Like any great artist, Banksy has a number of themes and subjects that he has returned to again and again over the course of his career. The Walled Off Hotel, located next to the Israeli West Bank barrier, is a return to the themes explored in Banksy’s previous work in the area.
Walled Off Hotel – The worst view in the world T-Shirt souvenir
In 2005, Banksy famously vandalized the Israeli wall with a number of scenes protesting its existence, and he returned to the area in 2015. Now with the Walled Off Hotel, Banksy hopes to draw tourists to the area in the centenary year. The Walled Off Hotel is a collaborative effort involving a number of artists funded by Banksy, the profits of which fund local projects. On the FAQ page of the official website, Banksy tantalizingly tells readers that painting the wall is “not ‘not’ legal,” and that “the wall itself remains illegal under international law” in a way that seems to define his brand of “vandalism.” Banksy’s work redefines graffiti by straddling the line between an emerging subversive aesthetic and a socially conscious vandalism.
One scroll through Banksy’s official Instagram account gives a very strong impression of how this anonymous street artist views his own work. He captions his own work simply, as a way of inviting his audience to pause and reflect on the significance of his work. Sometimes, he will use a quote to insert his work into a pre-existing dialogue. For example, Banksy’s March 16, 2017 post of one of the pieces adorning his Bethlehem art hotel Walled Off Hotel is captioned with a quote from the Spanish Anarchist Bueneaventura Durruti.
‘The only church that illuminates you is one that’s on fire’ – Buenaventura Durruti
Durruti’s poigniant statement that “the only church that illuminates you is one that’s on fire” set against Banksy’s depiction of cherubs wearing oxygen masks in the center of the Holy Land has the lasting impact of art.
Social Commentary
Whether it’s the Israel-Palestine conflict, the refugee crisis, or Brexit, Banksy has a knack for insinuating himself into socio-political turmoil and using his own fame/infamy to draw attention to contemporary issues. Banksy’s early works as a Bristol based graffiti artist layered the mundane or cutesy onto images of social turmoil, as a way of using the familiar to defamiliarize scenes that we have become desensitized to in a way that is a hallmark of “art.” The subversive effect of “The Mild Mild West,” in which a teddy bear holding a Molotov cocktail squares off against riot police, is its ability to recast an image we are already familiar with.
Street vs. Gallery
The artistic merit of Banksy’s work and his own approach to what many still consider vandalism was the focus of his 2009 installation Banksy vs. Bristol Museum, in which his works were shown side by side with those traditionally recognized as “art.” This exhibition was built on the commercial success that Banksy had among private collectors, and marked a movement toward recognition as a legitimate artist. In 2005, Banksy had performed a series of what NPR’s Michelle Norris called “reverse-theft[s]” by leaving his own works in art museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York . Banksy vs. Bristol Museum took the premise of Banksy’s guerilla assaults on galleries and provided Banksy with the space and scope to explore it fully. With this official move into a public gallery, Banksy infiltrated one of the fortresses of fine art and brought street art on to the hallowed ground of his high-brow critics.
Despite his brush with high art, Banksy stayed in the vanguard of the street art movement, and in October 2013 Banksy staged a famous month-long campaign on the streets of NYC entitled Better Out Than In. To this day Banksy still works as a street artist, while staging installations, across the world.
Recent Work
Although he has recently been busy covertly collaborating with other artists to prepare the Walled Off Hotel (now accepting guests), he returned to England in early May to publicly comment on the state of the European Union on the eve of the French Presidential vote. This piece of street art in Dover depicts a workman removing one of the stars in the EU flag with a chisel.
Artist or Vandal?
At one point in time I would have identified street graffiti with gangs, crime and maybe violence. Mindless tags on rail bridges, backs of trains and buses all left shaking my head and wondering ‘why of why have they even bothered to by a can of spray paint?’ In fact I still do view these particular acts of graffiti as vandalism.
What are you looking at? Art or vandalism?
There is no message, political, humorous or intelligent being conveyed in a lot of cases. ‘Shaza was ‘ere’ conveys nothing apart from someone can’t think of anything else to write.
With regard to Banksy, I do view his work as modern art and yet at times,while humorous, I see his work as being opportunistic, without true purpose, meaning or message. Take ‘What are you looking at?’ for example. While it might be a commentary on ‘Big Brother’ I don’t see a whole pile being achieved by this piece. By the same token, what draws me to Banksy again and again is his ability to convey irony, humor, sadness, loss with such ease and yet cause each of us to reflect on ourselves, our society and hope for better things.
Art or Vandalism? Who is right who is wrong?
There is Always Hope – Girl with Balloon
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