Finally, all those frequent flier miles are paying off. In my house, unused FF miles go to free magazine subscriptions. I've been getting Esquire this way for a year or so, but the most recent issue has paid off in spades. An article, titled "I am Banksy," in the most recent issue details the author's search for what is now my new favorite artist, Robin Banksy. Apparently I am very late to the party, but who cares, this is good stuff.
His work has popped up in the form of graffiti all across London. Beyond the article, I've found two great places to view his stencils: His web site, here, and another site that actually shows many more pictures of his work around London, here (click on galleries on the right).
From my admittedly sub-half-day fandom state, I can tell you honestly in my now "expert" opinion that his work has a running subversive theme most often based on hope. Graffiti is a form of subversion in and of itself, but the actual content of his work seems to address authority and "state" rule in many ways. One picture is a of a large tank surrounded by soldiers looking very initiating with assault rifles and and all in black. What leaps out is that all of the soldiers have the yellow "have a nice day" smiley faces. Another cool one is on a brick wall facing a busy roadway. The picture is of two soldiers. One is down in a defensive stance, covering the other with his assault rifle while the second is shown bent over spray painting a large Peace symbol on the wall.
The pictures of hope are even more inspiring. They show worlds full of grey and sadness, but with subjects that have suddenly opened windows into different worlds of hope and possibility. According to the article, in July Banksy actually created nine pieces on the Palestinian side of the West Bank wall. One picture in the article shows a huge piece of the actual wall with a cracked and broken "hole" as if pushed through the wall. the actual fence looks like what it is, water-stained concrete, through the hole we see a boy at the beach with a bucket and shovel, framed by blue skies and puffy white clouds (similar but different than the one I've included above).
Past that, several of these works are just plain fun. My favorite shows a large UPC barcode symbol with bent "bars" in one section, and a leopard that has just "escaped" coming toward you.
Banksy has an interesting manifesto (read it here) on his site that captures the goal of his work much better than I have. It's the story of Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin, a British soldier who was one of the first to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. It's haunting.
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