1 of 6 murals painted in Bethlehem.
Banksy, which is a pseudonym, is an English graffiti artist who began freehand graffiti work in the early 1990's. In the early 2000's, Banksy began working with created stencils, which allowed him to work faster and create cleaner images. Many of his works are politically relevant and placed on public surfaces like walls or bridges, allowing the general public to view and interact with the pieces.
In January 2010, Banksy released the film Exit Through the Gift Shop. The film started when Thierry Guetta, now known as Mr. Brainwash, convinced the super secret street art community to allow him to film their every move. After hours of film, Banksy realized that Guetta was not only not a legitimate film maker, but quite possibly the most random person in the world. Banksy took the resulting film and cut it into the most enthralling art movie I've seen in a very long time. In true Banksy fashion, the work comments on the art community and Mr. Brainwash in a way that was totally subversive.
Banksy recently landed back in the news because of the piece shown above, which was created before the Queens Diamond Jubilee as a critique of sweatshop labor. The piece was removed from the Haringey neighborhood and is now for sale at Fine Art Auctions for an estimated sale price of $1M+. The removal and potential sale has created yet another Banksy related rift in the art world, and has many questioning whether a free public art piece created for a specific community can be removed and sold for private property. Check out an update of the story here.
In the mean time, here are just a few of my favorite Banksy works.
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