Banksy Art

Banksy, a well known graffiti artist is said to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire. He is often considered the invisible man of graffiti art. His father was a photocopier and he is believed to be born in the year 1974. He was trained to be a butcher but became involved in art, mainly graffiti, during the late 1980's. Banksy art is very popular and is often satirical in nature. His work was inspired from the Bristol underground scene, which involved a number of artists and musicians.

Banksy, when he started out, was a freehand graffiti artist. The Banksy art was mostly inspired by local artists. A lot of his work was a part of the Bristol underground scene. The stencil was an essential element of his artwork right from the start. He realized that it took much less time to finish a work of art when it involved stenciling and by the year 2000 he had mastered it. In fact it has been rumored that when he started out as a graffiti artist,  Banksy was too slow and could never finish his work on time. He therefore devised a series of intricate stencils which helped him hasten the process. Later it turned out that it was this which set his work apart from the rest.

Banksy art and Banksy graffiti has portrayed a wide range of subjects. This includes animals such as monkeys and the famous Banksy rats, soldiers, the elderly, policemen and children to name a few. The theme of his work revolves around politics, culture, ethics etc. His work often includes conspicuous and funny images occasionally combined with slogans. His slogans remain cheeky yet intelligent.

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Flower Thrower                          Kids On Guns                      Stop & Search                    

Bomb Hugger                              Balloon Girl                                Trolley Hunters  

   Banksy Rats                                Kissing Coppers                          Fallen Angel             

             West Bank                                     Banksy Books                          Happy Chopper        

Bowling Bombs

Banksy art has been found in cities around the world. He is often seen as an internationally notorious figure as his work has appeared in the walls of museum in both the United States of America and the United Kingdom. He has in fact managed to sneak into the British museum and install a fake prehistoric cave painting! It took the officials a couple of days to find this and later it went into the museum's permanent collection! He is responsible for painting the streets, walls, bridges, zoos of towns and cities all around the world. In fact his parents think of him as a painter and a decorator!

In due course of time Banksy art work has become very popular and has been sold for vast amounts of money. He could be considered as one of the most famous artists of his time for reasons both good and bad. Banksy is probably the most popular, yet most mysterious graffiti artist this world has seen.

A counter-cultural prankster, his art work is present in almost every cosmopolitan gallery around the world .Though he is an internationally known subversive, rebellious, revolutionary graffiti artist, Banksy has managed to keep his identity a mystery. In spite of having given a number of interviews to various newspapers, his identity remains a mystery. This however does not prevent him from becoming a household name in Britain!

Artistic genius, political activist, painter and decorator, mythic legend or notorious graffiti artist? The art work of Banksy is unmistakable, except may be when it's squatting in the Tate or New York's Metropolitan Museum. Banksy is responsible for decorating the streets, walls, bridges and zoos of towns and cites throughout the world. Witty and subversive, his stencils show monkeys with weapons of mass destruction, policeman with smiley faces, rats with drills, and umbrellas. If you look hard enough you'll find your own. His statements, incitements, ironies and epigrams are by turns intelligent and cheeky comments on everything from the monarchy and capitalism to the war in Iraq and farm animals. His identity remains unknown, but his art is prolific.