Artist Analysis: Banksy

Banksy

Artist Analysis: Banksy

Banksy in an anonymous British graffiti artist and political activist. Due to his hidden identity his birth and real name are unknown but it is to be believed that he would have to have been born in Bristol, England, around 1974.

He began his artistic career around 1990 in a graffiti gang called the DryBreadZ Crew, this work was mostly freehand but he occasionally used stencils, this then developed into using exclusively stencils. This is when his black and white characters style developed.

Although he used other materials such as paint, Banksy mostly uses spray paint through home made stencils.

All of Banksy's work has political meanings behind it as he is a political activist, His work often engages political themes like war, capitalism, hypocrisy and greed.

The piece shown here shows a man with a paint bucket in his hands, and the words follow your dreams next to him, it also has the word cancelled over the top of the follow your dreams.

The colors used are extremely simply, but this is Banksy's style, most of the people he illustrates are in black and white.

The way Banksy illustrated is to try and make his paintings look although they are real at a glance, most of the people depicted are life size, giving a surreal truth feel.

I think Banksy is trying to get the message of oppression across saying that you cannot follow your dreams and the government don't allow it. but is the man in the painting the one painting the "follow your dreams" or the "cancelled"?

I believe that this inspires me with my work as it is rejecting the saying, saying you cannot follow your dreams, but in the same way saying the opposite in an ironic way.