williamsburg stencil embodies the anti-globalisation ethos of the paint-daubing ne'er-do-well. Note the lower case sarcasm of the 'u' in uSA, and the obviously ironic tilt of the progress-signifying arrow.
|
Fart Pillow, Tokyo
Bansky famously doesn't interpret his work, and this rare use of mixed media proves no exception for the bare-faced graffiti jockey. Surreal, whimsical and with little regard for convention, this is an art terrorist at the top of his game.
|
Ghost Paint the World, San Francisco
The anonymous spray-hero echoes the London bench work of 'Hulk' with a sister piece several time zones away. We can safely assume that Banksy is the ghost, painting the world like an irreverent vandal poltergeist.
|
Crossed Circle, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Banksy doesn't just limit himself to savage sloganeering - his pictorial work can be just as withering. This mocking uber-doodle adorns the locker room of a public swimming baths, a savage judgement on the get-fit culture of the modern world by the paint-stained satirist.
Am I Gay or No?, Sydney
Take that, hetero-normative culture! The modern-day zeitgeist highwayman textually erases all preconceived notions of standard sexuality before conjuring up a damning visage of society's self-image.
|
Tree, Berlin
Clearly the work of a man at the height of his powers, 'Tree' is damning in its simplicity, disarmingly facile in its condemnation and foreboding in its candor. Ecological decay in the face of urban sprawl has never been more cutting than when portrayed by the elusive art-thug.
I Love Danny, Prague
A suitably pithy follow-up to the Sydney piece by the norm-stabbing icon warrior.
|
Yo Sup, Garforth
For ever with his paint-tinged finger on the pulse of contemporary urban parlance, the sacred-cow bashing hyper-scrawler brutally brings an existential question to light - at once accusatory and illuminating. Note the knowing absence of a question mark, implying that YOU, society, are the question mark.
|
Tintin in Dublin, Paris
No convention is safe. From the geo-trickery of the location to the fictionalisation of fiction itself, the Michael Bay of doodle-preaching lets loose with both barrels here. Bafflingly impudent.
|
Back to: GOING ANYWHERE NICE?