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THE ARTIST REALIZED THE POWER OF THE STENCIL! PERFECT FOR GETTING IN AND OUT SO YOU CAN START A CONVERSATION!

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On his way to becoming an international icon, the subversive and secretive street artist turned the art world upside-down

Smithsonian Magazine |

When Time magazine selected the British artist Banksy-graffiti master, painter, activist, filmmaker and all-purpose provocateur-for its list of the world's 100 most influential people in 2010, he found himself in the company of Barack Obama, Steve Jobs and Lady Gaga. He supplied a picture of himself with a paper bag (recyclable, naturally) over his head. Most of his fans don't really want to know who he is (and have loudly protested Fleet Street attempts to unmask him). But they do want to follow his upward trajectory from the outlaw spraying-or, as the argot has it, "bombing"-walls in Bristol, England, during the 1990s to the artist whose work commands hundreds of thousands of dollars in the auction houses of Britain and America. Today, he has bombed cities from Vienna to San Francisco, Barcelona to Paris and Detroit. And he has moved from graffiti on gritty urban walls to paint on canvas, conceptual sculpture and even film, with the guileful documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Pest Control, the tongue-in-cheek-titled organization set up by the artist to authenticate the real Banksy artwork, also protects him from prying outsiders. Hiding behind a paper bag, or, more commonly, e-mail, Banksy relentlessly controls his own narrative. His last face-to-face interview took place in 2003.

While he may shelter behind a concealed identity, he advocates a direct connection between an artist and his constituency. "There's a whole new audience out there, and it's never been easier to sell [one's art]," Banksy has maintained. "You don't have to go to college, drag 'round a portfolio, mail off transparencies to snooty galleries or sleep with someone powerful, all you need now is a few ideas and a broadband connection. This is the first time the essentially bourgeois world of art has belonged to the people. We need to make it count."

***

The Barton Hill district of Bristol in the 1980s was a scary part of town. Very white-probably no more than three black families had somehow ended up there-working-class, run-down and unwelcoming to strangers. So when Banksy, who came from a much leafier part of town, decided to go make his first foray there, he was nervous. "My dad was badly beaten up there as a kid," he told fellow graffiti artist and author Felix Braun. He was trying out names at the time, sometimes signing himself Robin Banx, although this soon evolved into Banksy. The shortened moniker may have demonstrated less of the gangsters' "robbing banks" cachet, but it was more memorable-and easier to write on a wall.

Around this time, he also settled on his distinctive stencil approach to graffiti. When he was 18, he once wrote, he was painting a train with a gang of mates when the British Transport Police showed up and everyone ran. "The rest of my mates made it to the car," Banksy recalled, "and disappeared so I spent over an hour hidden under a dumper truck with engine oil leaking all over me. As I lay there listening to the cops on the tracks, I realized I had to cut my painting time in half or give it up altogether. I was staring straight up at the stenciled plate on the bottom of the fuel tank when I realized I could just copy that style and make each letter three feet high." But he also told his friend, author Tristan Manco: "As soon as I cut my first stencil I could feel the power there. I also like the political edge. All graffiti is low-level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They've been used to start revolutions and to stop wars."

The people-and the apes and rats-he drew in these early days have a strange, primitive feel to them. My favorite is a piece that greets you when you enter the Pierced Up tattoo parlor in Bristol. The wall painting depicts giant wasps (with television sets strapped on as additional weapons) divebombing a tempting bunch of flowers in a vase. Parlor manager Maryanne Kemp recalls Banksy's marathon painting session: "It was an all-nighter."

By 1999, he was headed to London. He was also beginning to retreat into anonymity. Evading the authorities was one explanation-Banksy "has issues with the cops." But he also discovered that anonymity created its own invaluable buzz. As his street art appeared in cities across Britain, comparisons to Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring began circulating.

Banksy's first London exhibition, so to speak, took place in Rivington Street in 2001, when he and fellow street artists convened in a tunnel near a pub. "We hung up some decorators' signs nicked off a building site," he later wrote, "and painted the walls white wearing overalls. We got the artwork up in 25 minutes and held an opening party later that week with beers and some hip-hop pumping out of the back of a Transit van. About 500 people turned up to an opening which had cost almost nothing to set up."

In July 2003, Banksy mounted "Turf War," his breakthrough exhibition. Staged in a former warehouse in Hackney, the show dazzled the London art scene with its carnival-atmosphere display, which featured a live heifer, its hide embellished with a portrait of Andy Warhol, as well as Queen Elizabeth II in the guise of a chimpanzee.

Late that year, a tall, bearded figure in a dark overcoat, scarf and floppy hat strolled into Tate Britain clutching a large paper bag. He made his way to Room 7 on the second level. He then dug out his own picture, an unsigned oil painting of a rural scene he had found in a London street market. Across the canvas, which he had titled Crimewatch UK Has Ruined the Countryside for All of Us, he had stenciled blue-and-white police crime-scene tape.

