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Wall and Piece

by Banksy

3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 · rating details · 35,939 ratings · 414 reviews

Banksy, Britain's now-legendary "guerilla" street artist, has painted the walls, streets, and bridges of towns and cities throughout the world. Not only did he smuggle his pieces into four of New York City's major art museums, he's also "hung" his work at London's Tate Gallery and adorned Israel's West Bank barrier with satirical images. Banksy's identity remains unknown,...more

Paperback, 192 pages

Published April 1st 2007 by Random House UK (first published November 3rd 2005)

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Apr 20, 2011 Manny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: well-i-think-its-funny

Everyone in Britain knows Banksy, but I'm often surprised to find that my US friends haven't heard of him. He's one of the funniest artists around, and has taken graffiti to a completely new level. The paintings and installations just turn up, in the most unlikely places. Here's one of my favorites, which was discovered one morning on the wall of a family planning clinic in Bristol. (Note the thematically appropriate content). The local authorities were going to remove it, but the doctors asked...more

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Nov 27, 2010 Mon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: art-and-architecture

Disclaimer: Haters are not cool. I'm not 'hating' Banksy because it's the hipster thing to do (go grab an art school undergrad, you'll see what I mean). One problem with reviewing solo-artist art book is that you can't avoid talking about the actual artist, so here it is. I can't even be bothered to write about graphics. I mean, surely you're only considering buying this book because of the guy not the pretty layout right?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------...more Disclaimer: Haters are not cool. I'm not 'hating' Banksy because it's the hipster thing to do (go grab an art school undergrad, you'll see what I mean). One problem with reviewing solo-artist art book is that you can't avoid talking about the actual artist, so here it is. I can't even be bothered to write about graphics. I mean, surely you're only considering buying this book because of the guy not the pretty layout right?

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Why do people like Banksy?

It seems like people either hate him or love him, and not the traditional oh-he's-so-controversial-edgy-can't-possibly-be-in-between kind. 'Serious' practicing artists loathe this guy because 1) he's an auction babe and 2) non-'serious' artists love him. His fellow graffiti artists have similarly divided opinion about him, ranging from the Robbo Vs. Banksy hatred to admiring him as the God of stencil art. A couple years ago when he first started doing those gallery stunts where he sneaked his own work in major museums (Brooklyn, MoMA etc) in that masked Sherlock Holmes outfit, I thought 'why, this guy is not a popular artist, what he's doing is clearly conceptual and bravo to someone who is expanding the boundary of performance art!'. Over the years as he got more public attention, Banksy became more reserved and civilised in the media. There is a trend in the rising street artists where the stereotypical persona of the rough, I'm-from-the-hood attitude is discarded for a safe, white bourgeoisie irony of look-I'm-fiddling-with-something-cool-and-dangerous-but-remember-drugs-and-alcohol-are-bad-for-you-kids! Remember Twilight? Remember how bad-ass things were actually bad-ass, but now the symbol of rebellious angsty anti-authority icons are either Gossip Girls or Jersey Shore? (excluding ironic Che references)

What Banksy does is arguably beneficial to the art community, in a way that he exposes the traditional obscure and anonymous operation of street artists to a wider audience. But he IS Edgy, Dangerous and c00l, you might say, look at what he did in Palenstine! Paris Hilton CDs! See, Banksy works best with a contextual focus rather than technical originality. In terms of fame and money, yes he makes a lot of those but he is by no means the first one (haters, please remember Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons are still out there). Andre, Basquiat and a bunch of other artists have benefited from the popularity of street art by boxing it into Sotheby's home. If you want to be more extreme, you can even argue Banksy isn't an artist at all. What he does is make statements and provoke his audience through civic sentiments. He is not consciously creating art. Even traditional graffiti tags have a narcissistic quality that is unique to art.

