More $ than sense.. Banksy name for sale.. Price $1 million and counting..

The real identity of guerilla artist bansky is being auctioned on eBay, with bidding at $1 million and rising.
The online seller claims to have discovered the name of the mysterious Brit by studying tax records. The successful bidder will simply receive a piece of paper with a name on it.
Bidding began at $3000 and so far 38 bids have been placed, hitting $1 million last night.
The auction ends at 3pm today.
Bristol born banksy is the worlds top grafiti artist, with paintings and sculptures selling up to $200'000.
His identity has always been a closely guarded secret.

For those who have never heard of him..

Banksy is the pseudonym[2][3] of a British graffiti artist, political activist and painter, whose identity is unconfirmed.[4] His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world.[5]

Known for his contempt for the government in labeling graffiti as vandalism, Banksy displays his art on public surfaces such as walls and even going as far as to build physical prop pieces. Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti directly himself;[8][9] however, art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.[10]

Hopefully the bid of $1 million is just someone sabotaging the bid, would be a real shame for his identity to be revealed, just so someone can make a few bucks of his back..

reply to post by Misterlondon


My favourite Banksy pic:



Mainly because he did it right under a CCTV camera

Originally posted by ALadInsane
reply to post by Misterlondon

 

My favourite Banksy pic:



Mainly because he did it right under a CCTV camera

Yeah that is a good one, I was gonna put it in my op but already had to many.. So many good pieces to chose from..

I like the ones he did in Israel/Palestine on the wall..

reply to post by Misterlondon


In a similar vein, the close to the bone pics he did in New Orleans after the flood were good too.

reply to post by ALadInsane


I think the picture I linked to of soldiers looting was from new Orleans although I'm not 100% on that...

Banksy is the man.... I LOVE his stuff.

reply to post by blupblup


I think he is a genius.. Some of the stuff be thinks of..
I like that yellow line one.. Also there is one of a police officer doing a line of coke which is cool.. And also a copper with suspenders on.. Classic!!
I'd love to embed them but not sure how to do it.. Just comes as an external link for me..

Just wondered do any of you guys from other parts of the world know who he is?

I'm pretty sure most people from the uk, especially this that use ats will know who he is..

Dear Misterlondon,
Thank you for posting this. Interesting article to say the least. I do like Banksy artwork, however I also think it is over inflated due to his anonimity, so in light of that I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing. The amount of money involved is totally ridiculous however and again kind of goes to show how over inflated the persona is, over the artwork in my opinion.

Bristol born banksy is the worlds top grafiti artist, with paintings and sculptures selling up to $200'000.
His identity has always been a closely guarded secret.

To the above quote I must disagree. World's top graffiti artist, no.. There have been and will be others who are far more artistic in their styles and representation.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out, much like the whole Stig issue with Top Gear. Anonimity shouldn't be the sole qualification for popularity.

Regards,
T

I really hope that this doesn't get found out :|
Some secrets must remain!

Originally posted by torqpoc

Bristol born banksy is the worlds top grafiti artist, with paintings and sculptures selling up to $200'000.
His identity has always been a closely guarded secret.

To the above quote I must disagree. World's top graffiti artist, no.. There have been and will be others who are far more artistic in their styles and representation.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out, much like the whole Stig issue with Top Gear. Anonimity shouldn't be the sole qualification for popularity.

Regards,
T

He's the most KNOWN artist. Top ie Known. I think that's what he means

reply to post by Anttyk47


Dear Anttyk47,

Graffiti artist with the most exposure in the last 5 years, would be more fitting. Artist no. Monet, Da Vinci, etc.. now you're talking known artists =)

Cheers,
T

The fact someone would sell him out like this and the fact that people would PAY to help do so it pathetic.

I really don't like people in this world much anymore. No wonder I stay inside.

If the guy wants to remain anonymous LET him. I have only see a few of his art works and they are really good, not my style but still good. Let him do his thing

Now what, some idiot gets his name and plasters it all over? Nice...real nice.

Originally posted by Anttyk47

Originally posted by torqpoc

Bristol born banksy is the worlds top grafiti artist, with paintings and sculptures selling up to $200'000.
His identity has always been a closely guarded secret.

To the above quote I must disagree. World's top graffiti artist, no.. There have been and will be others who are far more artistic in their styles and representation.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out, much like the whole Stig issue with Top Gear. Anonimity shouldn't be the sole qualification for popularity.

Regards,
T

He's the most KNOWN artist. Top ie Known. I think that's what he means

Exactly what I meant..


