Updated Edition: More Pages! More Pics! More words! Includes Banksy's October 2013 NY residency 'Better Out Than In'and updated to include Banksy's new work, the 2015 edition of Banksy You Are features the controversial Cheltenham Spies piece as well as Girl with a Pearl Earring, Art Buff and the spectacular Mobile Lovers which appeared outside Bristol Boys Boxing Club. The single best collection of photography of Banksy s street work that has ever been assembled for print. If that isn t enough there are some words too. Much to the chagrin of art schools everywhere, it is likely that Banksy will be the best remembered artist of post-millennial-depression Britain. His capacity to grab attention and deliver a message, often with a punch line or hidden layer of meaning would have landed him a great job in an advertising agency. Madison Avenue s loss is our gain. If you ve never heard of Banksy, this book is all you ll ever need to read to be able to engage in pub table debates about the man and the legend. When Banksy started out painting the political landscape was bleak. Fortunately now, it s ten times worse. So as Banksy s cheerfully aggressive political work grows ever more relevant we take a stab at presenting his art in the context of the era he was responding to, looking at the issues his work was about. This book seeks to concentrate on his iconic imagery spanning the past decade, from Los Angeles to Lewisham (and everywhere inbetween), including many images never before seen. However, make no mistake; this is not a dull history book or dim-witted collection of mediocre fan snaps. This book is designed to ignite, provoke and inspire you - and is a work of art in itself."
I love Banksy and this book was great. I gave it one star because a handsomely packaged coffee table book for sedate bourgeois consumers like myself seems contrary to the spirit of Banksy.
So I was eating at a trendy restaurant at CityScape in downtown Phoenix when a drop of olive oil stained my t-shirt. While my plans that evening required me to drive right past my house, I opted to purchase a new shirt at the Urban Outfitters in the complex. As I went to pay for the Bangladeshi sweat shop goods, I noted a black book with the word “Banksy” in bold, white letters. I knew right away that my coffee table would be admired by my fellow pseudo-intellectuals.
While I’ve funded Banksy’s cause through book purchases in the past, I enjoyed this work even more. Previous works contained large pictures. To many people in my humble state of Arizona, these pictures were confusing. This one included words, which I can only assume were placed there to help those poor, confused souls understand the context of the matter. Unfortunately, those who were previously confused also trended towards illiteracy.
However, if you are one of the literate and have some sense of self awareness, this book would really look good on your coffee table. I’m sure it would serve as a call to arms of sorts, but the authors are well aware of their audience’s complacency towards doing… stuff. And this is exactly the kind of arms length, want-to-be activist I am. Truly a perfect book.
Купіть книгу яка на пальцях доводить чому споживацтво це гріх. Постмодерний бунт як він є.
Альбом являє собою щось середнє між збіркою есеїв про Бенксі та політичним маніфестом лівих вуличних художників зі спальних районів західної Європи. Все це, само собою, в супроводі численних фотографій робіт самого Бенксі.
Автор тексту зі шкіри пнеться щоб писати «оригінально» if you know what I mean. Загалом наратив виявляється вторинним і я абсолютно втратив до нього інтерес в другій частині книги. Українська частина явно дописана не оригінальним автором. Але як альбом який дає розуміння ким є і про що говорить 100%. самий сміливий і оригінальний вуличний художник початку 21ст - must have.
Me lo trajo una amiga como souvenir de Londres (vivan los souvenirs así). No es Wall and piece pero la selección es muy buena, amplia, y el formato del papel y el libro en general, están muy bien.
Love Banksy. So accessible and really opened the door for me to get into visual art and found him to be a real gateway. I've had this on my bookshelf for years and still pull it down from time to time just to look at the photos.
"All art is temporary. Even the Mona Lisa is falling apart."
