Customer Reviews

Wall and Piece

5 star:		(92)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Think art has lost its edge? Witness the art of England's Banksy and reconsider.

His message: that if the powerful and wealthy get to force-feed consumerist propaganda to citizens via giant billboards... then citizens have the right to reply in kind. To that end he's trekked around the world throwing up politically pointed, often funny, always eye-popping street art wherever he damn well pleases: On sidewalks, on train trestles, on the West Bank wall between Israel and Palestine, in monkey cages at the zoo, in the world's great museums (unbeknownst to the curators, of course), and on farm animals (yes, ON them).

"Wall and Piece" is a "best of" overview of Banksy's career, and impresses on a lot of levels. There's the skill and variety of Banksy's techniques (stencils, illustrations, paintings, screenprints and sculptures are all on display). There's the caustic wit of his writing (expressed here in almost epigrammatic blurbs about art and politics). And there's his genius as a prankster. Example: Not content merely to graffitti a blank wall in Westminster, Banksy instead throws up an official-looking "This Wall Is A Designated Graffitti Area" stencil (complete with a "royal" crest swiped off a pack of cigarettes)... and watches others do the work for him.

For those yearning for art that's active... that excites and inspires instead of merely placating... this is the book of the year. One warning: it sits on your coffee table like a social land mine. Guests come over, crack it open, and it obliterates conversation for a while as they get sucked in. Completely Addictive. Highly recommended.

In a time when most works of art consist of either inconsequential pseudo-intellectual "abstractions" or fatuous entertainment, it can be a great relief to stumble upon something like Banksy's paintings/writings on the wall. And here we have a nice compilation by this growingly famous pseudo-anonymous artist for all those who do not plan to bother travelling to London, Barcelona, San Francisco, Palestine or whatever other hellish place that has been blessed with his striking graffiti creations.

Incidentally, the Oxford Dictionary defines graffiti as: "drawings or writing on a wall, etc. in a public place. They are usually rude, humorous or political." Banksy's work, of course, is all three simultaneously. Perhaps that's one of the elements distinguishing him from other (half)underground artists (or just assertive kids) trying to get their message through by painting public buildings without official permission.
For better or for worse, Banksy's art is loaded with meanings - and they're not that difficult to figure out, either. No wonder that no self-respecting "modern art" museum showed much interest in him - at least until he made himself noticed by blatantly breaking the rules. Don't we all love a non-conformist!

In many ways, Banksy represents the good old punk ethos at its best: he is an exemplary practitioner of Do-It-Yourself techniques (up to his famous pranks of sneaking his works into big international museums); his themes are often (if not always) anti-authoritarian; his art is oozing with cynicism and (self-)mockery. Even the leitmotiv of the (nasty, snide, irredeemable) RAT as a reverse mirror of mainstream values, empty promises and not-so-subtle state disciplinary measures is reminiscent of the height of punk insubordination. Those were the days!
Still, as we all know, Punk is Dead. Anarchy didn't even come close to becoming more than a cute slogan. The "System" hasn't collapsed (yet). But that doesn't mean one should stop kicking and screaming, does it?

Fortunately, Banksy isn't just a "retro" artist - quite the opposite, he manages to reflect his own time and culture in a unique and very convincing way. Which is a hell of an achievement, considering how quickly any defiance is turned into a (boring) spectacle these days, with cheap t-shirts and mugs thrown into the bargain.
Whether in his mockery of paranoia-inducing surveillance cameras, ever-present police officers, soldiers and impressive arsenal (of the peaceful West) - or his caricatures of a commercial culture incorporating everything from revolutionary anti-capitalist icons to flesh-coloured Christs that glow in the dark, - Banksy twists symbols and turns meanings upside down to shed a light on the contradictions lying beneath a stifling pile of stupefying nonsense and outright lies. Plus he's funny about it. What else could you wish for?

