When we first moved from South London down to Brighton, in 2008, we rented a first-floor apartment with a shared lobby. One day a heavy duty cardboard tube appeared in the lobby, with my name and address on it. It looked a little battered, no doubt partly because it had been redirected from my old London address. I had no idea what it was nor, oddly, any real curiosity to find out. I suspected it was the latest instalment in my parents’s long term project to erase every trace of me from their Norfolk bungalow, as if my stuff was the principle source of the hoarded clutter they were drowning in.
Eventually I got around to carrying it upstairs. I prised open the plastic-cupped end, pulled out the rolled-up sheet of heavy-weight cartridge paper inside, laid it flat on the dining table and discovered that it was a Banksy. Not a print, an original — spray-painted by the man himself. It was accompanied by an explanatory hand-written and signed letter. It was, I gradually realised, probably quite valuable. Today, it is almost certainly the most valuable thing I own, although nowhere near as valuable as “Game Changer”, which this week sold for a record £14.4million at auction, with the artist donating the money to health charities.
Banksy had sent me this gift as a gesture of thanks, for having unwittingly nicked a joke of mine for his first little book, Existencillism. “It is rather ironic,” the joke goes, “that the favourite drink of the homeless, should be a beer called Tennent’s”. The joke works better on stage, phonetically, than on the page. But it was a nice counterpoint to the image opposite, one of his most famous, a fallen winged angel, originally painted on a grimy brick recess in a wall in Old Street. The joke had been told to him by a mate, it turned out, who had no doubt forgotten where he heard it.
My wife gave me the book as a stocking filler, and when I found the joke I contacted him via the email address at the back. This was still relatively easy back then. He emailed back and apologised and later we spoke briefly on the phone and arranged to meet, in a café bar opposite Herne Hill station, but like the shy woodland creature he is, something must have startled him and he changed his mind. We never met, and I’m really quite relieved about that. He works better for me, as for everyone else, as a slightly magical figure, like something from a Russian fairy tale, a phantom that might steal your best horse and ride it into a sweat at night before returning it to your stable.
I mention all this because Banksy has emerged as a kind of hate figure for those afflicted by Cultural Cringe. The conviction that we are an irredeemably philistine people is largely a Remainer syndrome — how can you just walk away from croissants by the Seine? — but by no means exclusively. So, before I come, not to defend Banksy per se but perhaps to urge a sense of proportion to those convulsed with shame, I want you to understand why I might think that whatever else he is, Banksy is a Good Bloke. Because it really is extraordinary how many people seem to think he’s such a wanker.
His latest outrage was to win a very dubious popularity contest, when he really should know better. A company called Art Supplies had commissioned a survey of the “most popular” artists in all the countries in the world, as determined by Google searches. And to our eternal shame, it appears, number one in the UK was the Bristolian wall-botherer himself. Not just in the UK, to be fair, but in France (what? But… but… croissants! By the Seine!) and in Japan and Russia.
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SubscribeEvans is right to say that we shouldn’t blame Banksy, rather we should deride the fawning adoration heaped on him by a half-witted commentariat who have elevated him to the status of seer.
Banksy is taking the piss out of both the establishment and the socially aware middle class who want to see him as a modern day Hogarth. He must be laughing fit to burst. His antics have always been entertaining and mildly subversive, but nothing more. Society isn’t about to collapse, and neither is it about to radically change as a result of a Banksy appearing on a wall near to you. In reality, he’s nothing more than that 6th form radical who seemed so daring in his approach, but is now just another part of the society. *
Far more telling is the reality that the art world cannot properly manipulate or monetise him, despite their best efforts to do so. If ever there was a world which earned derision it’s the art world, but that’s a topic for another time.
* See also, Dadaism, Andy Warhol, The Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols …..
*See also, quite a few of the commentators to Unherd articles, myself included.
He’s funny. It’s not his fault people take him seriously.
“Far more telling is the reality that the art world cannot properly manipulate or monetise him, despite their best efforts to do so. If ever there was a world which earned derision it’s the art world, but that’s a topic for another time.”
But he has ‘monetised’ himself. And like the ‘art world’ thinks that (conspicuous) monetary ‘charity’ is something other than priggish Pharisaism. But it isn’t. It presumes the righteousness of the giver.
