Week 9 - Banksy

Banksy has been a controversial figure in British art for over a decade. Believed to have been born in in 1974 and originally trained as a butcher, his real identity is unknown. This adds to the mystique of his graffiti work, left around the cities of Britain and major cities in the rest of the world, filled with strong political, cultural and social messages. Anti-capitalism, Anti-war and Anti-totalitarianism have long been his status quo.

His work is seen as vandalism by some, but powerful and very much valid art by others. He works under secrecy, leaving his mark on almost any space he finds suitable, whether it be an old building, a footpath or in extreme cases, the Gaza Strip barrier wall. With the use of stencils, Banksy quickly puts up controversial images usually under the cover of night, containing very thought provoking messages that transcend regular "graffiti" art and blurs the thin line between art and vandalism.

However, Banksy's transcendent work obviously has it's place in the public forum. He raises genuine and interesting questions, instead using visual communication (over verbal) for it's power to influence and inform the masses.

An example of one of Banksy's most famous political works is "One Nation Under CCTV" (left). With the highest rate of security cameras and privacy questions often raised by the government and public alike, Britain is treading the border between security and prying eyes.

Taking the famed phrase from the US Pledge of Allegiance, Banksy modified the phrase to portray an image of modern day Britain, with a 3 storey high "ONE NATION UNDER CCTV", with a small boy on a ladder seemingly painting the letters as a police officer stands by. Ironically, the work was successfully completed right under a CCTV camera in a restricted area.

Another example of Banksy's controversial politically based works was his series of stencils on the Gaza Strip barrier wall. Allegedly threatened by Israeli border patrol soldiers during the making of these works, Banksy painted lighthearted images along the wall's side that opened up very un-lighthearted debates.

One of the images portrayed the other side of the wall as a paradise, a tropical island (right). Other's included images relating to escapisism - a tall ladder painted all the way up over the top of the wall. A girl flying away with helium balloons. A "cut line" for a entryway through the wall. Banksy's work is reason for debate, as he see's it, the wall turns Palestine into the "world's largest open-air prison".

With Banksy's art most often left to the public, the sale of his artworks becomes a difficult situation to gauge. There have been reports of people removing artworks from walls to sell and make money from his work. A family once sold their house when they realized the potential worth of the mural Banksy had painted on the side of it. The home was even listed as a "Banksy mural, with house attached".

While Banksy may not make money from these sales, he does make money from commissioned pieces and the sale of some of his works created with more traditonal mediums. Many of his works have sold for tens of thousands of pounds to some of the richest and most powerful people in the world with "Space Girl and Bird" setting the record at £288,000. Customers include everyone from A-List celebrities to hedge fund managers - sometimes the same kinds of people he targets with his messages.

While this may seem hypocritical, Banksy himself has little bearing on who buys his works as they are sold by auction. He makes no money from the use of his works on apparel or in books, and his exhibitions are always free. The financial gain, while massive, seems to be of little influence to Banksy himself. As he famously put it after a batch of his work sold for a combined total of over £400,000 in 2007 - "I can't believe you morons actually buy this shit".

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/arts_entertainment/art/who+is+banksy/460192
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/6351467.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6343197.stm

Week 7 - Industrialisation and Art

The industrial revolution was, and in some places still is, a period of time where man experienced huge leaps and bounds in productivity due to a chain reaction of simultaneous technological advances. This time saw the switch of man-power to the power of machines, helped along by electricity, fuels, cheaper materials and an abundant supply of labor to operate these factories.

As industrialism began to take hold, the social makeup of Europe and the United States especially began to change. The masses moved from self sufficient means in rural areas to work in the dense, fast growing cities that housed the factories. These eventually grew into the financial and political centers of today. The people who rushed to these centers in the hope of catching the upswing of the revolution may not have encountered exactly what was promised. Laborers worked long hours in dangerous locations with little pay. The industrial revolution birthed many of the advances it promised, but the average man did not receive the level of benefits these promises seemed to envision. Rather, it was the rich manufacturers that reaped the benefits. Living conditions for the majority of the population plummeted, and despite the advances in technology and manufacturing, the effect on the environment and people's connection with it seemingly outweighed these gains. During the revolution, London experienced 80% less sunshine than than pre-revolution times, due simply to the immense amount of smog. Natural conditions deteriorated, and so did the livelihood of the majority of the population.

Claude Monet's 'Impression Sunset' (1872) is a loosely painted, but overall realistic impression of a skyline or port dotted with cranes and machinery, filled with the smog produced by the factories below as the sun rises. This sunrise brings on the day where man finally overcame nature and learned how to harness, control, use and manipulate nature for the advances of the human race.

As industrialization spread and developed, the dense metropolises that the majority of the population called home moved further and further away from the natural settings of yesteryear. Grass fields made way for cobblestone roads and paths, towering trees were replaced by tall, gray concrete buildings, blue skies and starry nights were blanketed by the haze of smog produced as a by product to these technological advances. In many ways, Monet's painting seems to suggest the dawn of the disconnection of man from nature.

Olafur Eliasson's 'Weather Project' (2006) plays on this recent disconnection from nature, and the underlying attraction that still remains despite humans living in a vastly different environment than only a handful of generations ago. Installed at the Tate Modern in London, Eliasson covered the high ceiling of the hall in slightly jagged mirrors, then installed a massive semi circular orange light at the very top of the high wall, as it met the ceiling. The result as an overwhelmingly powerful impression of a sun, with the mirrors reflecting the semi circle to create a huge sphere of orange light. The slight jaggedness added a feeling of distortion to the circle, creating a genuine looking "sun", raised high up in the sky as if it were a sunset illuminating a dark city.

Visitors to the installation (over 2 million in total) were highly moved by the work. People instantly felt a real connection to this sunrise, and many began to bask in it's ambiance. With the mirrors covering the ceiling, some viewers seemed to 'sunbathe' in it's glow, watching their minuscule reflections on the ceiling above, against this gigantic circle of light. This interactive platform provides an experience in the power and influence that nature has on man, and shows how it's presence remains a base of our human instinct.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrialization
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/eliasson/default.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olafur_Eliasson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risks_and_benefits_of_sun_exposure