Similar to Twilight, Banksy is another subject I avoid talking about. Yes, he's a serious artist and interesting phenomenon but many of his fans are obnoxious in labeling him as an academic artists because of this political nature and somewhat 'unconventional' genre. Banksy never publicly denounced other 'sell out' street or shock artists and I respect his unpretentiousness. Of course, people say 'well, I don't care if you're only into those 'serious' minimalists, abstract-nobody-except-your-art-professor-understands or installation art, Banksy is too cool for "definition"'. However, you can't discuss the artistic merit of Banksy without including him in the circle, an exact contradiction to his principle. Well, now that he's widely accepted in the art crowd (I'm sure he doesn't have a problem with it, considering his generous rise in pay check) only complicates the matter. Is he still a serious 'street' artist? Sure he works with the same medium and similar themes, but his works are getting safer and more political for politic's sake. It is a shame considering the artistic merit of his works (although that is also debatable, some graffiti artists consider stencil art contrived. Personally I believe efficiency is important due to street art's, well, illicit nature of production)

It is perhaps unfair to hate on Banksy for all the above reasons. After all, can you name one popular artist who hasn't been called a phony in recent years? The point I'm trying to make is that if you're serious about art, or street art for that matter, Banksy is merely credible and nothing unusual beyond that. Banksy is not 1) breaking new grounds, or rather, not that 'new' in the course of art history 2) technically/structurally innovative 3) authentic just because he works on the street and break laws and shit. I'm not saying he's not a good artist (if such thing exists), but I'm just going to avoid the next person that calls him the greatest 'artist' in the century, not that Banksy himself, I imagine, would care about this anyway, so why should you? (less)

31 likes · like · see review

Apr 13, 2010 notgettingenough rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sociology, humour

Added later: I found it quite moving, his description of being drawn to graffiti the outside of the walls imprisoning the Palestinians and being told off in no uncertain terms by the inhabitants. To beautify the walls is to insult them. Of course. Obvious when you think of it.

----------------------------------------

I'm loving this, of course. And it's not that I disagree, exactly, with his messages, but a dominant one is this idea that

The people who truly deface our neighbourhoods are the compa

...more

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Jan 17, 2011 Kirsti rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Jenny, Kristin

Shelves: anger, arts-and-photography, history, humor, imagination, mayhem, nonfiction, philosophy, poetry, sarcasm

In 2003, Banksy donated one of his artworks to the Tate Gallery in London. The thing is, the Tate Gallery hadn't actually asked for anything of his. He just walked in (or had a friend walk in, or had a member of the collective walk in--Banksy's true identity is uncertain) and stuck it to the wall. This is just the kind of appalling disrespect that I think the world needs more of.

Over the next couple of years, he made similar donations to the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, th...more

16 likes · like · see review

Aug 02, 2009 Henry added it

Shelves: art

Provocative and clever, but I would argue ultimately vapid. Something like an underground cultural icon for urban youth today. I only see three basic techniques or themes in his methods:

Irony. Soldiers painting peace signs, zoo monkeys holding homeless signs, traffic signs warning of more (or less) serious things. They're all clever enough, but ultimately just artifacts of a stagnant, consumerist generation that's well aware of its stagnation and consumerism. Like television commercials that pok...more Provocative and clever, but I would argue ultimately vapid. Something like an underground cultural icon for urban youth today. I only see three basic techniques or themes in his methods:

Irony. Soldiers painting peace signs, zoo monkeys holding homeless signs, traffic signs warning of more (or less) serious things. They're all clever enough, but ultimately just artifacts of a stagnant, consumerist generation that's well aware of its stagnation and consumerism. Like television commercials that poke fun at the fact that they're a commercial: it's witty and self-protective. This either leads to people hating the content and calling it a bastardization of art, or people loving it because they're in on the joke and they "get it." There's basically no message except, "What's the message?"

Commentary on political decadence. Valid enough. But again there's no solution, no grappling with the actual complexity of issues. Just toting anarchy, non-hypocrisy, peace exclusively in terms of non-violence. His anonymity is fortunate because if Banksy were a real figurehead there might be some small shudders of revolution leading toward nothing real.

Pranks/daredevilism. Gets him more laughs than respect, I'd say, except among disenchanted youth. There's a lot of ego involved despite his claims to anonymity and unpaid, unpretentious art. Why spray your tag across the world in challenging places if you're really being anonymous?

He's an important figure for urban history, but he's not a hero and he's not a role model. He's full of talent (he wouldn't get this much attention if his art and stencils were ugly and untrained) and potential but ultimately has nothing to say and no real method of causing significant change. He's on a soapbox. On the other hand, though, because of the way he's popularizing the art, he's also an example of empowerment for the voiceless. But I would also suspect that his example has led to just as much useless or vapid graffiti as it has intelligent graffiti.(less)

9 likes · like · see review

Mar 07, 2012 Bryce Holt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Banksy is the most original artist (or potentially "artists"...) living today. Screw Matthew Barney's "Cremaster" series and all the Rothko and Rauschenberg nonsense some of the more effete curators shove down your throats. This is art at its most emotional and provocative, and it's in book form (which I assume pisses him off to no end).

