BANKSY

Banksy is an anonymous British street art artist. Indeed, we do not know his real
identity, his date of birth... He has been active in this field since the 1900s.

Banksy is one of the most recognized artists of the last 15 years. He is the grand master
of street art and street art owes him a lot. The subjects addressed by his works are
numerous and very often the artist's commitment is not implicit but direct, simple and
terribly effective.

He is anti-capitalist and pro-freedom. Thus, he defends freedom, justice, he is against

war, famine and all the scourges caused by man. The message he conveys through his
works is generally anarchist, anti-militarist, anti-capitalist or anti-system. The ideologies
defended are close to the punk genre.

Banksy uses an image and a slogan or a key word. He takes the hardest and saddest
subjects of our modern civilisation and treats them in a very subversive way. Juggling
humour and reflection, direct denunciation and subtlety, he is living proof that art can
still be an excellent medium for raising awareness.

He uses spray paint, brushes of various sizes, his famous stencils and above all, he uses
his inexhaustible imagination to satisfy a growing audience. He loves to use the rat and
the monkey, which often seem to borrow strongly from human traits when he illustrates
them.

His rats, for example, are often depicted with evocative slogans in meaningful places. His
other subjects frequently include police officers, military personnel, the elderly and
children. The latter are, however, regularly associated with objects that do not fit.

Since the 2000s, these works have been sold for millions of euros, which makes the
artist laugh in interviews because his works cost him less than 20 euros in materials.

 Banksy : No Future (Southampton 2010)

Here Banksy denounces the ambient gloom and the lack of optimism in our societies.
The image of the child sitting with a letter O for a balloon is in line with this. This work is
considered one of the artist's most poignant pieces. It also refers to the punk scene with
the slogan long considered the basic credo of the London underground.
Banksy : Anarchist punk IKEA

Here Banksy highlights the lack of singularity and individuality of people in the
construction of their critical spirit. He stages a punk, therefore an anti-system, who calls
on IKEA to have an effective graffiti kit.

Through his pieces of art, he aims at denouncing the establishement, the morosity of the
time. He wants to change the values, he wants people to be singular, to not follow the
flock. He influenced all the population to be out of the box.