Research Paper

John Nguyen
Ryan Gallagher
English 12 CP Period 7
23 March 2009

Banksy’s Message To The Public

Banksy was born in 1974 in Bristol, United Kingdom (“Banksy” 1). Banksy’s main focus is graffiti art which can be found in London, and many other locations in the world (“Banksy” 2). His alias, Banksy, has the utmost respect in graffiti art (“Banksy” 4). The media seems to believe that his real name is Robert Banks (Chaundy par. 6). Banksy is a “son of a photocopier repair engineer” and also “trained to be a butcher” (Fadhley par. 4). In 1992, Banksy started his “freehand graffiti” while putting elements of stencils into his work (Fadhley par. 5). Banksy’s graffiti art is mainly stenciling which includes rats (“Banksy” 35). One night, Banksy says, “I was staring straight up at the stenciled plate on the bottom of a fuel tank when I realized I could just copy that style and make each letter three feet high” (Banksy 13). Banksy’s inspiration came from hiding from the police looking at other artists work and tells his girlfriend that he “had an epiphany that night and she told me stop taking that drug ‘cos it’s bad for your heart” (Banksy 13). Overtime, “some of Banksy’s pieces have been proclaimed to be genuine works of art” (Fadhley par. 2). Banksy point of view of polices in London “apparently eyebrows are very expressive and by covering them up you appear a lot more authoritive” (Banksy 42). Banksy began his graffiti, “the distinctive rats began to appear” (Lucey par 4). “They exist without permission. They are hated, hunted, and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model” (Banksy 95). His art consists of rats, soldiers, trapdoors, and photo opportunities (“Banksy” par. 5).

Banksy feels that “a lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to” (Banksy 21). Banksy suggests that “A wall has always been the best place to publish your work. The people who run our cities don’t understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit, which makes their opinion worthless” (Banksy 8). Banksy is showing that if powerful and wealthy people use propaganda to citizens, then the citizens in the society have a right to respond with their opinion. At first, Banksy wasn’t popular, but overtime, his work now stands for royal charity (Jury par. 3). Banksy also says, “it takes a lot of guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in – like peace and justice and freedom” (Banksy 29). His graffiti art is to influence the people to strive for a difference in society. “When the time comes to leave, just walk away quietly and don’t make any fuss” (Banksy 79). In a way, Banksy is self discipline. He accepts the fact that his graffiti arts are taken down because technically, Banksy is vandalizing public property. His graffiti arts are located in many places, but he does not always have authority and permission to keep his graffiti art on location. Banksy understands this concept and feels that he should not stop his graffiti art just because one of his paintings is taken down. For more or less of himself, he wants society to make a change, and make other people opinions worth something.

One graffiti art of Banksy is “There’s no such thing as good publicity” located in W Houston Street & MacDougal Street in New York, New York. The stenciled rat takes up more than half of the graffiti art. Banksy’s signature art are the rats in his stenciled paint graffiti art (O’Keeffe 9). There’s an irony in his artwork, apparently removing Banksy’s mural is a message to discourage graffiti art in London (“Council Votes To Remove Banksy Mural In London” 4). Even though they remove the mural, this graffiti art of “There’s no such thing as good publicity” shows a stenciled rat removing the original propaganda for FOX. Banksy also draws his murals all around to give the society a message, relevant to the “Broken Window Theory” (Banksy 130). The theory states that if there are more windows broken, graffiti and rubbish will appear more and more. People will then notice walking by and will think nobody cares. This relates to deterioration, “a direct link to vandalism, street violence, and the general decline of society” (Banksy 130). Banksy’s graffiti art is acknowledged, “We didn't ask Banksy to pick our wall and we don't think we should have to pay for its removal. Actually we liked the piece and so did our tenants. We don't plan on selling it” (Singh par. 7).

