Monday, July 09, 2007

Visual Storytelling, Part III


How can one have a series on visual storytelling without talking about the notorious, the mysterious, and the infamous Banksy?

You’ve seen his work already on my blog.


He was first known for his graffiti:



Here’s my favorite rat graffiti. What screenwriter couldn’t relate?


Banksy moved on to “remixing masterpieces found in flea markets.” Consider the before shot of this painting. The emphasis was on the beauty of nature and the color in the crashing waves.


But when you place a Guantanamo Bay prisoner on the beach…


…the waves suddenly become symbolic of his inner turmoil.

Banksy also “remixes” fine art to make statements about humans blemishing nature.





He's also known to make these kinds of statements in his graffiti:


He’ll also make statements about hypocrisy:



One day, Banksy went to L.A.



Sometimes, he’ll make statements about peace:



And here’s a reporter who may or may not have been given a recording of his voice:



And finally, Banksy once mysteriously showed up in the middle east and drew some images on the wall between Palestine and Israel:






6 comments:

crossword said...

OMG. Those are excellent! Thx for sharing. LOL

Mim said...

That's the way we feel about you, Mystery Man.

My parents had a book of famous paintings that had been redone in exactly the way Banksy has reworked the canvas art. It was over 30 years ago, so it was probably another guy. But Banksy has exponentially enlarged that concept.

I love the rats.

Mystery Man said...

After having seen Ratatoille, yeah, I'm more open to the rats now.

Hehehe...

-MM

Dante Kleinberg said...

I stood transfixed at a collection of his work in the San Francisco MOMA gift shop for like 30 minutes.

Though there are aspects of it I don't like (preachiness), I find most of it pretty remarkable.

Mystery Man said...

Hey Dante,

I agree. There are some aspects that, I, too, am not fond of. But he seemed to fit nicely in our discussion about visual storytelling. Plus, he's mysterious! I LOVE that.

Hehehe...

I'd like to say, too, that I've been focusing on narrative paintings so as to avoid stealing anyone's thunder for non-verbal examples in our upcoming Exposition study, which will begin Aug 1.

-MM

Ann said...

Hey there MM! I'm saving this study for when things calm down in the old personal life. Unfortunately, my daughters's grandfather decided to get liver cancer and move on to a new life. So we're waiting for him to complete his journey :(

I just wanted to pop in and say I know I'm going to thoroughly relish and appreciate this series when I can get to it. Thanks for posting it!