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Smithsonian Magazine | When Time magazine selected the British artist Banksy-graffiti master, painter, activist, filmmaker and all-purpose provocateur-for its list of the world's 100 most influential people in 2010, he found himself in the company of Barack Obama, Steve Jobs and Lady Gaga.

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I picked this graffiti because I liked the colors on it and it's interesting to me. Also, it has a strong focal point.

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Learn more more more!

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The Definition of Street Art - Repetition and Evolution

The presence of street art in an urban context was primarily based on the notion of repetition. What does this mean? Since the impact of the message becomes notable solely through the perceivable presence in the urban context, graffiti artists lived with the imperative to reproduce their typography or different symbolical expression over and over again. In the world when the digital global community we take for granted today wasn't even conceivable, artists needed to fight for the possibility for their work to be seen. In a recent interview, Andre Saraiva remembers that his days in Paris had been filled with repetitive spray can motions, tagging one mailbox after another. This is a similarity with the street art scene of first years of the 21st century. Already famous names in the world of street art, such as Shepard Fairey and Space Invader, based their activities as artists on the notion of creating the seemingly same art piece repeatedly in different urban spaces of different cities. They had been, in fact, building an identity one print and mosaic piece at a time...

Soon enough, the repetition became a process of unimaginable proportions, taken away from the hands of the artists, finding its way to the vastness of virtual space - never to have its presence questioned. This came to be a (r)evolutionary period for the phenomenon of street art.

An Ongoing Transformation of Street Art

However, the transformation of street art was not only influenced by the digital space. Some street artists, who had begun their work with spray cans have started to explore some innovative and inspirational methodological planes. In the art of BLU, street art comes to life in the context of video art. It is not just the fact that the end product represents a mesmerizing form of artistic expression, it is the journey which is happening on the streets as the artist creates. The story conveyed in BLU's videos can be retraced in the urban setting - bits and pieces of the ephemeral expression building up to a narrative. Still, one cannot but realize that it is not the video file that carries the art, but the street and the walls, and the artist who is willing to take that step into the unknown. Another extraordinary example of a street artist who has taken the road of deconstruction and artistic self-investigation is Vhils. He has given the notion of the wall as an object of creation a new meaning. The dialogue he achieves with the urban context is multi-leveled - from the intervention in the matter itself to the social commentary of the contemporary world of commercialism. How can, then, in the presence of such artists (and we have only mentioned a few), one ask the question what street art really is?

Defining Street Art Does (Not) Have a Conclusion

Coming from the context of urban spaces, street art now lives in the cultural spaces of galleries, virtual communities, public discourses and recently it has become an object of appropriation by the popular culture and the mainstream symbolism of contemporaneity. Art pieces that have come to existence on the walls of cities reached the highest peaks of the contemporary art market. Moreover, the discussion on the meaning of street art resides in the halls occupied by scholars and their students, who ponder the interaction between notions of Visual Art, Conceptual Art, Performance Art and ways of articulating these art forms into the world of street art. It is clear that we are past the point of formulating street art definition as simple as a specific movement or a particular subculture. Surely, saying that it may represent an extraordinary hybrid form of artistic expression would be taking the easy way out.

However, if we were to express the relatively stable stances which could form an explanation of what is street art, they would at least include the following: 1. Street art incorporates a strong devotion to social activism (although this is not always the case, it seems that this was an attribute of artwork that survived the test of time), 2. Street art represents a phenomenon that is, through self-transformation, constantly transforming the reality of contemporary art and finally, 3. Street art, as a particular practice, has a role in shaping and constructing new cultural discourses.

Editors' Tip: Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art by Carlo McCormick

This extensive volume traces the beginnings and the rise of graffiti and urban art, as well as its global reach as a fringe visual movement and as a social phenomenon and artistic expression of today's youth. With an exclusive preface from Banksy, Trespass presents the full history of street art, its international spread, as well as the technical developments. Featuring works by 150 renowned artists such as Miss Van, Jean Tinguely, Keith Haring, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Gordon Matta-Clark, Billboard Liberation Front, Guerrilla Girls, and Banksy, the book connects four generations of street art practitioners. The book is divided into thematic chapters that are prefaced by a brief essay, placing the street art in a thought-provoking context to the history, politics, protest, and illicit performance of self-expression in the social space.

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What Is Street Art and How Can We Define It?

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The Definition of Street Art - Repetition and Evolution The presence of street art in an urban context was primarily based on the notion of repetition. What does this mean? Since the impact of the message becomes notable solely through the perceivable presence in the urban context, graffiti artists lived with the imperative to reproduce their typography or different symbolical expression over and over again.

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I like it because it’s creative.

