BREAKING NEWS!! Banksy’s identity has been revealed. But then again, it has been “revealed” several times. In 2014, Banksy was arrested, however, it turned out to be a giant hoax. Then, it circulated that Banksy’s real name is Paul Horner, but you guessed it, another hoax. Several theories have been brought to the table. Banksy is a woman. Banksy is a group of seven street artists. And now, Banksy’s real name is Robin Gunningham.

Robin Gunningham was a student at the public Bristol Cathedral School, supposedly the school Banksy attended as a child. This year, a study was done that examined the locations where Banksy’s artwork has appeared. The locations correlate with the known movements of Gunningham. However, nothing has been confirmed.

I don’t know if I want to ever know the true identity of Banksy. I think his anonymity makes his work more powerful. He is not in it for the fame or the fortune. He is simply trying to better our society. I believe that if his identity was revealed, his artwork would be overshadowed by the stardom. Of course I am extremely curious, but I think that is what draws me to his art.

With the school year coming to a close, I was trying to figure out a way to wrap up this blog about Banksy. However, I am at a loss….because there is no end to Banksy. He will forever be relevant and present, at least in my eyes. Although the topics he challenges may fade, his legacy will live on. He is willing to cause controversy. He makes people think and talk about issues that are commonly shied away from. Whether you see his pieces as art or vandalism, there is no denying the powerful deeper meanings. Although my blogs have reached there end, my love for Banksy will live on.

In 2008, Banksy paid a visit to the Malian capital, Timbuktu, where he created a mural of a woman hanging a zebra’s stripes out to dry. The image was featured in his blockbuster show at the Bristol Museum

I am surprised by the fact that this is one of Banksy’s least known works, as it has become one of my favorites. There is very little commentary online concerning the meaning of this piece, which makes it all the more interesting. Anyone could look at this piece and see a different message. Is the woman stripping the zebra of it’s unique feature? Or is the woman making the zebra see its hidden beauty? Or is this piece a call to action concerning the droughts that often plague Africa? Every single person could have a different interpretation of this piece, which is what makes it so neat.

I personally like to view it as the stripping of “uniqueness.” I think too often our society is caught up in the concept that everyone should “dare to be different.” Whether it be we should engage in activities we normally wouldn’t partake in, wear an abstract piece of clothing, or dye our hair a different color.  Although I do agree with the statement, I think we have become slightly obsessed. Why do I have to dare to be different? Aren’t I special in my own way, without all those physical changes?

In reality, I believe the intention behind this piece was to raise awareness about the drought. However, the last major drought in Africa occurred almost five years ago. But as you can see, Banksy’s piece is still relevant, because it is able to be applied to so many topics. It is timeless, as is most of Banksy’s street art.

Have you seen a Banksy piece that has interested you? Let me know and I’ll review it next week!

Falling Shopper is a stencil art piece Banksy painted several feet above street level on the side of a large, unused office building, in 2011. It is located on Bruton Lane in London. Showing a well off woman clutching her shopping cart while plummeting from a great height. Being painted so high, it is one of the best preserved Banksy’s stencil works.Falling Shopper was purposely placed in upmarket, high-end shopping district of Mayfair, part of London with a high density of upscale shops. It provokes ample political and social discussion about consumerism, which is one topic that Banksy typically comments on.

Do you ever judge things by price? Sometimes when feeling crazy I might buy the $4 nail polish instead of the $2 general brand. I assume that the $4 polish is better because the store is charging me more for it, but I really don’t know. Banksy conducted an interesting experiment to display this skewed logic.

Recently he tried to sell his highly coveted pieces on the streets of New York for $60 a piece. One of the pieces he was selling on the street sold for $249,000 at an auction recently. Banksy himself wasn’t selling the pieces; his identity remains highly guarded. But he ended up profiting only $420. The pieces themselves could be worth somewhere in the $10,000 range if verified legitimate by Bansky’s representative.

