Banksy – a discopyrighted artist Much like every country in the world, in England, the copyright in a work of art arises from the moment of its creation. But there is a very famous and, at the same time, unknown artist who does not have the rights to his work; moreover, he states: ‘Copyright is for losers. ’ Banksy is a genius street artist from England, whose works everyone knows, but no one knows anything about the artist or even seen his face.
The scale and social orientation of Banksy's street graffiti are striking and make you follow his work. However, the public can only see and discuss his work because Banksy is hiding his identity. Nobody knows if this is one artist or a collective who works under his pseudonym.
Therefore, we may consider with confidence only his works and the perception of his work by contemporary society. Banksy began painting on the streets in the late 1990s, since then his paintings have been appearing in many different places: on the walls of buildings, fences, doors, bridges, and on asphalt. Certainly, his street paintings really liven up and change the city's common space.
Over time, his drawings have acquired a deep meaning. Banksy paints his graffiti in public crowded places and often accompanies them with commentary phrases, which gives his graffiti a great public resonance. As the social orientation develops, every day it becomes more difficult for him to hide from the audience and the police, so he works at night and uses stencils in order to complete his works faster.
The artist has indeed produced many works in response to public and social events and sentiments. Banksy's resonant graffiti became famous in the world, and he became world-famous in 2007. Since that time, celebrities have begun to buy his works.
He regularly devotes a significant part of his work to peace issues, criticizing military conflicts and political provocations. Such his works as "Armored Dove of Peace", "Girl with a bomb", "Bouquet" which are known worldwide. Nowadays, Banksy continues to paint works relating to social themes.
His graffiti "The Son of a Migrant from Syria," featuring Steve Jobs, is painted on the wall of a building near the refugee camp. One day on the door of a youth center in Bristol, the graffiti "Mobile Lovers" appeared. This work shows that people can no longer be distracted from social media.
An interesting fact about this work, the photo of which was published by Banksy, was not immediately found. While the fans were looking for graffiti, the owners of the club removed the door, installed it in the lobby, and showed it for money, as they were on the verge of bankruptcy. The city authorities then took the work and put it on display in the museum.
Furthermore, Banksy made a public appeal and, due to this, the work was sold at auction and the proceeds saved the youth center from bankruptcy. Banksy has a series of paintings depicting a supermarket trolley in which they make fun of the consumer society. In the "Trolley Shopping Falls" graffiti, a woman is holding on to the cart so tightly that she is ready to crash with it, but not let go.
When one of Banksy's paintings on a wall in Bristol was painted over, the townspeople regarded it as an act of vandalism. Previously, homeowners were forced to keep Banksy’s drawings under the pressure of public opinion, but now his street drawings significantly increase not only property value, but also the value of neighboring real estate. Although not everyone sees real art in Banksy's paintings, his work has a long history of being sold for millions of dollars and has settled in private collections.
This most recognizable work of Banksy's "Girl with Balloon" appeared on the bridge over the Thames in 2002. Later the artist created another copy of this street graffiti. On the white canvas of the painting, a girl is depicted in black paints, who sadly watches a bright red heart-shaped balloon flying away.
In October 2018, at Sotheby's, the author's copy of the street graffiti "Girl with Balloon" was sold for $ 1. 4 million. Immediately after the painting was bought, a destructive mechanism in the frame was activated and began to cut the painting right in front of the people who were present.
Needless to say that they were shocked! Banksy himself explained this with a quote from the Russian philosopher "the desire for destruction is also a creative drive". Fortunately, the mechanism was was only able to cut half of the artwork into small strips.
As a result of this, the painting became a new, more expensive, art object, which the new owner gave the new name "Love in the Trash Bin" and sold for $ 25. 4 million three years later! On eBay, a lot with information about Banksy's real name was put up with a starting price of $ 3,000.
After the 38th bid of $ 999,999, the lot was withdrawn. Banksy is trying his hand as a film producer: in 2010 his film about the history of street artists "Exit Through the Gift shop" was presented at the Berlin Film Festival. Banksy himself appears in that film, but his face is hidden by a hood.
The film grossed over $ 5 million at the box office. By the way, Banksy donated one of his works to the musicians, whose name of the band he used for his film, as compensation. A halo of mystery, resonant social works continue to stir up interest in Banksy's work not only among art lovers.
But the Banksy phenomenon is not only marketing - his works really reflect the spirit of the modern world. At the annual Webby Awards in 2014, he was named ‘Person of the Year’ because of the flamboyant and highly social nature of his projects. Instagram is the only social network where Banksy regularly uploads his work.
By the way, he has more subscribers than the accounts of the Louvre and the British Museum combined. In Banksy’s Instagram account, followers can track new items and see a variety of rats, which are as unpredictable as humans. This is another famous image of Banksy.
Dedicated fans are closely following his work and are making attempts to establish the identity behind Banksy’s pseudonym, but all the guesses are not confirmed. All that remains for us is to wait for the moment when we know the name of the person who wants the world to look better.