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The shown graffiti was created by Banksy, the message Banksy is trying to send is simple- life is unpredictable, and sometimes what you want isn’t necessarily what you get. Like a dream, for example.

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This is a picture of Batman and The Joker, and why I chose this graffiti because Batman is one of my favorite superheros

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I think this says that some people have to get drunk to be happ

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I like this graffiti art by Alias because it has something interesting about it that you want to understand why he did this and what it actually means.

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I thought it was a cool image and liked the colors the artist used. This image look like the boy is trying to catch the love that the girl is blowing as bubbles.

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I like this stencil because I like how the positive and the negative space really brings out the picture I also like his hat and camera

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I chose this because to me te interesting because

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This is telling me about how a boy is sticking to the love he has for a girl. While the girl gives him more love.

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I like about this posts is that it’s saying everything is not meant to be said

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This caught my eye because it’s funny

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I like this street graffiti because I thought that this symbolized how some people worry how people don’t give them a like on social media and how this can lower their self-esteem.

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I like it because it’s creative.

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I like that is funny and a quick thought, that’s how we are now

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I chose this because to me it’s different and I like it because I have no idea what it’s meaning is.

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I like is because it’s creative.

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The yellow really stands out and caught my eye

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This is interesting how they collide the wall with water so it looks like it is getting washed off.

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I like the characters in the picture.

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I chose this because I like him and it’s good

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This symbolizes how some people worry and complain no follows them or give them likes on social media and how it can lower their self-esteem.

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Because I like running

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Here are some of the pieces that our students created! They used their portraits & combined them with symbols about a topic they researched. Students looked at the word Juxaposition and how we can put two symbols side by side to say something very powerful. (War & Peace)

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Here are some of the pieces that our students created! They used their portraits & combined them with symbols about a topic they researched. Students looked at the word Juxaposition and how we can put two symbols side by side to say something very powerful. (War & Peace)

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This piece was a stencil created by an 8th grader showcasing global warming.

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This student explored the 2nd amendment and decided that it shouldn't be about the right to bare arms but the right to PEACE instead.

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This was bringing awareness to poaching and killing of tigers, an issue around the world and in India.

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My graffiti represents my culture because the Virgin Mary is important to our culture. We are very religious and respect this women so much. Church is important for us to go to and pray for this woman.

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My graffiti art represents me because playing and watching basketball is a hobby and apart of me it’s something I can’t talk about with my peers this is how I interact with people talking about my favorite teams and players

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This graffiti represents freedom
It represents my culture alot because Palestine is not a free country it’s under occupation . So it shows how sad or depressed he is

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My graffiti represents me and my beliefs, it represents my culture because I’m a girl who wears hijab and like to have confidence in myself, also I always say that we can do it because we can.

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This represents the college heisman trophy. This represents my culture because everything I surround myself around is about football. Because football is Something that I’m really passionate about. I’ve always been a fan of football and football is also teaching me how to be responsible and respectful.

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My Graffiti represents my Culture in celebrating The day of the dead where you remember your loved ones.

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This graffiti represents the freedom to be yourself. The wings represent freedom the key represents  life.

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This graffiti represents my culture because this a saying that my whole family would say to me, and I put it in Spanish because they said this when I was young and and my family was living in Texas and we were visiting them.

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My graffiti represents cheerleading. It represents my culture because I am a cheerleader and I am also a flyer and cheer is just something fun that I like to do

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A. My graffiti represents my emotions
B. This graffiti represents my culture because it explains how I am inside and how I can get when I’m angry
The bear represents my anger. It represents my anger because I lose control of myself and I forget what I say after my angers gone.
The rose represents my kindness and generosity while the tear dripping down from the vine isn’t the tears that from me when something hurt me.

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I chose this for my graffiti because a rose symbolizes hope and hope is a big part of my life, having hope is good too.

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My graffiti mean in the teen age world that music is everything and we like listening music most of the time. As a teen myself I listen to music every day and I would be so stressed with out it

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This graffm represents my love for baseball and my number as a player for OLCHS

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The graffiti represents my culture cause there are a certain type of people called "emo" which are a certain type of people who listen to rock music and do so that represents us the emo teens

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My graffiti spray paint is an R the reason I did an R is because the R represents things such as my favorite color, my initial, and my fathers initial.

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My graffiti represents a certain group of teens that listen to rock music and I am apart of this group and I am not ashamed that's what my graffiti represents

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This represents my culture because in my culture they play basketball and that’s my sport I like to play most of my time when I have nothing to do.

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certain type of people called "emo" which are a certain type of people who listen to rock music and do so that represents us the emo teens

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This is the Boston Celtic logo for the NBA team. It refers to me because it is something that blossomed just like myself that grows and expands everyday to spread luck and better days.