Nobody actually likes a philanthropist.
You should send hem another email and ask for and original canvas, not sure if this one will sold at the low reserved.
Banksy is stilling ideas from other peoples to make money, and when owner know he send them a bag of peanuts for you to stay quiet….
Is your idea so make hem pay for it…
Banksy is a copy of everything up there, and half of his paint are done by other peoples.
I would probably be jumped upon by Banksy’s admirers and fall right into Simon’s definition of being a snob, but I will be out with it- he is definitely not my cup of tea. Of course, that does not mean he is a bad artist or anything- just that I find the themes of his art rather too sentimental, misty-eyed and overdoing on the pathos. In a nutshell- the type of art you can put on your Facebook page and get 15k ‘likes’ and a few thousand replies of ‘that’s deep, man’.
When I was young I scorned Norman Rockwell for all the same reasons, but time has amended my understanding of his stuff, and I have come to see Rockwell as an actual art great, taking his amazing artistic craft, and his times, and composition, although kitsch, really mark the times like the great painters through out history. I very seriously doubt anyone will lose money by investing in a Rockwell.
I cannot Ever imagine Bansky becoming this.
I don’t see why not. There is no telling what uses the future will make of the present. In the case of Banksy, part of the charm is of course the act, the myth. Until that passes away, it will be hard to say how big a deal he will be. Consider Andy Warhol, who was held to be a joker for much of his life, and is now taken very seriously, with, I think, good reason.
“Of course, that does not mean he is a bad artist or anything”
He’s not an ‘artist at all. 1) no real artist would inflict his work on a public not asked whether they actually want his work – they’re too modest in that connection (if not in their perception of themselves and their role) and 2) no real artist would think his work was ‘useful’ for any practical or political purpose. Haydn wrote his works to glorify God. He didn’t care whether Church services ran more ‘smoothly’ as a result.
“I want you to understand why I might think that whatever else he is, Banksy is a Good Bloke.”
I would imagine it’s because he gave you an original of his prints which is now your most valuable possession.
In my old fashioned world, ALL paint vandals who disfigure public property would have their fingers broken to ensure they couldn’t disfigure PUBLIC PROPERTY again.
Tut, tut you will find yourself being severely admonished by Mark Bridgeford & Co!
Personally I would prefer amputation,
although do you then deny the miscreants Disability Benefit?
I would have to agree, after suffering the disgusting paint splashes of would be “Banksies” all over the five years old park in our little village in Spain! It seems the council left the park half finished in disgust at the mess the “artists” made shortly after it was opened.
Depends on the building. Some can only be improved – and would both improve and go up in value with the addition of a Banksy.
That certainly happened in New York City, almost overnight in some neighborhoods.
#MeToo
He’s popular because he is witty, has something to say, and is understandable to most people. Closer perhaps to cartoon than fine art, but so what. Often it’s just bringing together incongruous elements to make a point in a visual way. There’s also an element of self mockery, sometimes irony about his work.
And a lot better than the humourless political propagandising we see so much of.
if you find him too woke, is there an antiwoke Banksie? How about a row of white, posh looking oxbridge students on graduation day with “end white supremacy” painted on their mortar boards?
Some of the people who call themselves Banksy are quite good cartoonists.
How satisfying that Banksy and his art is working it’s intended magic upon you and sending you clutching your pearls in disgust! Love it and love his art.
Yes – he’s clearly p*ssing on somebody’s strawberries.
Thanks for dealing with the touatts.
I’m just really pleased to be getting some negative comments. I feared I’d become part of the Unherd herd.
Well it seems none will accept me as a member. Sooner or later I always seem to slaughter one of the sacred cows in the herd.
Well, he could always stop.
Banksy – one of those marvellous British artistic institutions which we generate despite our modest size. All power to him, I hope he is rich.
There was an anime series released last year called “Arte”, which was very loosely based on the life of Artemisia Gentileschi, which is likely why she featured highly in some Asian countries.
In any case, Artemisia Gentileschi is pretty good regardless of her presence in anime, and has been a feminist icon for some time. Worth looking up.
I’ve always tended towards the idea that “Banksy” isn’t actually a person but rather a “commune” or looses “studio” of artists who work under a common franchise type umbrella.
