Banksy

Banksy is the most exciting street artists to come out of the UK for more than a decade. He works by the cover of the night, lurking through the shadows to avoid detections. Banksy was born and bought up in Bristol and his artwork has appeared throughout London and other locations around the world. He’s still anonymous and wants to remain so, which is a positive factor, as he isn’t seeking fame; however he has become famous from being anonymous. This quite clearly indicates his artwork is actually unique and passionate to himself. However, many newspapers assert that his real name is Robert or Robin Banks. He began tagging the walls of Bristol at the age of fourteen. He started as a free hander but, unable to draw fast enough to evade the police, he was arrested several times, so he switched to stencilling. Around the beginning of the new millennium he started to use mostly stencils in his works because the amount of time he noticed he could save by using this technique. Soon thereafter he began to gain recognition in the graffiti scene with his very unique pieces.

Banksy is widely criticized and somewhat of a ghost considering there are no photographs of him and his identity remains a secret. Although what he does is considered a crime Banksy doesn’t condone graffiti because he cannot gain financial profit from it and it is vandalism after all. “Most people think of art as a way of conveying emotions, as opposed to language, the means by which we express ideas. Whatever line there is distinguishing art and language; Banksy paints over it to make it disappear, then stealthily repaints it in the unlikeliest of places”. The definition of art is the quality, production or expression, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. There is no real definition for what is beautiful or appealing to the human eye. Banksy is said to be an artist by some and a graffiti lawbreaker by others. Basically, it is up to