Who is this Banksy?

The New Yorker attempts to hunt down Banksy, the “quality vandal” who’s hotter than hot right now – the only problem being that no-one seems to know who he actually is:

I asked Unangst what more he could tell me about Banksy, and he replied, “The only thing I can say is he’s like everybody, but he’s like nobody.” And so began the koan of Banksy, whose own talents as an aphorist—“Never paint graffiti in a town where they still point at aeroplanes”; “Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last river has dried up will man realize that reciting red Indian proverbs makes you sound like a fucking muppet“—seem to inspire all who cross his path. Banksy has convinced nearly everyone who has ever met him that promulgating his image would amount to an unconscionable act of soul robbery.

I think Banksy is the perfect example that art – and it is art – is all about concept. Nail the concept and you can worry about execution later. This follows that medium a lot of his work is published on, ie. walls, streamlines the process. It has to be fast and it has to be visible – and that immediately eliminates a lot of the bullshit. Here’s a flickr group for further reflection. I love the guy, and love his stuff, and love that people are falling over themselves to pay for it. Quality.

Posted in Artrage on Wednesday May 16, 2007.