After reading "Wall and Piece", I could not resist laying my hands on this gem. It is indeed an eye opener, just as Banksy's art itself. Along with a great collection of photos, the book is loaded with information on what actually is street art, how it all started and why Banksy's stencils are so straightforward most of the time. Ah, and the question of property, don't forget about that ("Just doing a tag is about retribution. If you don't own a train company then you go and paint on one instead"). I'm not sure why some people have this book as a decoration for their coffee tables. But I hope they will read it, one day.
"Any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours, it belongs to you, it's yours to take, rearrange and re use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head."
"Through repetition and scale, any voice can become powerful. Which just goes to show how flimsy the basis of power really is. We are all vulnerable to this cacophony of noise we hear, this nightmarish choir of ideas directed at us through advertising and mass media. It's inevitable that it hypnotizes and confuses us. Great street art reveals that process and makes it laughable. It shows how so much of power is just theatre, using a certain symbol, design or way of communicating. By laughing at the spectacle we undermine its power and make room for just a bit of original thought."
I've read a lot of books on street art and this one is the best I've read to date.
This is the only full-length book that I've read thus far about the iconic street artist known simply as Banksy (there are currently several others to check out as well). A mixed-media book spliced with an indulgent fabric of solid writing, art, & actual photographs of Banksy's work from around the globe. The writing itself is quite captivating, comprised of equal parts art history, British slang, socio-political-economic interpretations of society today, and plenty of satirically sharp humor. I highly recommend this homage to Banksy for both the loyal fanaticism and wary curiosity alike.
PERCHÉ TUTTI GLI ALTRI LIBRI SU BANKSY FANNO C*****. Sono. Una. Palla. Fidatevi. Non li ho letti. Ma basta un'occhiata per capirlo. Tutte quelle ricerche, frequentazioni con Banksy, leccate di c*** e quant'altro, e il risultato è un mucchio di c******. Perciò, se proprio dovete comprare un libro che lucra su Banksy, prendete questo e gli altri rubateli. Se invece appartenete a quella categoria di fanatici che non se ne vogliono far scappare uno, vi prenderanno per dei fanboy. Quindi è meglio che compriate solo questo. L'editore
This book was fairly informative. I enjoyed the pictures, although would have liked even more. The snarky/informative paragraphs placed periodically throughout the book could really make the reader think about the politics Banksy subscribes to and understand the appropriate responses. Excellent.
This a collection of Banksy artwork and quotes. There is a lot of witty and unsettling social commentary through art as well as snarky statements attributed to Bansky.
Banksy to niezwykle rozpoznawalna postać, a jego dzieła zdobyły międzynarodową popularność. Ostatnia kontrowersja, związana z obrazem pociętym przez niszczarkę, wzbudziła wiele spekulacji, jednak właśnie ten moment sprawił, że jego pseudonim rozbrzmiewał na całym świecie. Dzięki życzliwości wydawnictwa Arkady, mam przyjemność zaprezentować Państwu ten wyjątkowy album, który został stworzony z najwyższą starannością, ukazując zarówno niezrównaną jakość dzieł Banksy’ego, jak i tajemniczą osobę samego artysty. Choć otoczony aurą anonimowości, wciąż jest przedmiotem intensywnych dyskusji, spekulacji i domysłów.
Album skupia się nie tylko na pięknie uwiecznionych fotograficznie dziełach, ale także na ideach, które stoją za nimi. Poprzez bogatą treść i analizy, czytelnik jest zaproszony do zgłębiania kulturowych i społecznych kontekstów, które wyznaczają ramy dla twórczości artysty. Odważne przesłania Banksy’ego, odnoszące się do tematów jak społeczna niesprawiedliwość, konsumpcjonizm czy prawa człowieka, stają się punktem wyjścia do refleksji nad współczesnym światem i naszą rolą w nim.
