If you are familiar with the guerilla artist Banksy, you may be willing to believe that graffiti can be art. Banksy is a London based artist whose canvas is the streets of London, Paris, and the world. His most recent work has shown up on the streets of LA, and he is nothing, if not controversial.
Banksy’s topical commentaries on globalism, capitalism, and politics, as twisted by his absolutely wicked sense of sarcasm, make up his extraordinary work. While, most graffiti, by comparison, seems to blot out, or stamp over almost every surface it covers, these paintings almost seem to have been “slipped into” the landscape.
Banksy has had works on display at the British Museum in London, the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitian Museum in NY city, as well as many other top world galleries – as “pranks”, or essentially, as graffiti. Most museums, upon discovering these already displayed works, have simply added them directly into their permanent collections. I am not sure that happened at Disneyland however.
After looking at Banksy’s works, it’s hard not to acknowledge the possibilities of graffiti as art, but can it change the world?
Watch Banksy at work in Palestine, tagging the Israeli West Bank Barrier Wall.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZK7D6WqzR0&rel=1]
