Perhaps I’m just feeling very emotional at the moment but it’s been many years since a piece of art made me shed a tear.
I’m not sure if Banksy’s done much framed art before but he hand delivered a painting to Southampton General Hospital today depicting a child playing with a nurse doll like a superhero with Batman and Spiderman dolls binned in the background.
He left a note saying:
“Thanks for all you’re doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if it’s only black and white.”
One of the reasons I like this is because it’s so simple. I know he can bash us over the head a bit and the message isn’t subtle - but here is a message that is universal rather than local or political, and yet would have been largely meaningless only three months ago.
EDIT: of course, he has famously done at least one framed picture before :smack:
…but I doubt this one contains a hidden shredder.
I saw a piece on this on BBC America tonight. It’s a beautiful and touching piece of art, and according to the broadcast I listened to, the plan is to auction it off to benefit the NHS. Estimates are that it’ll bring in at least a million pounds.
Also note its two male superheroes binned in favor of a female nurse.
If he put Captain Marvel in the bin half of England would be on fire in protest and Disney would reveal that thanks to an IP trace Banksy was actually a member of a secret Facebook group that was planning on protesting showings of Black Widow.
I think it’s pretty obvious that he chose the two superheroes that he did because they’re instantly recognizable, even to people unfamiliar with superheroes and even in a black-and-white drawing. It might also have been intentional that they were one each from each of the two major superhero publishers, but I expect that any analysis beyond that is fruitless.
I think it’s pretty obvious that he chose the two superheroes that he did because they’re instantly recognizable, even to people unfamiliar with superheroes and even in a black-and-white drawing. It might also have been intentional that they were one each from each of the two major superhero publishers, but I expect that any analysis beyond that is fruitless.
It’s a beautiful sketch, which is one of the important factors for a work of art intended to be shown to the general public. Kids might well like it despite it being black and white - it’s in the style of 1930s book illustrations.
Not all art needs to be subtle.
No, most people aren’t as obsessed with gender as you appear to be.
The quotes are there because that is indeed how some people consider graffitti artists, if that is how I considered the genre I wouldn’t use quotes at all would I?
So no, I like some graffitti art very much thank you, just not his. It doesn’t even have the benefit of being aesthetically interesting to me,
He is held up as something beyond the ordinary (and perhaps I could have used the word “ordinary” instead of “mere” to avoid misunderstanding) but it does nothing for me. Personal taste, you might like him, I don’t. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t have talent, just that he doesn’t have a talent for making me think or feel anything very much.
