Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall

The BBC speaks about Robin Banks, the Daily Mail says Robin Gunningham and according to the Guardian his real name is Robert Banks. Although, this British (street)artist is better known under the name ‘’Banksy’’. His artworks are often-satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique. Still don’t have a clue? The wall pieces can be found throughout Europe, the U.S. and Palestine (and all over the internet). Maybe you have been walking past it for a while…

Here’s some of the stuff he did:

• He climbed into the penguin area in the London Zoo and wrote ‘’We are bored of Fish’’ on the wall.
• In the Bristol Zoo he wrote a message in the elephant cage saying: ‘’I want out. This place it too cold, keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring.’’
• He placed some of his artworks in museums in New York City such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the American Museum of Natural History in March 2005.
• In August 2005 he painted nine pieces on the Palestinian side of the wall between Israel and the Palestinian areas, of which one was a painting where children are digging through the wall.
• Christina Aguilera bought a piece worth £25,000 in 2006. It was a painting of Queen Victoria as a lesbian.
• The highest price paid for one of Banksy’s artworks was a painting of the Mona Lisa with drops of paint dripping from her eyes. The total price of £57,600 was paid for this piece.
• Bono and Damien Hirst organized a charity auction once that was called ‘’Keep it Spotless’’. The €1,100,000 raised was used to fight aids in Afrika.
• Banksy published some books with pictures of his work in several countries. His first book was published in black and white and was called Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall. Furtermore, he published Existencilism, Cut it Out and Wall and Piece.

Below you can see some of his work and you can judge for yourself whether you think it is vandalism or art. I think the message he is trying to send is an important one and I would have no problem whatsoever with seeing these pieces on the walls of the city while I am on my way to school in the morning. Actually…. it gives me something to think about.

A.S.

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