Had Banksy put his name on the pieces or sold them for outrageously high prices, they certainly would have attracted more attention. They would have stirred up more attention and someone may have recognized them as Banksy prints, rather than some old man selling random prints. Banksy’s own comment on his art selling experiment was a:

“I know street art can feel increasingly like the marketing wing of an art career, so I wanted to make some art without the price tag attached. There’s no gallery show or book or film. It’s pointless. Which hopefully means something. I would agree that the experiment succeeded in illustrating how certain variables can manipulate one’s perception of how valuable an item is, but it also illustrated how important name recognition can be. We see this every day –– if a collared shirt has a guy playing polo or an alligator on it, then its price and our perception of its wearer instantly changes. It demonstrates that many people (myself included) need to take a step back and evaluate things objectively rather than judging things (or people) automatically based on the connotation of a certain product or brand. Had those in New York done that, they might have realized, “Wow, this is really cool spray art, it looks like something Banksy might have done,” or “Wow, this spray art is very over-priced. It looks like something Banksy might have done –– he’s famous but he kind of sucks anyway.”

This piece is stenciled on a New York City strip club, which suggests Banksy is trying to highlight the ugly truth about society’s sex obsession. Banksy posted the phrase, “waiting in vain” along with a picture of the stencil on his website, suggesting he’s in the wrong place if he wants to find genuine love.

I relate to this piece, as I am trying to transition into life at Penn State. I will not apply my opinions to everyone, but I have found that many students seem to be more interested in physical aspects of a relationship rather than emotional aspects. Unfortunately, I believe society’s sex obsession can never lead to fulfillment.

On the other hand, Banksy always finds ways to inspire his audience, even after dismally criticizing society.

This piece showed up in San Francisco. The adorably heartwarming translation of this piece is “listen to your heart.” While harsh realities and unforgiving satire are typically Banksy’s style, a bit of optimism seeps through here. This listening doctor serves as an inspiring reminder. Are we living up to the request?

Although we may believe society is currently driven by a sex driven obsession, this does not mean we should give up. Persistence is key. Because after all, people do fall in love. They do get married. And they do stay committed…well, hopefully.

This piece can also be applied in a broader sense. Not only should we listen to our heart on matters concerning love, but also our passions. If your heart isn’t in what you are pursuing, you will never have a fulfilled life. So the doctor’s prescription is to take your heart’s advice.

So I have a challenge for you over break. Listen to your heart on one matter or another. Whether it be reevaluating your major, telling that friend how much they mean to you, or even choosing to get a milkshake instead of salad. Because I promise you it is not in vain. Take the doctor’s advice.

This street art is displayed on a warehouse in Queens, New York. While most of Banksy’s stencils instill hope and advocate for peace, this particular piece is a change of pace. At first, I found this stencil very somber and critical. Many of us have heard this common phrase, but here a man is washing away the words. This suggests that although we like to believe we have a meaning in life and we are unique individuals, it is not true. While I do somewhat agree with this, it is a hard reality to accept.

However, after further inspection, I came to a different conclusion. Although, the things I do in my life may not change the world, my presence may change other peoples’ lives, or even just a single person’s life. A meaningful life can be described in many different ways. When I think of a meaningful life, I think of Doctors Without Borders, becoming a world leader, or starting a nonprofit organization. While all of these things are great, they will not be the outcome in many of our lives. We are often told as children to chase our dreams. While I do not disagree with that, I think it puts a false idea of what a meaningful life is into our heads. Donating time to a soup kitchen, helping a friend through a rough patch, or even putting a smile on a stranger’s face, these are all meaningful things which are oft forgotten. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the world a better place.

So I think there is a deeper message to Banksy’s, what at first seems to be morbid, stencil. He is trying to humble us. Life is finite, but that is okay. He is urging us to do good things, not to be remembered, but rather to be a good person.

In October 2013, Banksy began a series of installments in New York City titled “Better Out Than In.” Banksy plastered one of his works throughout the city each day of October. The series featured stenciled graffiti, which incorporated objects from the real world that were already present.