Tekst zawarty w tym albumie jest tak delikatny i przyjemny w odbiorze, że czytelnik może odnieść wrażenie, jakby to sam Banksy opowiadał o swojej twórczości. To jakbyśmy usiedli razem z nim pod jednym z jego malowanych obrazów, a on opowiadał nam swoje historie i inspiracje. Przekaz jest nie tylko bogaty w informacje na temat poszczególnych dzieł, ale także nasycony subtelnym humorem i inteligentną ironią, które są charakterystyczne dla stylu samego artysty. To niezwykłe doświadczenie, które prowadzi czytelnika przez labirynt ulicznych murali i przemyśleń Banksy’ego, pozwalając mu zbliżyć się do samego źródła kreatywności i geniuszu tego tajemniczego artysty.
Banksy doskonale posługuje się techniką street artu, wykorzystując m.in. graffiti, stencilowanie czy instalacje, by dotrzeć z przekazem do jak najszerszej publiczności. To połączenie treści z formą sprawia, że jego dzieła są nie tylko estetycznie pociągające, ale również silnie oddziałują na emocje i wywołują dyskusje.
Ponadto, dzieła Banksy'ego często wyrażają uniwersalne tematy i wartości, które dotykają ludzkich doświadczeń na różnych poziomach. Dzięki temu, zarówno artyści, jak i widzowie, odnajdują w jego dziełach inspirację do twórczego wyrazu, refleksji nad własnymi przekonaniami oraz zaangażowania w sprawy społeczne i polityczne.
Mimo wszechstronności zawartych informacji, postać samego Banksy’ego pozostaje tajemnicą, co tylko pogłębia nieustanną fascynację jego osobą i twórczością. Ta książka nie tylko odsłania piękno i znaczenie dzieł Banksy’ego, ale także prowokuje do głębszych przemyśleń nad istotą sztuki oraz jej potencjalnym wpływem na społeczeństwo.
The title comes from a short essay on Banksy’s New York City prank, “Better Out Than In.” The editor Gary Shove and “words” of Patrick Potter cover the Bristol stenciltista’s street art in Gaza, Bethlehem, Alabama and other sites beyond London, Venice and other well known art centers.
Because the essays in the plural first person refer to Banksy in the third-person, the reader does a constant double take. Although initially tedious, Banksy’s work usually has a subtext requiring a second look. But for those in a hurry, Banksy You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat and If You Were Not You Would Know About It makes a nice coffee-table book that could sit right next to an illustrated monograph about the Pompidou Centre in a hip dentist’s waiting room.
The editor writes, “The main problem with forms of resistance that emphasize individuality is that they become very easily commodified and sold back to us as lifestyles” (229). By concealing his identity—as well as probably concealing the identity of what must be a good-sized crew—Banksy has tried to resist the occupational hazards of courting an audience. We are not a threat. We are one part daily bread, one part conscience.
Banksy’s identity quandary takes a weird turn when it comes to citations & page numbers. Near the end of Banksy You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat and If You Were Not You Would Know About It, a page titled “RESPECTTOALLTHOSETHATMADETHISBOOKPOSSIBLE” gives page numbers that don’t appear on any of the book’s other pages. Based on the locations following the numbers, one can backtrack, count pages and guess who took the photos, but the format seems designed more to avoid lawsuits than truly to credit photographers to their work or to help the reader.
The book raises issues than it struggles with them, several times closing an essay with the suggestion to discuss the topic at the pub. What about charity? What about making money? What about meta tagging? The book is fairly broad on all things Banksy up to around 2014. Broad & succinct. Not deep. Street art works with an immediacy similar to a pop song, except street art needs to threaten property, which requires thought sooner or later.
Did a Banksy turn up in Ukraine? How might Banksy You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat and If You Were Not You Would Know About It help us think & and talk in present tense? Perhaps AI is the acquisition of the collective consciousness. Oh well, many people weren’t using their shares of it anyway.
There's not really much more that can be said about his (or 'their') work. It is what it is. It's become what it's become. There are others who are better artists. But we're probably better off with him in the world. He got out there and did it. He captured a moment, was part of zeitgeist, and he's still around.
But just because there isn't much more that can be said about his work (at least for now) doesn't mean that publishers don't keep putting out books. This one houses a large collection of his work, tries to be counter-cultural and self-aware, but it's still another case of all aboard the Banksy train.... it's in at least its fourth edition (the edition I read) - and actually I think we may be up to edition five (this means it sells well).
