What Banksy Can Teach Us

When British artist Banksy’s self-declared New York residency first began creating a buzz, I was excited. To me, it presented a comforting realization that masses could still care about art not just in a I’m-going-take-my-biannual-trip-to-the-Met–to-refresh-my-understanding-and-appreciation-for-good-art kind of way (don’t get me wrong, I love the Met), but in a not-all-important-art-is-in-museums-and-I-am-willing-to-travel-all-around-the-city-to-follow-an-obscure-artist-to-see-what-his-work-is-about kind of way. But as the talk around Banksy began to look more like hype, I realized that the appreciation for Banksy, at least in New York, would be more of a phase than a chance to open up a long-term discussion on public art. But why shouldn’t it be?

It seems there are two things about Banksy that captivate people. The first is his anonymity. His need to keep his identity unknown comes with the illegal nature of his street art, graffiti, or vandalism—whatever you want to call it. However, it has also created a sort of game. Banksy drops clues and hints, and we follow them to find his cheeky, satirical bits and pieces. And this is the second aspect of Banksy we are enchanted by. His art, as described by Michiko Katukani in “Stalking a Most Prolific Phantom”, “goad[s] viewers into rethinking their surroundings, to acknowledge the absurdities of closely held preconceptions.” We are drawn to this rebellious streak that has manifested itself in two different ways in this one project.

To return to my previous question about how we can use Banksy’s work to open up a conversation about art, I am not sure the answer lies in analyzing his portfolio. Are the two aforementioned qualities present in Banksy’s work unique to him? I say no. All art offers different perspectives on reality that challenge our perceptions. Especially in New York City, there is a growing scene of local artists creating meaningful work that do not have large audiences flocking to see each piece they put out. So if we do have this capacity to be such loyal spectators, why are we not using it more often? At a time when there are ongoing plans to demolish 5Pointz, the world’s iconic “graffiti mecca,” when we are ironically arresting people for “criminal mischief” when they view Banksy’s graffiti, and when there is a massive number of native artists, I think there are a number of other ways, beyond hashtagging Banksy, to express our appreciation for creative expression.