Part of my reasoning is that, if he/she’s a single person and making decent sums of money out of it then HMRC at very least will have a pretty good idea of their identity.
You know his “paintings” are actually all done by his assistants? It’s all a big joke — that makes a shed load of money.
You know Anthony Gormley did not weld the Angel of the North together, neither did Christopher Wren lay the bricks at St. Paul’s nor Capability Brown mow the lawn. Charlatans all.
Wrong. Who built the pyramids? The Pharaohs with their wealth?: the architects with their designs?: the slaves with their muscles? Wealth and/or muscle cannot possibly build anything of consequence. Everything that exists – bricks and mortar, institutions, laws, works of art, in fact the entire fabric of human society was ‘built’ by designers.
I believe what was meant was that the design and concept of the paintings may not be exclusively Banksy’s but of other people working with him. But since the whole brand Banksy is built around the image of an anonymous artist, there is no contradiction if there is more than one person under it.
Architect = Chief/Top Builder, as ‘you know who’ would have it.
Gormley probably modelled for the Angel of the North (he does appear to love planting his bronze lookalikes around the country – dare I call that vanity?); Wren is known as an architect, not a bricky. Should Banksy be known as a designer rather than an artist? No wait – someone below said brand – that works.
The same was true of Andy Warhol. And Banksy’s work is a thousand times cleverer than Warhol’s.
Except maybe the the p***s on the Apollo lander. I’ll give him that one.
You mean the Master directs, as it has always been from at least Leonardo if not eons before.
Is there any other artist alive today that the average ordinary working class person in the UK, the US, France, or even Japan can name, and in fact even identify the work of?
Banksy is the most popular and famous artist in the world. It’s not even close. And what’s more, he frickin EARNED it. And if any other artist doesn’t like it, do better. Please. Cause what passes for fine art these days is dire.
David Hockney and his work I guess would be familiar to the boomer generation in the west.
And the “dead shark” guy, and the “unmade bed” woman, I suppose.
Indeed. I have time for Tracey Emin’s work. Not keen on Damien Hirst. Taste is totally personal.
I know little to nothing of modern art; however, I went to the 2017 Venice Biennale to see ‘dead shark’ guy’s exhibition ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable’. Absolutely extraordinary. Monumental. Will never, ever forget it.
It contrasted with the other, immediately forgettable, utterly incomprehensible dross art presented in the Biennale.
The whole Art Word has been a festering carbuncle on the backside of humanity for over a century.
Just recall the antics of the loathsome Bernard Berenson and his equally revolting accomplice Joseph Duveen a century ago.
Can one ever trust that species that describes itself as an ‘art expert’ again?
Totally agree! People at least go and see Banksy.
Sorry to be a contrarian but how has Banksy ‘earned it’. I like his art, but he appears to spray paint buildings at night which lots of other people do – does Banksy have a second job?
not to forget the England goalkeeper in the 1966 World Cup!
I suppose Banksy is a technically gifted artist (something I appreciate in this day and age of bollocks art); but I don’t at all like the ‘vandalism and anonymity’ gimmick. Sorry, but that’s all it is. If he wasn’t a lefty, you wouldn’t even have heard of him.
Well what a coincidence. Listening to Mezzanine in bed a masterpiece which I’m obsessed with when this article pops up past midnight. I wonder if the rumors are true. I’m neutral to Banksy’s street art which is fine but not my thing. But if he is the guy out of Massive Attack then I’m profoundly grateful for the music.
PS if you ever listen to Mezzanine late at night don’t listen to the genuinely disturbing Black Milk last thing before going to sleep. Did that first time I heard Mezzanine and then had nightmares about huge spiders for several days after for some reason.
Ah, Massive Attack, providing a soundtrack to middle-class dinner parties since 1988.
Absolutely nothing preventing the NUM from playing it at the Durham Miners’ Gala. And anyway, what’s the problem with middle-class dinner parties? Or Massive Attack soundtracks at them?
People are prejudiced, that’s all. If you’re middle-class and have dinner parties you must be bad. Or at least uncouth.
The Tennents gag is a whole lot more profound than any of Banksy’s visual work. At least he had the decency to acknowledge the plagiarism.