The intent of Banksy’s series is best described by the audio guide he released on the last day of his stay in the Big Apple:

“Banksy asserts that outside is where art should live, amongst us. And rather than street art being a fad, maybe it’s the last thousand years of art history that are the blip, when art came inside in service of the church and institutions. But art’s rightful place is on the cave walls of our communities where it can act as a public service, provoke debate, voice concerns, forge identities. The world today is run, visually at least, by traffic signs, billboards and planning committees. Is that it? Don’t we want to live in a world made of art not just decorated by it?”

One of my favorite pieces from this series is pictured below.

Some websites call this “Express Yourself.” As with all of Banksy’s work, this image could be interpreted in a variety of ways. I see it as piece perfectly captioned with the series title, “Better Out Than In.” It exemplifies that it is better to express your feelings and passions rather than holding them in. Obviously, people don’t hold in their vomit. It feels better to just let it out. So why hold in your emotional needs? Ironically, the person throwing up the flowers is a graffiti artist. Graffitists let out their feelings through their work. So maybe all of us should become more like them.

I find it interesting that Banksy never tags his work. Obviously, personal publicity is not important to him, which ties in perfectly with the idea surrounding this image. You must express yourself, even if it is anonymous. The importance is you put it out there. You put it out there for others to take in and contemplate, which is how we, as one world, can progress.

I will be continuing my blog on the street artist Banksy, as his influence is limitless and timeless. For some of you that are just starting to read my blog, Banksy is a graffiti artist who began in the Bristol underground scene in the 1990’s. He claims to have found inspiration from other graffiti artists, such as Inkie and 3D. In the early 2000’s Banksy began to stencil, rather than free hand, as it took less time and allowed him to evade the police more easily.

Banksy’s artwork is meant to capture a viewer’s attention, whether it is a person walking by or a passenger taking a glimpse from a speeding car. Because of this, his artwork must be straightforward and bold. Most of his pieces have a surface meaning, which is obvious to most anyone at first glance. However, after further inspection, many interpretations come to the forefront.

Below, is a collage of just a handful of Banksy’s art work. I have discussed some of these pieces previously, if you spot one that catches your attention, feel free to scroll down. Banksy has pieces scrawled across the world, and yet his identity is still unknown. He isn’t in the business for the fame, he’s in it to make a difference, and that’s what makes him truly amazing.

None of Banksy’s work is meant to vandalize or destroy property. He believes advertising is an evil of it’s own. His street art is his way of fighting back. “Brandalism,” says Banksy, is “any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not…the people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff. They expect to be able to shout their message in your face from every available surface but you’re never allowed to answer back. Well, they started the fight and the wall is the weapon of choice to hit them back.”

So this week I decided to take a break from the monotonous reviews of individual works created by Banksy. Instead, I’d like to share with you some of the elaborate and highly illegal pranks he has pulled in the past.

In the past, Banksy has climbed into the Bristol Zoo’s elephant exhibit in order to scrawl the words “I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring.” Now that’s dedication. Bansky has also placed several of his pieces on the walls of the Met(as shown below), the Museum of Modern Art, and even the Louvre. He inserted a fake cave painting of a man pushing a shopping cart in a British art museum, which went unnoticed for three days.

In 2006 Banksy replaced 500 copies of Paris Hilton’s debut album in 48 different record stores with his own version of the CD, which contained musical remixes by Danger Mouse. Banksy produced several new versions of artwork for the record. In one version, Hilton steps out of an expensive car into a group of homeless people. The caption reads: “90% of success is just showing up.” The album’s tracks were given titles like “Why Am I Famous?” and “What Have I Done?” The public purchased numerous copies of the album before stores were able to remove them. Some CDs were later sold for more than $1200 on online auction websites.

I have focused mainly on Banksy’s street art, but he is also a world-renowned filmmaker. His short film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award as well. (I highly recommend it!) The film was originally supposed to be a street art documentary created by a French immigrant, Thierry Guetta. The film featured other major artists in the field such as, Shepard Fairey and the Invader. Thierry soon became obsessed with the idea of catching Banksy on camera. Although, Banksy’s identity has still not been revealed, Thierry caught him on film placing a Guantanamo Bay detainee doll in Disneyland. It remained on display inside the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride for 90 minutes before the ride was closed and the figure removed. The stunt was intended to highlight the plight of terror suspects at the controversial center in Cuba.

