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Banksy

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Picture of Manchester graffiti, image © Hannah Powell/British Council.

	Graffiti art

What springs to mind when you think of graffiti? Dirty walls daubed in fluorescent spray paint, furtive characters with hooded jackets lurking by night at bus stops, railway stations or shop fronts? There is no doubt that graffiti is considered by many to be a public menace and an ugly eyesore, but in recent years more and more people have opened their eyes to the subversive and uniquely artistic power of the spray can.

Banksy
Take the case of the mysterious British graffiti artist, Banksy. Originally from Bristol, his politically subversive black and white stencils peep out of dark alleyways and announce themselves in bold type face across bridges in many of Britain’s towns and cities. Whether it’s a stencil of a monkey carrying weapons of mass destruction, a queen’s guard urinating in a corner or a rat parachuting out of a drain pipe, Banksy’s brand of 'art for free' creates a seemingly personalised experience in a very public space.

Album cover
Whilst Banksy’s identity is meticulously concealed, due to the illegality of his work, he has become the UK’s most celebrated graffiti artist and, more recently, sculptor. He successfully bridges the divide between the street and the commercial art world. Although he has yet to sell any of his work to the likes of London’s Saatchi Gallery, he famously designed the front cover of British band, Blur’s Think Tank album and is hotly sought after, so far to no avail, by big companies such as Nike. Banksy’s first ever official exhibition ’Turf War’ took place in Dalston, in the heart of London’s trendy east end, in July 2004 at the inconspicuous Thumbnail Gallery 1. His work also appeared in the British Council’s political design exhibition, ’Upfront and Personal’, which showcases three decades of political graphics from the UK and South Africa.

Commissioned art
Like it or loath it, Banksy’s work is hard to avoid and seems to be gathering momentum in the UK as well as overseas. Indeed, such is the growing popularity of well appointed graffiti art in the UK, shop owners are commissioning artists to spray paint their shop awnings with brightly coloured designs to avoid less desirable forms of graffiti such as the elaborate spraying of signatures called 'tagging'. In many of the UK’s towns and cities, local authorities and individuals have provided small areas as designated graffiti sites so that high-quality art can be produced without risk of prosecution.

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