Banksy: Genius or Vandal?
(2024)

Banksy. Boring. Banksy’s Website.

Many cultural historians argue that the origins of graffiti and street art can be traced back to late 1970s New York City (Young, 23). Jeffrey Ross details in his book that these specific artistic expressions are rooted in an emphasis on illegality, the experimentation of anonymity, and under the assumptions of ephemerality (289–293). But the art form has come a long way since its rebellious origins. Alison Young describes the “globalization of graffiti and street art culture” (31) as a state of the street art world, enabled by the internet, that has allowed artists to acquire global audiences and popularity (32). As a result, one artist in particular has gained unprecedented international recognition which has led to a “wider appreciation of street art more generally” a phenomenon also known as the ‘Banksy effect’ (29). Banksy, a stubbornly anonymous British street artist, is known for his stencil work which has been scattered and recognized all over the world. By analyzing how Banksy and his work have simultaneously embodied and resisted the globalization of street art, this paper will explore how the digital age has posed new ways of challenging street art’s inherent ephemerality by reimagining ideas of preservation and destruction. It is also important to note at this point that the arguments made in this paper are specific to the street artist Banksy and his unique and unparalleled level of global fame. For this reason, the same logic may not be applicable when trying to analyze other contemporary street artists, however, I believe that the conclusions made in this paper shed light on important aspects of the ever-changing art realm in an increasingly digital and globalized world.

While Banksy and his work stay close to street art’s qualities of illegality and anonymity (as defined by Ross), the ephemeral quality of his work carries more nuance in contemporary contexts than it did in its early beginnings. To better understand the reasons for street art’s inherent ephemerality, Marchese outlines five different causes that contribute to the almost immediate destruction of the pieces. The first cause comes from persistent municipal authorities that are driven to eradicate “any sign of aesthetic disorder that might result in further decomposition of the moral integrity of the urban fabric” (272). The second threat for removal comes from private property owners that eliminate street art, by painting over, pressure washing, or air-blasting the walls in order to “maintain the aesthetic integrity and economic value of their home and/or the structures attached to it” (273). Third, street art is always at risk of being tagged over, reworked, or completely covered by other artists, writers, or taggers. Due to its urban canvas, street art proliferates “a contested domain where aesthetic battles … are fought out on a nightly basis” (273) and so the potential for defacement is a constant. The fourth cause that helps explain street art’s ephemerality is, “quite simply, the elements” (275). Without the protections of the gallery, street art is inherently subjected to the “ever-changing palimpsest, that is, the city street” (274). While the first four causes have remained true since the very beginnings of the art form, Marchese discusses how the fifth cause underlying the inherently ephemeral nature of street art is a relatively new cause that is intimately “tied to place of the digital camera in preservation, dissemination, and, hence, popularization of the street art form” (276). The fifth cause is the “monetary value on the open market or its cultural significance to institutions seeking to “preserve” these fleeting works of art” (276). I’d argue that Banksy and his work have fully embodied this fifth cause and, in turn, have posed new questions regarding ephemerality, specifically in relation to perceptions of “protection” and “preservation” in the public interest.

Banksy. Untitled. Banksy’s Website.

