Banksy : Cultural Outlaw by Paul Gough

Banksy is always viewed through the lens of the `whodunnit', as a disruptive street artist who alternates between being hailed a national treasure and urban folk hero; an imposter who has reneged on his graffiti roots. Despite his legendary status, there are many purists who think he has forsaken his street-cred for credit in the bank. But above all, we all remain obsessed by his anonymity, his high-profile invisibility, his status as the world's most famous unknown artist. This illustrated book takes a new approach to Banksy's work: it looks closely at his creative output as an artist, political commentator, and cultural phenomenon. Taking a thematic approach to Banksy's extensive practice as a stenciller, painter, curator and filmmaker, each section explores the craft, context and cultural forebears of `his' work, setting it within the dominant social and political debates that have determined the artist's visual agenda. The book examines in detail individual artworks and also takes a critical view of the major events that have shaped Banksy's reputation; his highly ambitious inaugural exhibitions in the USA (Barely Legal, 2003); his invasion of some of the world's major collections - The Louvre, the Met in New York, London's Tate Gallery and the British Museum - during 2004-5 to `donate' his own artworks; the radical remixing of the collection at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery in 2009; the massive exhibition of different artist's works at Dismaland in 2015, and the notorious shredding of his own work during a live auction at Sotheby's. Interposed between these set-piece chapters the book tells the unfolding story of Banksy's emergence as an artist, with detailed analyses of his craft; the particular power of his stencilling, his comic ability to detourne old canvases, and his innovative use of words, lettering and fonts.
Binding: Paperback / softback