Although there are lots of pictures of Banksy's art on the internet, this book offers two advantages: 1) it's much nicer and more comfortable to look at the (many) printed pictures; and 2) the artist has added some interesting personal thoughts/experiences which only contribute to his image of a smart, somewhat riotous but also admirably understated RAT. And a wise self-promoter.

This is a delightful book of a very creative graffiti/street artist. Banksy is unarguably a massive egotist and shameless self-promoter, and one may argue with his approach to what a street artist can do (anything he wants, according to Banksy). But those are mere quibbles compared to the amazing vision and wit that he possesses.

"Nobody ever listened to me until the didn't know who I was"
- Banksy

I've always been a fan of street art. I am not going to argue that every tag is beautiful, but some definitely are, and I anyone to point out a visual medium that engages the public more than graf.

Still, a lot of it is pretty boring. Kids writing their names on walls can only hold one's interest for so long. Banksy, on the other hand, is a lot of things. Childish, hilarious, often time brilliant, but never boring. He is the most important street artist working today, and I highly recommend you at least look at this expensive art book in the store. It's amazing.

Using stencils, balloons, posters, markers, traffic cones and whatever else comes to hand, he has created some amazing work. He has hung his own works in major art museums, and he traveled to Palestine to do a number of works on thewall that separates the West Bank from Israel.

The work isn't always good. Some of it is just childish, and some of it is standard graffiti where he's just pissing on a wall to mark his space, but some of it is down right genius.

Banksy is a serious artist who doesn't take himself all that serious. Check out this book, and I am sure you'll be impressed.

this is a nice coffee table book for suburbans like me who want to appear edgy. banksy's work is brilliant.

In this book is an excerpt from a letter in which a young man asks Banksy to stop stenciling his childhood neighborhood because it makes the area seem hip and Yuppies are moving in, raising housing prices such that this young man cannot buy a house here. Banksy's book is filled with inspiring, hilarious, and very intelligent statements accompanied by witty captions, but his work is the kind that speaks 1000 words by themselves. A true public artist, Bansky also offers his tips on how to take a town by storm in only one night. The art in this book is a response often times to public advertising; it is essentially a way for the public to respond to the ads that we are forced to see. A great and intriguing book.

Banksy, with its misterious aura, brings to the face of the society those things the society itself hides under the tapestry (as perfectly illustrated in his book). Even more if we're talking about Great Britain, or America.

Those that live in "3rd world" countries like Brazil (myself included) can appreciate even more this masterpiece of urban intervention. A must-have. Specially for the narrow-minded, conservative ones.

Banksy is a political artist who has created pieces from the thought-provoking to the amusing, and usually somewhere in between. This book is complete with wonderful photos of his pieces, his own little quips and insights into his background and what inspires him.

I really liked this book, and I am not a fan of grafitti. But Banksy is a true artist, unlike the vast majority of those who deface public property. In short this book makes a good coffee table book that guests will be intrigued by - for at least the next 5 minutes anyway.

This book is a must buy for anyone interested in modern day graffiti artists. Banksy's politically charged and creatively poised art work is daring in the nature of its placement and the ways in which it conveys its message.

Today, Banksy has become one of the most prolific graffiti artists in the world, striking large sponsorship deals from companies and rich celebrities alike. His work is usually more on the simple side, yet its message can be puzzling, complicated or sometimes just hard to accept despite the truth behind it. He is a modern day genius using a media not recognized or admired by all yet applicable to all at the same time. The thing I love about this book though, is not just that it showcases his work-but it shows where he got his inspiration from. Following the few most influential snippets of his life from being expelled at 9 to making his first piece in his late teens, it shows how he came to use the mediums he is so successful with today and also shows how he has thought of the ideas and concepts he has about society demonstrated in his work. Though it doesn't show much, the captions, the small pieces of text give all of us an insight into the mind of a genius-and that is what makes this book a five star book, not that it shows the genius through the work, but where that genius has come from.