HOMAGE TO THE GREATS

An anti-establishment street artist who not only worked his way into the commercial art scene, but did it all while remaining anonymous — there is no creator quite like Banksy.

Banksy brought vandalism to life far before Strike Magazine. In a 2003 interview in which he asked to remain anonymous, when answering a question that asked if he was an artist, he more so identified with being a vandal. After all, Banksy is an outlaw first, a revered public figure second.

Like many artists, Banksy started doing graffiti out of a need to. He was expelled from school and went to jail several times for petty crime. “Graffiti, he says, made him feel better about himself, gave him a voice,” the 2003 Guardian interview wrote.

Banksy’s graffiti career involved running from the police, which likely explains his choice to remain anonymous even amidst his world fame. At 18 years old, he was almost caught while working on graffiti, and while all of his friends were able to escape, he ended up under a truck with engine oil dripping onto him. He realized then and there that he couldn’t simply spray paint — he had to use stencils to work faster, to avoid getting caught. And so his anonymity, especially at the beginning of his career, makes sense since graffiti and street art is illegal. His technique became a staple in his hometown Bristol, and the public soon learned to recognize his art style in the 1990s. Starting in the 2000s, his work started appearing throughout the country and, then, eventually around the world.

Banksy’s anonymity allows for him to make all kinds of statements. In 2018, upon one of his pieces being sold at an auction, the artwork then proceeded to partially shred itself per a built-in shredder placed by Banksy. He quoted Picasso on Instagram upon the artwork’s destruction — “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.” Interestingly enough, the piece was sold for even more in 2021 at $25.4 million, a record sale for Banksy.

Banksy challenges typical artistic notions, arguing that destruction is also a significant part of creation. In a world where art collectors and even artists are all about the protection of their work, this is no small feat.

Whether you love or hate these vandals, their impact on their respective disciplines is undeniable. Even their misinterpretations are instrumental to their impacts and effects on the global art scene — but, still, that doesn’t mean we’ll try to stop interpreting them any time soon.