Banksy’s “There’s no such thing as good publicity” seems to have an original advertisement from FOX that premiers on a day with a month and date. The original ad is a “Pushing Daisy” ad for FOX. This ad is basically propaganda to the public for television entertainment. Banksy’s stenciled graffiti art consists of four colors. The colors are dodger blue, white, Indian red, and ivory black. The dodger blue gives the painting a calm feel, which was originally part of the “Pushing Daisy” ad. The white represents neutrality. The ivory black color is a typical color for a rat. Banksy’s signature art is the rat because it depicts how they are “hated, hunted, and persecuted” (Banksy 95). It seems like the rat is painting over the ad with the white paint on a paint roller. The Indian red portrays and represents the message of “There’s no such thing as good publicity.” Banksy chose this color fiercely because it’s a dark taste of red which can symbolize blood, love, hate, anger, and lust. The red on the painting sticks out the most because it gives the message of the graffiti art. Banksy seems brilliant because the way he chooses the style on paintings and where he chooses to draw the paintings is very clever. Red is a well known bright color that is often noticed first. The color and the texture seems simple as it is, but picking the right colors for a painting helps portray the message. The outcome of the painting attracts people which portray the message of “There’s no such thing as good publicity.” The graffiti art uses publicity which is extensive mention in the news media or by word of mouth or other means of communication. Banksy is saying that there is no good way, form, or idea to say that there is a meaning to any news media by means of communication. This is ironic humor because Banksy is trying to give out a message, but then the message itself is telling the public that messages are no good in a sense of his painting. The white is bleeding off the billboard onto the cement wall. The bleeding of the color shows that the white color is very heavy because it’s overly used in the painting trying to cover the billboard which makes it drip in a sense. Citizens reading it, in a way, should be aesthetically to see the deeper meaning in Banksy’s work. Banksy is telling the public that propaganda is drowning the society consumers. Banksy says, “Any advertisement in public spaces that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It belongs to you. It’s yours to take, rearrange and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head” (Banksy 196). Banksy took this mural into consideration and uses graffiti all over the ad as if it was his. As an artist, Banksy takes his work seriously, and wants to give the public a deep message, which is to take action and stop ads, because citizens are consumers of the world. Banksy did not have much respect and support from the public when he first began. His message and purpose for graffiti art was the idea of propaganda. Banksy’s Wall and Piece states, “We can’t do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves” (Banksy 204). This quote shows sarcasm because the main purpose of propaganda is to grab people attentions and follow the trend. Propaganda is the main source of power and wealth for marketing and business.

Another painting by Banksy is the broken window with a television coming out of the window along with a rat holding a fork and knife. The rat is mainly black, holding the fork and knife resembles dinner and eating food in general. Banksy is showing that rats lurk everywhere looking for food, doing what rats can to survive. This depicts the idea of consumers and people in general. The consumers of food today usually waste a good amount of food and throw it in the trash. This is where the rats come in play. Rats are Banksy’s main idea when it comes to graffiti art. This mural basically contains his stencil art. “Recently discovered specimens of the common sewer rat have shown some remarkable new characteristics. Professor B. Langford of University College London states “you can laugh now… but one day they may be in charge” (Banksy 183). Banksy is telling the consumers to stop wasting so much and make a change in the world. The significance of this graffiti art is the rat and the broken window with the television coming out of it. Banksy introduces the Broken Window Theory saying, “Criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling developed a theory of criminal behavior in the 1980’s that became known as the ‘Broken Window Theory.’ They argued crime was the inevitable result of disorder and that if a window in a building is smashed but not repaired people walking by will think no-one cares. Then more windows will be broken, graffiti will appear and rubbish gets dumped. The likely hood of serious crime being committed then increases dramatically as neglect becomes visible. The researchers believed there was a direct link between vandalism, street violence and the general decline of society. This theory was the basis of the infamous New York City crime purge of the early nineties and the zero-tolerance attitude to graffiti” (Banksy 130). Most of Banksy’s graffiti art is concentrated on broken windows. I am guessing that he enforces broken windows because of the theory. He probably expects more graffiti to show around the broken window, like the one in the picture taken where his mural art takes place. Banksy wants more people to vandalize in graffiti art, but in a good way in order to give more messages out to the public, to make a change, to stop consumers. Banksy being well known serves a purpose in his graffiti art. The more broken windows he draws in places, most likely more people will think that no one cares which will lead to more graffiti art all around the broken window. Banksy uses his graffiti art in general. When he finds a wall, he fakes a professional government message in the center of the soon going to be vandalized wall by stating authorized graffiti area. Then a few weeks later, Banksy would come back and look at all the graffiti artists drawing and try to analyze their message. In a way, the other graffiti artists out there are acknowledging Banksy, because he is still doing the authorized wall when he feel likes it. This “Broken Window Theory” attracts more and more graffiti artists to draw. Banksy wants “peace and justice and freedom” (Banksy 29).

