RP306 The World of Criminal Graffiti
Banksy, the anonymous graffiti artist, first became active in Bristol, the United Kingdom, in the early 1990s. His distinctive style of black-and-white stenciling is the consequence of having to paint quickly to avoid being arrested. Legend has it that while he was hiding from the police, the idea of stenciling originally came to him when he saw a stenciled serial number on the bottom of a garbage truck. Banksy's preference for painting on walls in public places makes some people view him more as a criminal than an artist.
Banksy's works can be found on the streets of Bristol, New York, London, and New Orleans. In 2005, he even did a series of thought-provoking paintings on the West Bank barrier. To many, he is regarded as an artistic genius. This belief creates a difficult question: If Banksy is an artist, does that mean that all graffiti is art as well? Banksy often makes fun of traditional notions of what art is. He has been known to walk into major museums and hang his own pieces on the wall. The Mona Lisa has also been a recurring character in his paintings.
Banksy's art raises another critical question: Is the artist even important? Nobody knows who Banksy really is. The mystery surrounding his identity has caused the media to speculate openly. In 2016, scientists from Queen Mary University claimed to have found the identity of Banksy. Using a method known as "geographic profiling," researchers believe the artist is Bristol local Robin Cunningham. Cunningham has neither confirmed nor denied the findings. Others speculate that Banksy is actually a group of graffiti artists who all operate under the same anonymous title. Whatever the truth is, Banksy doesn't want to be discovered.
Whoever Banksy really is, his art is clearly antiauthority and has an antiwar message. Banksy's being anonymous is perhaps his most important message of all. If the artist is unknown, we can observe the art for itself without drawing unnecessary conclusions about its meaning.
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