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This the nba logo for a team called the Boston Celtic. It refers to me because it has blossomed just like myself because we grow and expand to get better every day to be role models to others and spread good and luck.

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My project represents myself. This represents how I see myself.

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This represents me because it’s something I love to do. I enjoy cheering for my high school because it’s fun and I like to hangout with my friends.

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My graffiti represents how I have lots to say and share but am unable to say them due to anxiety. I think this represents my culture because lots of teens expirience this as well.

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My graffiti represents the banishment love can endure. This represents my culture because the world and our society revolves around the idea of love. Love, hate, grief and death can often times go hand in hand. It also respresents the dependency of a relationship and what can result from an unhealthy one.

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My graffiti represents my name in Arabic, I made it so it has a hint of Islamic art by making it somewhat geometric.

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A: my graffiti represents the youth and how we are still growing up and learning. We like to have fun and how we are pressured to grow up and get a job and have a family all right away is scary. I don’t want to be stressing about all that stuff right away. The four faces in my piece is a band From the 60s called “the monkees” . They had a show where all they would do is try and get a job to pay their rent but they always loose the job for having fun and acting like kids but that’s who they are and just what they did. Still learning and growing.
B: this represents my teenage culture in how we are asked what we want to do when we get older, or ask us what are our plans are after high school, college and so on. Some of us don’t know yet and we are still figuring it out. We are just living in the now and for some of us the future scares us. Let us be young and free for a second before we get a for real job and settle down to have a family.

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A. My graffiti represents my Family.
B. This art represents my culture because alot  of my family members all graduated from Boston College including my parents so I want to attend Boston college when I’m older to make my family proud and to become successful in the future.

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Failer is not an option

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I chose this to do because when I hear about all the gun violence going on in our city it is sad because we live in such a nice city but people have to worry about walking outside at night because of the gun violence that goes on in our city.

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I created this piece because this defines me and my mindset. The mandala behind the phrase symbolizes the mindset I have for the things that I value. This phrase represents my imagination. When I use my imagination at home, school, or another place, I create a mindset for what I need to do in order to succeed.

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My graffiti represents braveness.
It represents my culture because back in my country there is a war and everyone back home is brave and not scared that are in war.

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My graffiti represents a mosque which is an important lace that Muslims people go to. It represents my culture because praupying is an important thing that Muslims should do. Also the mosque is a good symbol to represent my culture because Muslims people usually go their to pray.

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My graffiti represents that the amount of likes, followers, or comments you receive on social media, doesn’t determine what type of person you are both on the outside and inside. This represents my culture because I feel that people are seen differently based on social media when they are completely different once you get to know them.

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My graffiti represents braveness.
It represents my culture because back home there is a war and people are not scared to go to war because they are brave.

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What my Graffiti represents ?
My graffiti represents me ignoring all of the hate and doubt people have on me

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What my graffiti represents?
It represents the values of shoes and how I look and value shoes.
How it represents ?
This shoes separates my style from the regular style and how poeple look and dress.

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My graffiti represents a mosque. It represents my culture because praying is an important thing in the Muslims culture.

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My Grafitti represents The day of the dead where you remember your lossed ones.

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My graffiti is a picture of the Virgin Mary which to me represents safety.
This represents my culture because I’m Mexican and we are religious people. We pray to the Virgin Mary to protect us, I chose her as a symbol because Mexicans are always looking out for others and checking up that people are doing well, and are safe.

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My graffiti represents the negativity and constant reminders of the past in my head. This shows how much of what’s in my head is apparent to those around me. This represents my culture because it shows how I let others view me and how I value my mask. -Emily Katalinic

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This represents the love I have for Chicago.

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My graffiti represents the greatest dream of mine the heisman trophy which is awarded to the best college football player in the nation. Always being at the bottom of the skill ladder of life by having a dream that others deem impossible I gain a chip on my shoulder and grind until I achieve my goal.

How my graffiti represents my culture is how people my age continue to set goals that will later shape our lives as well these goals will make us create a work ethic that will eventually shape the people we are later .
Jordan Sprycha

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My graffiti represents my nationality and it represents my culture because you can easily read my race and see some of the colors of their flag

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My graffiti represent my race and it represem my nationality/ culture because you can easily read my paper and i used some colors of the Puerto Rican flag

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My graffiti represent my race and it represem my nationality/ culture because you can easily read my paper and i used some colors of the Puerto Rican flag

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It represents an eagle mixed with an American flag.
It is an American flag and eagle to represent the country. I made this cause it shows almost like a road to America.

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J cole raps about everything he been through and it makes sense. I think this represents my culture because a lot of people can relate to his words.

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My graffiti represents my culture because some of my family is from Mexico and I’m really proud of them and my graffiti is just a way of showing that I’m happy and proud of where i came from it also says love yourself in the bottom and is because I want people to be proud of where they came from and most importantly that they love their own culture.