Protecting Banksy’s Work
No real crazy crime here just going to get a wee bit controversial (potentially) talking about vandalism and art and Banksy. Banksy is a special case because he is technically a vandal BUT his work is treated very differently than any other artist/vandal. Should it be? Shouldn’t it be? These are the questions.
Banksy
The man, the myth, the legend. He is famous for his art but also for his secrecy. He loves to leave people in the dark and no one knows his real identity. Talk about an international man of mystery (one for the Austin Powers fans). Here is a little bit of background on the guy, as far as we know.
I’m not going to address who he is or the theories because I’ll do a whole article on that later. Basically, we know that he started as a freehand graffiti artist in Bristol between 1990-1994. He became super famous for his iconic stencilled style, which he apparently developed when hiding from the police under a dumpster and noticed it’s stencilled on serial number. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure am I right?! Along with this new style he also developed his own tone, often featuring humour alongside anti-war, anti-establishment, and anti-capitalist sentiment.
With these stencils, Banksy gained more attention in Bristol and London and then worldwide before having his first exhibition in LA in 2002. From there he went on to have exhibitions all around the world and travel creating pieces of art (or vandalism depending on your POV) wherever he went.
BUT as he is rising to fame and having more and more crazy shows, pulling off elaborate stunts and raking in the ca$$$$$h people started to wonder why we were treating Banksy’s work differently from the work of other graffiti artists. Why is there a huge backlash when a Banksy is painted over by a city or business and no one cares when it was literally anyone else’s work getting painted over? What makes Banksy so special?
Vandalism vs. Art
Let me say first that this is absolutely up to your personal opinion. I will be writing about both sides of this but I will say that I like Banksy’s art and I think he has interesting things to say, so do I think it’s a shame when his work gets destroyed? Yes. Do I think there are probably other artists who deserve this recognition too? Also yes. Am I saying that mindless tagging and destruction of property/painting without permission are ok? No.
Let’s start with a classic opening line: Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines ‘vandalism’ as; “willful or malicious destruction or defacement of public or private property” (2020). So based on this, Banksy is a vandal. He doesn’t ask permission before he creates a stencil on the side of a building and he doesn’t really care if the owner wants it there or not. There’s no real way around it, if you’re going by the definition of the word then it is vandalism. There are many examples of people painting over Banksy’s work because they didn’t want it on their building and honestly that is valid.
Howeverrrrrr some people don’t see his work this way. Because he has a point to make and often uses his massive following to support great causes and marginalized groups he is seen as more than just a vandal and his work is sometimes even encouraged by cities around the world. There are so many hilarious examples of this but here are two that I found especially interesting.
First is in a town called Clacton-on-the-Sea (I’ll give you a second to guess where this is).....you got it, England. Banksy created a piece there showing some pigeons telling a colourful bird to “go back to Africa”. The work was VERY QUICKLY painted over because people were complaining that it was racist. Oh, the irony. What went right over their heads was that this piece was actually a strong statement against racism. Once the town council realized that they had just removed a Banksy (a huge tourist draw and something to be known for) they quickly released this statement: "We would obviously welcome an appropriate Banksy original on any of our seafronts and would be delighted if he returned in the future" (Horne, 2014). ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This is where is gets so messy for me, the second they find out it’s someone famous’ work they want back what they just scrubbed away. A reporter for Vice did some digging on this and he asked the town council’s communication manager why only Banksy would be allowed back. The man told him that what Banksy did wasn’t illegal because it had enhanced the area and that he had their permission. “When pressed on why Banksy specifically was welcome to return, he said: ‘We are a seaside resort reliant on tourism, and it would bring a lot of tourism if we had a Banksy original’” (Horne, 2014).
Secondly, in Dover, Banksy painted this huge mural, as a reaction to Brexit, of a man chipping away at the EU flag. A few weeks later the mural had been painted over completely. Banksy even spoke out about this, showing what he was planning to do to evolve the mural on the day of Brexit. Following this, a local MP chimed in on Twitter saying: “Very disappointed by the disappearance of the Dover Banksy. A culturally iconic statement on our times. We asked Historic England to use their powers to protect this work but they refused. This is the result. They should hang their heads in shame” (Jones, 2019). Historic. England. HISTORIC ENGLAND. He asked Historic England to protect this work. While I agree it’s an amazing work of art and the plans looked insane don’t you think if you were any graffiti artist you would think this is just ludicrous???!!
So basically, for both of these examples, and I assume many other cases, is money. Banksy isn’t considered a vandal because he is famous enough that his work will draw people to come to see it, like more mainstream artists, and these people will spend their money in that town/city.
Mixed Signals
The government and owners of buildings are sending so many mixed messages here I don’t even know where to begin. They’re saying that because Banksy is famous he is allowed to vandalise their property with no repercussions (they would say they gave him permission and therefore it isn’t vandalism). But what about other ‘vandals’ who work with the same mediums as Banksy or even worked alongside him? If they painted something on a building or in a city it would be removed right away, business as usual, no uproar.
Is this right? Hey, I don’t know. I do like Banksy’s stuff and I think he is a super interesting artist. But do I think we probably need to share some of this attention and special treatment with other artists (just like we do in the traditional art world)? Yeah, definitely.
So the burning question: is he a vandal or an artist? You know what I’m going to say...he’s both.
P.S. For anyone who doesn’t know, Toronto has a few Banksys. The only one you can still see in its original spot is at the corner of Church and The Esplanade by the Goose Island Brewhouse’s patio. It is in a frame and plexiglass! Another one was taken from its original place and you can see it (behind glass of course) in the PATH at One York. The other Toronto Banksys have either been painted over, fenced off so you can’t see them, or otherwise destroyed.
Works Cited
Horne, Alex. “Why Is Banksy The Only Person Allowed To Vandalise Britain’s Walls?” Vice. 2014. https://www.vice.com/da/article/mv5k3p/banksy-graffiti-allowed-clacton-293
Jones, Damian. “Banksy Responds After Brexit Artwork Is Painted Over In Dover”. NME. 2019. https://www.nme.com/news/banksy-responds-after-brexit-artwork-is-painted-over-in-dover-2547429
Merriam-Webster. “Vandalism”. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vandalism