Try looking for Banksy on the Internet, and as in Terry Gilliam’s movie Lost in La Mancha, you’ll never get close to the man. It sucks, but that’s life. So instead of telling you who is Banksy or write stuff like « Banksy is great, Banksy is a genius », I’ll just say something i’m sure : Banksy doesn’t want you to know who he is. Today, the only little thing we know about the guy is through his pieces of art. That is quite odd in itself as you certainly know most artists want you to know them more than their production. We are living in a world where we have to know the artist before knowing his work. We have to appreciate the artist to appreciate the work. Here, we only have the work and no artist. Is Banksy a woman ? Is (s)he alone ? Is Banksy the name for a collective ? Can a (wo)man alone be as creative as him (her) ? Who cares ?
Really, just look at his work, and you’ll understand why Banksy is a great (f*** it, I’ve said I wouldn’t write stuff like that) :
[...] crois que j’aime par dessus tout cet art à la limite de la légalité, un peu comme celui de Banksy, qui fait que l’artiste devient une personne recherchée, un fauteur de troubles sur la voie [...]
[...] Banksy via [WoosterCollective] [...]
[...] Banksy, l’artiste anglais qui sévit sur les murs des villes, va sortir un film documentaire sur le Street Art. Et comme d’habitude, le ton est délibérément provocateur et malin. Plusieurs artistes ont accepté d’être filmé. Tout ce qu’on a pour l’instant, c’est cette bande-annonce et la date de sortie : le 5 mars 2010. Il sera présenté en avant-première au festival de Sundance. N’espérez pas voir son visage, puisque dans cette bande-annonce, le seul moment où un visage est flouté, c’est quand on le voit en train de peindre un de ses rats. [BanksyFilm] [...]
[...] Banksy, one of the greatest and most amazing artist, directed the intro for The Simpsons. This time we know the 20th century Fox is using Chinese kids to use toxic products, kittens to stuff Bart toys, dolphins to tape boxes, pandas to carry the toys, and even a unicorn to make their DVDs. Ouch ! What is surprising is that they aired it. [...]