To begin my argument, I am going to analyze one of Banksy’s most recent pieces which was unveiled on his Instagram account on December 22, 2023. Located on the corner of Commercial Way and Peckham in south-east London, Banksy used a stop sign as his canvas where he painted a trio of military drones flying across the red octagon. Each aircraft is depicted in a different size creating a three-dimensional effect contrasting the static and flat composition of the stop sign. Although a photo of the piece was posted without a caption or any tags, its simple composition, recognizable subject matter, and limited color palette, paired with the bold lettering “STOP” successfully aided Banksy’s followers to quickly understand and discuss its meaning in the comment section as a statement on the ongoing war in Palestine and Israel. However, as a result of the infamous Banksy name and the cultural and monetary value that comes with it, the piece lasted only an hour following its Instagram debut before two men used bolt cutters to remove the stop sign from its post with the intent of selling the piece on the open market. At this point, the chosen location of the piece at the corner of “Commercial Way” becomes significant in alluding to Banksy being painfully aware of the commercialization that the contemporary art world faces — inferring that the artist anticipated the sign’s stealing before he even placed down his stencil. Both men were arrested according to the Metropolitan Police on “suspicion of theft and criminal damage” (Durban & Nanji). Southwark Council’s deputy leader, Jasmine Ali, followed the theft with a statement saying that “We are not just talking about a street sign here, it is a work of art which was put there for the community. It is street art and it is for the people.” This discourse around the stop sign aligns with Ferrel’s discussion of illegal street art as it “exists at the intersection of art and crime, of cultural production, criminalization, and politics” (199), however, in this specific case, the criminal perpetrator has now been transposed — it is no longer the street artist that illegally defaced a public road sign but instead it is the thieves that stole the treasured work of art from the public space, depriving the world of culturally benefitting from the Banksy. In this sense, the production of street art continues to interlock “with broader relationships of world politics and power” (Ferrell, 190) but for one reason or another, the street artist has now assumed the position of power. With this piece, we can witness how the perception of street art has shifted from historically being condemned as “‘vandalism,’ ‘waste,’ ‘disorder,’ … [or] ‘a crime against property’” (Young, 27) to now being regarded with the status of valuable and worthy of protecting art. This shift has redefined the cause of ephemerality for this piece, no longer in the name of maintaining aesthetic order but instead rooted in greedy monetary gains. While this stop sign is a part of his more recent works, Banksy has faced this tale of theft time and time again. His work has been prised off walls, cut and restored, crowbarred off, detached from their original locations, and sold to the highest bidder illustrating the lofty cultural and monetary value that Banksy pieces hold. Some cities that have considered themselves lucky to be graced with Banksy’s elusive strikes have taken certain measures in attempting to “preserve” his work.

Banksy. LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, CABLE TV.” Banksy’s Website.

To further illustrate Banksy’s unique position of protection in the eyes of government authorities, I will analyze another one of his pieces that was posted on his Instagram with the caption “LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, CABLE TV.” Created in June 2018 in Paris, France, this piece is a reworking of Jacques-Louis David’s painting “Napoleon Crossing the Alps.” Banksy has replaced the victorious Napoleon with a faceless female figure fully draped in a red cloth. With this reworking, we no longer see the powerful, victorious Bonapartist figure, but instead, a figure blinded and lacking political vision (Mennen, 29). Aside from the specific historical painting that the artist has chosen to adapt, the specific date, location, and title chosen for this work are all incredibly important to the piece’s overall meaning. Created around June 20, (World Refugee Day), in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, (a neighborhood of the city with a large population of migrants and refugees), with the caption “LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, CABLE TV,” (referencing the French motto “liberté, égalité, fraternité”), Banksy has made purposeful decisions to allude to a statement on Europe's immigration crisis, specifically France’s poor management of the issue. The engulfing red fabric resembles traditional religious garments worn by some Muslim women such as the burqa or niqab which could be a reference to France’s “Burqa Ban” in 2011 which made it illegal to wear face coverings in public areas. Banksy also replaces “fraternité” with “cable TV” in the caption, critiquing the role that mass media plays in overturning the country’s values of national unity and brotherhood. But what makes this piece relevant to this paper is the fact that city authorities have “protected” the painting by placing a sheet of plexiglass atop it. A handful of Banksy’s works have undergone this same “preservation” tactic around the world but the irony with this stencil, I’d argue, is that the painting itself is a reworking of a previous painting but it has been prevented from experiencing the same fate that inspired its creation in the first place. By Marchese’s definition of ephemerality, street art is inherently at risk of defacement from municipal councils, private property owners, and other street artists, but “LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, CABLE TV” will now forever stay the same. No one is able to add on or remove elements from the original piece, eternalizing its initial message on the wall. While for some, this is an act of preservation, one can also view it as an antagonistic attack against the inherent ephemerality of street art. As Rafael Schacter talks about in his interviews, there are many street artists who “consider the destruction of their works as an essential condition within the artistic process” (Caffio, 215). This official city-condoned plexiglass treatment has prohibited the stencil from living it's inevitable demise that has been etched into its future from the very creation of the street art form. It is with this piece that we can start to understand how Banksy’s name and the cultural significance that it carries has caused even municipal authorities to protect illegal works of art. In contrast to the earlier phases of street art and graffiti, city councils today have prevented the piece’s inherent ephemerality instead of causing it. Banksy, being well aware that his work now has the potential to be “preserved” or “destroyed,” depending on how you want to look at the purpose and effects of the plexiglass, has taken creative approaches to defending his work.

