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BanksyWith the art world dominated by commercial artists who feed a market who approach buying art as if buying a stock, or more accurately, a derivative of no real monetary value but which can be imbued with one via good marketing, true connoisseurs of art have been crying out for an artist with integrity. The graffiti artist Banksy has been seen as artist with that integrity. As a graffiti artist, art buyers can at least be confident that Banky's motivation to create has traditionally been something other than money. This alone distinguishes him from some other artists who have made their fortune in the art world. Just as Banky's art appeals because he has some integrity in his motivation, it appeals because it is genuinely talented. Banky's stencilled work exists somewhere between the realms of installation and painting. The image is specifically designed to meet the characteristics of the venue that it is installed into. Some of Banky's images are jokes that bring a smile to onlookers. Others are Banksy’s visualised opinions on political issues. Still others present a concoction of issues in such a way as to make onlookers think about a topic more deeply. Irrespective of whether the art is a joke, visual opinion or a question, it relates to the lives of the audience and is therefore something they can access. Commercialising Banksy in a way that does not diminish his integrity has presented his agents with some obstacles to overcome. The first obstacle is that fame has eroded much of the anonymity that his career as a graffiti artist relied on. Newspapers have reported that Banky's true name is Robert Gunningham, and that he went to a British public school (private school in Australian terminology.) Although having a good education may explain some of the insightful ideas in his work, having well-to-do middle class parents doesn't help build his street credibility. The credibility issues has been somewhat addressed with press releases stating that Angelina Jolie and Bradd Pitt have bought his work. The two American actors have an image of being the “rebels” of the celebrity set and their investment in Banksy gives him a stamp of approval for other people with money who define themselves as rebels at heart. Additionally, being an anti-capitalist that is capitalising on art has the same kind of ironic appeal as Piero Manzoni showed with his work Artist’s Shit, which was created as a criticism of Post-modern art only to go on to become an iconic example of it. Admittedly, many fellow graffiti artist still regard Banksy as a hypocrite who rails against capitalism while exploiting it but these artists are not in the market to buy his work. A second obstacle is that graffiti is an artform that by nature is illegal to produce and is therefore a problematic artform for agents to work with given that they need to obey the law. While Banksy's identity may be concealed from the public, the film distributors, comedy writers, agents, tax agents, art dealers, police, and councils who work with him know who he is. If Banky produces work outside the law, not only can’t he sell it, he can be prosecuted as well, as can those who work with him. The obstacle has been negated with Banksy sometimes maintaining an ambiguous stance about whether he indeed created work that appeared on a street. Photos of the stencil are taken, and the shadowy figure of Banksy signs them. These are then sold to buyers. Publically, Banksy says his work is also sold "second hand" by agents who he claims he has no formal relationship with. An additional way that Banksy has overcome some of his legal problems has been to ask permission of a building owner before adorning something with his art. Because of his willingness to work with owners, his art often appears in very public areas where other graffiti artists can not paint for fear of police arrest. While he still cultivates a public persona which seems to be outside the law, in truth, he is known by the law and works within its rules. Arguably, had he not worked within the law, he would not have been able to show his work in the public areas that made him famous. Furthermore, he would have been arrested by now and subsequently had his real name put on the public record as he faced court to answer charges. A third problem is authentication of his work. Banksy typically uses stencils, which are more easily imitated than techniques by a painter such as Renoir or van Gogh. Perhaps if the stencil was especially intellectual, then the lack of skills of creation would not really matter; however, at times, the stencils don't contain a message which could not be created by an ordinary street artist. Banksy has tried to remedy this liability by signing his work. In addition he uses recognisable motifs like a police officer in some kind of dubious conduct, such as questioning a child or being overzealous. He is also fond of teddy bears, monkeys or a girl with a ballon. Unfortunately, these are also easily copied. Perhaps the only true way to authenticate his work is by considering the location that they were created and then asking the owners of the property whether Banksy asked them. Because Banksy works within the law, the owners of the property have generally met him and are therefore able to verify the work. Ironically, by working within the law, Banksy gained opportunities to show his art in the very public locations that graffiti artists working outside the law could never dream of working on. With time, this helped Banksy build a profile that enabled him to commercially exploit his work. While his image may be that of a boy from the hood working outside the law to bring the capitalist system down, he is most certainly an artist from a life of opportunity who has enhanced his opportunities by working with the system for his own monetary benefit.
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