None of Banksy’s work is meant to vandalize or destroy property. He believes advertising is an evil of it’s own. His street art is his way of fighting back. “Brandalism,” says Banksy, is “any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not…the people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff. They expect to be able to shout their message in your face from every available surface but you’re never allowed to answer back. Well, they started the fight and the wall is the weapon of choice to hit them back.” We are lucky to have such creativity and innovation in our world. Banksy creates a voice for the people to fight back.

I have been going back and forth on which advertisement I want to analyze for my essay. So I decided I should see what you guys think!

First Option:

Amnesty International is an organization that fights for human rights, based out of the United Kingdom. AI was founded in 1961, and has been running hard-hitting, rhetorical advertisement campaigns ever since, such as the one picture below.

It appears as if the government has censored what the general public may view. In school, we learn about books being burned and banned due to their content in the 1950’s in the United States. It seems like a distant reality, but for some it is all too real. There is still censorship over press, the Internet, and speech in countries such as, North Korea, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. This image is so powerful because it compares us to countries, such as North Korea, which we are firmly united against. The ad utilizes pathos by implying that there are still people in our country that do not live in what we think of as the land of the free. Logos is utilized by insinuating that a majority of other countries have given way to gay rights.

Second Option:

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week takes place once a year in the month of February. Growing up, I had no idea what an eating disorder was. I believed it was a rarity that most people would not encounter in a lifetime. This ad was used for NEDA week in 2012. The bold green letters, which read “Everybody Know Somebody,” seem as if it is a bit of an exaggeration. But upon viewing the hands raised, the advertisement employs pathos by showing how many people are truly impacted; not only those suffering, but their families and friends as well. The logical argument presented is that if this disease affects so many, why is society still so unaware?

This stencil was found in Melbourne, Australia. This street art is rumored to be Banksy’s, but the true artist is not known indefinitely. However, the characteristics serve as evidence that it is Banksy’s, as I am sure many of my frequent readers can observe. I think the most interesting part about this piece is that it challenges the audience’s perception of who the “heroes” are in today’s society. This is not your typical hero; he is a homeless man, which most people would view as the opposite of a traditional hero. A lot of Banksys’ works show a lowly character that we see in our everyday lives, but never really notice.

This picture resonates with so many people because it clashes with what one would expect to see on a sign being held by a homeless person. By painting “Keep your coins, I want change,” Banksy utilizes the double meaning of the word “change” and takes a familiar image and turns it on its head in order to make a larger point.

Sparing some loose change for a homeless person can help them in the short term; and make you feel as though you’ve completed your good deed for the day. But is this really enough? Banksy is trying to prove the point that it is not, and it never will be. Fundamental political and social changes are necessary to solve this problem.

Banksy’s image has been recreated many times for anti-homelessness campaigns in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Although many people don’t view homelessness as a controversial issue, rather as just a problem, I do believe it is a hot topic. It comes down to the fundamental values of human beings. “Do homeless people deserve help,” sounds like such a harsh question. But what about issues of welfare and Medicaid; these are controversial issues. These issues concern the people that tend to make up most of the homeless population. So, when walking down a street, upon seeing a homeless person, what do you think about? (Get a job, I wish I could help, that is so sad, etc.) While most judge this question by each differing situation, I tend to wonder, “Why are they any less than me?” Who am I to decide which people in the world are deserving of more help? And who are you to decide that? Who is anyone to decide that? I believe that everyone deserves a chance, but at what point do you stop giving chances?

This is the type of discussions that are sparked by Banksy’s street art, which is exactly what he wants. He’s is not forcing his opinion of what specifically needs to change, rather he is raising the question, does something need to change? Whether a viewer is offended or intrigued by Banksy’s artwork, it makes he or she think. Not think about due dates, or what to eat for lunch, or when to go on a run. But to think about issues bigger than us. This is how Banksy is so effective, he doesn’t tip toe around social boundaries. He aims to catch a person’s attention, not their praise.