Banksy. “BETTER OUT THAN IN.” Banksy’s Website.

We can see this by analyzing his piece titled “BETTER OUT THAN IN” which was created in October 2013 as an announcement of his alleged residency in New York City. The artist dedicated himself to creating one piece of street art for every single day of October. Throughout his month-long project, Banksy utilized a digital camera and social media to “capture, document, authenticate, and communicate his work” (Marchese, 279) to his global audience. The first work of the series, “BETTER OUT THAN IN,” depicts the silhouette of a young boy donning a baseball cap and holding a spray paint can in one hand while crouching over, vomiting a stream of flowers and leaves that have grown out of the cracks on the wall. By incorporating “very distinct elements of the urban fabric” (Marchese, 280) into his piece, Banksy has fought against the typical “preservation” tactics that have previously been imposed on his work. If one were to place plexiglass on top of this piece, similar to that of “LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, CABLE TV,” the flowers would wither, die, and the work as a whole would eventually lose all its meaning. If one were to remove the work, like the fate of the stop sign, in the misguided hope of “preserving” it, the crouching boy would simply be out of place and his positioning would make no sense — again losing all its meaning. The title itself can also be directly interpreted as street art being literally “better out[side] than in[side],” and Banksy reinforces this by utilizing the wild foliage of the city as an essential element in the composition of the work. In doing so, the artist has made “the task of extracting these works from their locations much more complicated than it would be otherwise” (Marchese, 280).

Evidently, Banksy has outgrown the original pot that graffiti and street art had originally sprouted from and has projected into a realm of revered reputation, global appreciation, and worthy of protection. Compared to his contemporary street artists, writers, and taggers, his work is no longer associated with ideas of crime, aesthetic disorder, and social rebellion. However, he faces a different set of challenges due to the age of the globalization of street art — his work’s causes of ephemerality have acquired a new layer of complexity that is informed by cultural and monetary value. The three works of art discussed above illustrate how Banksy is aware of these new challenges that the digital age brings about but he continues to resist the commercialization and economization of street art by weaving elements of the urban fabric into his compositions, emphasizing specific locations as an integral part of his pieces as a whole, and utilizing his online presence to expand his audience to the global scale.

Works Cited:

Caffio, Giovanni. “Ephemeral Drawing. Street Art between Conservation and Impermanence.” Agathón 4.online (2018): n. pag. Web.

Durban, Adam & Nanji, Noor. “Banksy: Man arrested over removal of road sign art in Peckham.” BBC News, December 23, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67812751

Ferrell, Jeff. “The World Politics of Wall Painting.” Social Justice, vol. 20, no. 3/4 (53-54), 1993, pp. 188–202. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29766763.

Mennen, Rens. “‘Liberté, Égalité, Cable TV’: An Analysis of Banksy’s Adaptation of Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps.” Arts & Culture Studies, July 2020, theses.ubn.ru.nl/handle/123456789/10324.

Marchese, Francis T. “Digitized Street Art.” Media Art and the Urban Environment. Vol. 5. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG, 2015. 267–284. Web.

Ross, Jeffrey Ian, ed. Routledge Handbook of Street Culture / Edited by Jeffrey Ian Ross ; Foreword by Peter K. Maning. Abingdon, Oxon ; Routledge, 2021. Web.

Young, Alison. Street Art World. Vol. 57734. Reaktion Books, 2016. Print.