2nd

reply to post by torqpoc


When I said top artist, maybe i sholuld have reworded it to say best known.. But then again, I don't know any other graffiti artist that sells work in galleries that can command the sort of money he does, therefore he kinda is the top artist at the moment.
I do know quite alot about the grafiti world especially in the 90's,
What banksy does is totally unique and is highly skilled.
Most artists just paint on their name on walls, but banksy worked with stencils and with a point to it.. Generaly political, so I have to disagree that his popularity is just due to his anonymity.
I and many of my friends knew of banksy and had seen his work on the streets a long, long time before he had any kind of media attention.

Originally posted by torqpoc
reply to post by Anttyk47

 

Dear Anttyk47,

Graffiti artist with the most exposure in the last 5 years, would be more fitting. Artist no. Monet, Da Vinci, etc.. now you're talking known artists =)

Cheers,
T

Again.. I'm afraid I have to diagree, he has clearly crossed the boundary from being a vandal, damaging public property to being an artist that has his own shows in top galleries and sells his work for phenomenal fees.
Not sure many modern artists will be as good or as regarded as Monet and da Vinci, but we live in another time from those guys and have a completely different style..
I don't think banksy work will be worth millions or be priceless in 300 years but for current times and current trends in the art world, his work is actually quite good..

reply to post by Misterlondon


Dear Misterlondon,

Firstly thank you for the response! I'll respond to both posts together if I may. Again let me state I think his work is very good, it isn't what i'd call revolutionary as others have been using satire in art form for decades, and I wouldn't go so far as to say his actual art is .. well.. that "Arty" per say. I've seen far better graffiti when taken into the context of it's artistic styling. I'll try and dig out the name of one artist who did go from wall to gallery also, I think she was from Toulouse in France and was a far better "artist" if you simply take the can to wall context in mind.

I was kind of splitting hairs here and specifically about "known". As a graffit artist he is definately well "known". He isn't however the best known or world's most known artist, see what I mean? Again it is kind of semantics here and I apologise for being so pedantic, but i'm like that.

As for anonimity versus actual warranted "fame" "respect" etc.. this is a hard one. I am not sure if the fact his identity is not known has increased the visibility and admiration or not. I would say it does add to it, does it go beyond the actual work's right to respect and admiration, again.. tough call.

I'm sorry if I didn't make myself perfectly clear here, I do love to discuss things so I hope that helps clarify my thoughts. I do feel this is somewhat in the same vein as the whole Stig thing and that caused some very interesting points of view. The weird thing here is that the artists doesn't want to be known, and the Stig did.

Altogether fascinating though Misterlondon, and I do appreciate the discussion.

All the best,
T

reply to post by Misterlondon

You know, I'd be tempted to pay a million bucks just to find out his name, and where he lives, just so I could go around to his house and spray HIS walls up with graffiti. I wonder how much he'd like it if the boot was on the other foot and people were expressing street art on his premises?

I've got a real bee-in-my-bonnet about banksy, and the taste-makers who have smiled and clapped at his rise from the 'ghetto' into the world of fine art. It's like they've given the green light to every lout with a spray can to go out and deface our neighbourhoods.

There is cash in it for these disrespectful oafs as well! Should their scrawlings be deemed worthy by the folk that decide what is / isn't art, then they're looking at a big payday. What an awful example this sets. No wonder our towns and cities are splattered with this crap - everyone's trying to get on the graffiti 'artist' gravy train.

Originally posted by torqpoc
reply to post by Anttyk47

 

Dear Anttyk47,

Graffiti artist with the most exposure in the last 5 years, would be more fitting. Artist no. Monet, Da Vinci, etc.. now you're talking known artists =)

Cheers,
T

Art takes many forms and those who master those forms are artists.
Just because you don't think Banksy has the most amazing artform, it is most certainly original. He will die and his art will always live on.

reply to post by Anttyk47


Dear Anttyk47,

He will die and his artform will always live on you think? That's like comparing the lifetime of a robin reliant to an old Aston Martin or Jaguar E-Type.

Let's keep things in perspective here. His artwork is simplistic, it doesn't transcend any form of art styling at all, it is highly poignant and dripping in satire yes, the humour stands out. But the actual work will live on? I don't think it will past 20 years or so to be brutal.

As I stated, we're not discussing Artists who have been in galleries for the last 200-300 years here, we're talking about a graffiti urban artist. Again that doesn't mean I don't like or appreciate his work but it is highly overrated and very overpriced for what it is. Maybe you need to go spend a few days in art galleries to truely appreciate things I don't know, but glorification at the level you're given it is so unjustified in my opinion.

Let me twist this a bit, if the guy were known, pictures of him readily available, arrested a few times for defacing public and private property, do you think he would be regarded as highly as you regard him currently? I think you'd be hard pressed to say yes.

Food for thought.

Regards,
T