The fourth edition came out in 2014 so it doesn't include the Banksy show Dismaland or the self-shredding piece, which is a pity. I suppose the fact that I would have been interested in reading more about those, and the fact that I picked the book up off the shelf at the library, means there's still some kind of draw or attraction there... even if it is just a kind of nostalgia.
An impressive amount of coverage on Banksy's work thanks to photography contributors. There is also much work that I've never seen before as well. It takes a minute to understand the uniquely anarchic, hyper-aware, very cheeky and very british voice behind the essays (almost as if Banksy wrote them) but once you get past that, they provide some of the better analysis and contemplation (levels of it) that has gone into Banksy's body of work. It also is very interesting to read what (assumptively) the publisher knows beyond the general public and news media as well as unique perspectives on street art and graffiti in general.
Probably requires a re-read and thankfully, it's well worth it. Even the unabridged title provides a uniquely banksy-esque nugget that makes you pause and ponder it's Catch-22 nature: "You Are an Acceptable Level of Threat, And if You Were Not You Would Know About it"
Banksy mi è rimasto impresso dalle prime volte che mi è capitato di vedere alcune foto dei suoi lavori: mi piaceva molto lo stile, ma quello che mi colpì veramente fu l'immediatezza dei suoi messaggi, estremamente critici, ironici, ma soprattutto dissacranti nei confronti di qualsiasi forma di autorità.
Questo libro rappresenta un pò il suo manifesto, forse apocrifo, forse no, con il quale Banksy racconta la sua voglia di contrastare con ogni mezzo l'indifferenza generale e rompere le regole: “Il poeta produce poesie. Il pittore produce dipinti. Il criminale produce crimini.
Se riesci a fare tutte e tre le cose insieme li manderai in totale confusione"
Questo libro, oltre ad avere un effetto stranamente confortante, è anche bello da vedere grazie alle numerose foto dei lavori di Banksy. Lo consiglio specialmente a quelle persone che hanno bisogno di vedere che a qualcuno importa ancora del mondo che ci circonda, e che desidera dare il suo contributo per cambiare le cose.
Not sure how to evaluate it. I love Banksy. This book tells you a bit about his work but the author also adds a lot of bs and generally my impression was that he is a bit full of himself. I was tired of his bs and him trying to be so cool and funny and intelligent. And he is not… Also, the book is about Banksy, not the author, and it feels that the author is trying to make it about himself - how funny and cool and intelligent he is, and again: he is not… Yeah, didn’t like his writing, lol. Still, some interesting info, if you sort through the author’s bs. Huge plus: a lot, a lot of Banksy’s works there. And I absolutely love Banksy ;)
Está bien para conocer la obra de Bansky. Me molestaba mucho que contará de anécdotas u obras y acompañara con imágenes no relacionadas, en lugar de mostrar de lo que estaba hablando. Está mareado en. Un discurso muy irónico acorde al título y la obra de Bansky, pero por momentos me resultó infantil y aburrido. Creo que podría haber estado mucho mejor y que gran parte de la gracia se perdió en la traducción. Es un libro muy caro para una obra muy pobre.
“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
This is one of the best collections of Banksy art I've seen. It feeds the idea that Banksy is real as far as being one guy, still unknown and slyly evading being identified, full of wisdom and hope and a desire to change the world. It's inspirational and grounding in a dynamic way.
A book of genius on what I call guerilla leadership. Super inspiring. I actually wrote to books@carpetbombingculture.com to ask for citation and social media permission. Yes some of Banksy’s (is it?) work stirs me in relevance to RussiaxUkraine. I wonder what this inspires in Banksy. So like any great book, this one stimulates the imagination and more questions. A great use of time.
Loved the witty/snarky style of writing, the narrative and background on Banksy, as well as the great historical, cultural and art style positioning, references to other artists and bits of art philosophy. Great balance between information and visual depictions.