Who is the famous British street artist? It seems paradoxical, but no one knows his name and the anonymous artist prefers to keep his identity secret.
People think that Banksy is born in Bristol, where he began his life as street artist and where his first works appeared. Anyone who sees the projects easily recognizes them and easily attributes them to the British artist, the graffiti are made with stencils and represent a critique against the Western society, the artist deals with cultural, political and ethical subjects in a very satirical and sharp way.
Banksy also believes that art must be accessible to everyone, he is totally against the art market and for this reason his works are available in cities all over the world, on the walls, streets, buildings, bridges, in short, the artist offers an open-air art gallery.
Among the most famous pieces we mention “Flower thrower”, made in Jerusalem in early 2000. The wall painting represents a protester with a bandana to cover his face who is about to throw a bouquet of flowers. Due to his anonymity, Banksy cannot be identified as the author of the masterpiece and has therefore lost his copyright, now “Flower thrower” is in the public domain.
Banksy has also left his mark in Italy, both in Naples and in Venice. In Naples we can admire the “Madonna with the gun”, the other work was called “Madonna with Coca Cola and chips” but another street artist removed it. In this piece Banksy reproduced Bernini’s “Ecstasy of Blessed Ludovica Albertoni” with McDonald’s Coca Cola, sandwich and chips, as a strong critique of consumerism. Whereas in Venice Banksy created the “Child of Venice” with a life jacket and a flare, perhaps a clear stance on immigration.
Let’s move to London, here we can appreciate the “Little girl with the balloon“, a very famous work that depicts a little girl sad for having lost, or perhaps for having let go, her red balloon, next to it we read the phrase “there is always hope”. In 2018 Banksy amazes everyone with a performance at the Sotheby’s auction house, when the girl with the balloon was sold for one million pounds, the work begins to self-destruct, as if a paper shredder was cutting it. It was the same author, on his Instagram channel, who showed the mechanism inside the painting to chop up the work that is now partially shredded.
A few months ago, on the walls of Nottingham, the girl appeared hula hooping with a bicycle tire, right next to an abandoned bike without its back wheel. Does Banksy have something to do with it? It was the artist himself who claimed the work via Instagram. Yes, the British artist declares the authorship of his art using his social account.
October, New York, Banksy: perfect combo to enjoy “Better out than in”; last month in the Big Apple the artist created, day after day, new works followed by a telephone number that acted as an audio guide for the creations that appeared around the city.
We will probably never know the identity of the famous Banksy, but he will certainly continue to amaze us with his artistic inspiration. Everyone is waiting for his next masterpiece with great trepidation.
