A Visual Protest: The Art of Banksy

by Gianni Mercurio (Editor), Butterfly (Contributor), David Chaumet (Contributor)

Decades before he blew the lid off the high-stakes art world by shredding a work immediately following its purchase at an auction, Banksy was committing acts of artistic protest on the streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. We still don’t know who Banksy is, but thanks to this book we have a greater sense of how he works. This book features approximately eighty works from the start of his street art career to today, most photographed in situ and presented in vibrant illustrations. This book guides readers through Banksy’s artistic processes and explains his influences, such as the Situationism movement and the May 1968 uprising in Paris. It delves into key works such as Love Is in the Air, a stenciled graffiti that subverts the idea of violent protest; Flag, in which the iconic American photograph at Iwo Jima is altered to reflect a group of Harlem children atop a burnt-out car; and the slyly titled Turf War, in which Winston Churchill sports a grassy Mohawk. The book also pays tribute to Banksy’s rats, a reviled symbol of urban decay that the artist reimagines as rappers, violin players, and painters. As Banksy continues to challenge the political, economic, and racial oppression that takes place every day in cities around the world, this book offers a timely appreciation of just how the artist has embedded himself into the psyche of the powerful as well as the voiceless—without ever revealing his own identity.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2020

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Visual Protest: The Art of Banksy, is a short work detailing the art and career of famous street artist Banksy. This is an interesting artist, and one that has always appealed to me. Their work is iconoclastic and anarchistic, and has become a poster symbol for anti-capitalism. This anti-capitalist message, as with the likes of Mao, Che Guevara and the like, has since been absorbed by Capitalist forces into marketable products that people buy as a quick and easy way to define themselves to others in a visual sense. Banksy t-shirts at Urban Outfitters, prints at IKEA and Walmart, and the like in some ways reduce and improve the message and medium that Banksy offers with their work.

This book went over some of the deeper contexts of many of Banksy's projects - The Walled Hotel, early artwork in Bristol, UK, and so on. These blurbs go over the meaning and message of the work (from the authors perspective) and why they may have been created. The visuals themselves in this book are of course quite good, as a fan of Banksy's work. No spectacular discourse or content is present, but this book is certainly a great read for fans of the artist, or those looking to learn more about their work.

[C. Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting look behind an art form I didn't know a whole lot about. All of his pieces were interesting, political, and just made sense for what he was protesting. I also found his thing with rats way outside the box. Overall, I learned a lot.

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Marshmallo of the art world.

Banksy really changed the game as far as art’s advancement of visual rhetoric. I have to believe his visual appeal of condensing a message down into a few actors in a scene to generate conversations inspired the infographic wave on social media. Crazy how he’s been able to maintain anonymity for so long.