Another painting by Banksy is the sniper graffiti art. The painting is located in Banksy’s hometown Bristol, United Kingdom. There seems to be a few colors on this sniper painting. Black, grey, white, and what seems to me a paper bag brown. There’s a sniper watching something and there’s a kid behind him trying to learn how to use the gun. This is incorrect because the recoil and stability of the shot won’t be as accurate. The sniper on the painting is holding the gun completely wrong (“Banksy sniper’s off target” par. 5). The article says, “But Banksy has painted the sniper holding the rifle into his right shoulder and steadying the weapon with his right hand, while using his left hand to pull the trigger – not the thing to do if you want to hit anything. A right-handed sniper would use his left to steady the weapon” (“Banksy sniper’s off target” par. 3). Banksy most likely wants to the public to think that the sniper is left handed. This painting is said to be aimed near a children’s hospital (“Banksy sniper’s off target” par. 2). Banksy is trying to say that death is coming because guns usually mean violence. It says SWAT on the sniper’s cap. Banksy probably uses black on this painting to symbolize death. Grey is also used which represents a depressed cloudy day. The grey is put in the painting to show that it’s an unhappy type of mood color. It also represents the mood of the hospital because being in a hospital surrounding is dramatic and dull. The kid behind the sniper represents the idea of corruption because nowadays there is much gun violence that comes to play in the world. Banksy seems like his drawings are to open up people ways of seeing things to another level. Banksy mainly uses black and grey to give a feel towards the graffiti art. The black and grey represents a typical gloomy day of rain with a storm of clouds all over the place. This graffiti art from Banksy is most likely stencil art. Banksy has great passion for stencil art because most of his graffiti art carries out most of it. In the article, it states “Surely any amateur artist attempting a military subject would at least study it” (“Banksy sniper’s off target” par. 6). Banksy does the graffiti art on purpose. People are acknowledging his sniper in a way, it relates to the idea of corruption.

The three graffiti art paintings of “There’s no such thing as good publicity”, the broken window theory, and Banksy’s sniper off target depicts his ideal message to the public of propaganda, consumers, corruption, and to have changes. Banksy states, “People who get up early in the morning is because war, death and famine” (Banksy 207). This direct quote from Banksy himself is just the beginning of his graffiti art career because he wants to change the economy in a way. Many consumers look at propaganda which is their motivation to waste on the object of the ad. Banksy is his own movement using his graffiti art. The movement is to change people and to make a world a better place. He feels that “there are no exceptions to the rule that everyone thinks they’re an exception to the rules” (Banksy 32). This quote depicts how he knows that consumers in the world can control themselves. It also shows the main idea of graffiti art. The deeper meaning is that Banksy knows that people in general public are scared to rise up. Banksy wants more propaganda, but of other people instead of the power and wealthy. Banksy is implying to give out more messages to the public by using his graffiti art, which encourages more people to do their graffiti art. In the end of a graffiti arts aspect, he states, “All artists are prepared to suffer for their work, but why are so few prepared to learn to draw?” (Banksy 10). Banksy wants to give more messages out to the public to influence deeper meanings to change the perspectives of consumers. Banksy’s message to the people is to stand up and tell their opinion to the public. Banksy tells his opinion through his graffiti art.