Wednesday, June 24, 2009

BANKSY: THE FINE ART SATIRIST?

Dictionary.com defines satire as "the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule,
or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.

A few weeks ago I highlighted some of Banksy's "street art." The paintings in this post are what Banksy calls "inside art." They are painted on canvases and can be moved around (meaning they can be sold to earn the artist a great deal of money). Each is a parody of a well-known piece. See if you recognize any of them. Click on the image to make it larger for a more in-depth examination.


NOTE: In 2006, Angelina Jolie paid $75,000 for
this bust, and also paid $226,000 for a Banksy drawing
of a family
having a picnic on the beach with
15 starving Africans
looking on.
In 2007 she and Brad Pitt bought another one of Banksy's works for a cool $2 million.

The next two pieces are "outside art," but I thought they fit in with this post because they too parody very famous art pieces:

So what do you think? Is Banksy a true satirist? Is he really trying to say something, or is he simply taking advantage of his viewers? (I won't even get into what your opinion of Brad and Angelina might be.) Which do you like more--his "inside art" or his "outside art"?

4 comments:

  1. All I can say is, after Angelina and Brad, he was crying all the way to the banksy.

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  2. hmmm... none of it is "the wall above the couch art" is it? However, just because *I* wouldn't buy it (or a print) for my small home doesn't mean I can't appreciate it. It does make you think and I think that's one qualifier that can make something art.

    PS how sad am I that I only recognized one of the works he was satarizing in his "inside" art--Waterlilies. Maybe the one with the car as Hudson River School, but I don't know the specific work.

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  3. oh, wait, TWO, I know the dancer one too... it's just the first two that I have no clue about...

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  4. It's so fun to see what he has done with such famous pieces. I think the cleverness of the play is fun.

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