Tuesday January 30, 2007

REVIEW
Brentley Frazer
© Brentley Frazer 2007

Tuesday 30-Jan-2007 16:57

RETORT MAGAZINE ISSN 1445-7164

Existencilism
by Banksy www.banksy.co.uk
Reviewed by Brentley Frazer

Reviewed July 02 2002
Updated Tuesday January 30, 2007

Existencilism is the second collection of artworks and anecdotes from rogue painter and decorator Banksy. His first pocketbook Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall was a critical smash and sold over 20 000 copies, featuring artwork ranging from walltagging to vandalised oilpaintings; Banging Your Head mapped the beginnings of his anarcho-philosophic adventures into what I call reality hacking.

For Existencilism (due for late July 2002 release) he sticks his neck out even further, providing us with photographic evidence of his adventures of trespass for the sake of art; eg. he records in text his late night breaking in to the Barcelona Zoo, tags everything in sight, and then the next day wanders into the zoo as a tourist and innocently photographs his handiwork, funny and very cool. Bansky has been grabbing some major press lately, the BBC writing 'One of the UK's most talked-about new artists who boasts of turning down offers of work from Nike, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, has become one of the most elusive but infamous artists in the UK with his politicised street art,' in a review of his recent Anti-Jubilee exhibition in London [BBC ARTICLE].

Banksy inspires for a number of reasons; he reminds me of Basquiat and his tag SAMO, one of my personal favourite artists/writers whose career began with the graffiti movement which started on the streets and subways in the early 1970s. Like SAMO Banksy is lucid and poetic while simultaneously satirical and subversive. SAMO's ::Who is Omniprznt ()Lee Harvey Oswald ()Coca Cola Logo ()General Melonry ()SAMO:: and Banksy's ::What part of Thermo-nuclear war don't you understand?":[below]: are, in my opinion, what graffiti art is all about, inspired, planned and executed regardless of the consequences. Art, whatever your interpretation of it may be (I agree with Burroughs, Art is a 3 letter word), really is for the people, and putting it on the streets proves it. Also, putting out a book of photographs of transient art is a very good idea, selling 20 000 copies of Banging Your Head proves this.

And what about the consequences? What if you get caught Banksy? Here's an argument all graffiti artists could probably use. If you do your research you will find that International Copyright Law under The Berne Convention over-rides local Council bylaws regarding what they term to be vandalism. So if you get caught you should counter sue their ass for defacing your artworks, I know that is what I am going to do.

I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of Banksy's books. You can order Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall from his website www.banksy.co.uk. Existencilism is available at all leading bookstores in the UK from the end of July. Upcoming street shows LA -July, NYC- August, Japan-September, Australia-October.

© Images Copyright Banksy 2002

Retort's Gallery of Art by Banksy

Brentley Frazer
Editor | Retort Magazine

All Images in this article © Copyright Banksy 2002 Used with kind permission of the Artist. No part of this article may be reproduced for commercial purposes. View Banksy's website @ www.banksy.co.uk