Anti-establishment, anti-consumer, anti-intelligencia, and pretty much any other "anti-fill-in-the-blank" you can throw at him, his works are unfathomably creati...more

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Sep 22, 2010 Rob Kirkham rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: photographical, read-2010, young-adult

I love Banksy's artwork, and this was collection displays it very well. He's a brilliant man with a paint can, and a clever writer as well. I would recommend this book to anyone not familiar with his work. A few quotes of his I enjoyed were:

Some people represent authority without ever possessing any of their own.

The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules--it's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages.

A r...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Young Lightning in Dark Sky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Banksy...ah. One of my favorite artistes...Yes, I mean to say that in French, because it sounds better. Anywho, Banksy, a classic Guerilla-Political-Mad-Skilled stencil artist-OK, so he's a graffitti artist. But in this book, you realize just from the photoes that he's a quick-witted guy, with a mysterious twang, which is really cool. His classic humor includes spraypainting on farm animals and a fetish for stencilling rats. My brother, a stencil artist who prefers painting his stencils onto cla...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: age-adult-books, creative-inspiration, gift-books, words-and-pictures

An art book that probably hates that it's an art book. Of note:

"There's no way you're going to get a quote from us to use on your book cover" --Metropolitan Police spokesperson, quoted on back cover

"Copyright is for losers" --copyright page

"Despite what they say graffiti is not the lowest form of art. Although you might have to creep about at night and lie to your mum it's actually one of the more honest art forms available. There is no elitism or hype, it exhibits on the best walls a town has t...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Nina J. Kors rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memorabili

Il libro di Banksy fa luce non solo sulla società britannica, ma su tutta la società occidentale, sui suoi protocolli di pensiero, sulle cose date per acquisite e ovvie.
Apre, anzi, spalanca finestre su pensieri nuovi.
Banksy si mostra in questo libro per quello che veramente é: un intelletto fine, un pensiero raffinato, un lettore attento della società, un uomo colto e preparato, mai veramente irrispettoso delle altre persone, attento alla propria incolumità e un rivoluzionario dentro.

Disegna di...more

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May 27, 2012 abatage rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arts

Anyone who has a passing interest in street art will have heard of Banksy and the work he has done. In fact, so many people are aware of his work that it gets a little annoying from time to time, as it becomes a badge of honour for some people. To the point that I was getting sick and tired of hearing people say his name with that knowing tone that seems to say 'yeah, I'm hip too'. Thankfully this book restored my faith in why Banksy's infamy is well deserved.

I've never been able to actually si...more Anyone who has a passing interest in street art will have heard of Banksy and the work he has done. In fact, so many people are aware of his work that it gets a little annoying from time to time, as it becomes a badge of honour for some people. To the point that I was getting sick and tired of hearing people say his name with that knowing tone that seems to say 'yeah, I'm hip too'. Thankfully this book restored my faith in why Banksy's infamy is well deserved.

I've never been able to actually sit down and read it until now, because I never had my own copy. It was always one of those books that people I know had on their coffee table. Some because they used it for inspiration (amongst other books) and some because they wanted to display it and tell everyone that came over that they were a little bit 'in the know' and had kept up with trends.

Thankfully the words in this book say a lot about the philosophy of the artist and the point/pointless nature of his work. Of course, there's a fine collection of photos and prints showing a portfolio of sorts, which is the main reason to gaze on this book, but the words round it off nicely and give the images a purpose.

It is inspiring to an artist; especially an artist who prefers deconstruction over profound technique (despite how developed Banksy's technique may actually be), and I'm thrilled to finally have a copy of my own that I can look at intricately and use for inspiration.

My interest in Banksy had waned a little as his name became the 'in thing' to discuss so that everyone knew you were a little bit alternative, but his work speaks for itself and cannot (in my mind) be disputed. Not to mention his methods and motivations, which deserve respect for their integrity.

Not to compare, but now when someone tries to show me how 'hip' they are by discussing Banksy, I can happily balance it with a few sentences from this book and lose the frustration.

Don't let the hipsters fool you into thinking that Banksy buys into the cocktail bar bullshit. Have a few minutes with this book and you'll be reminded why he actually is a great artist who matters... and why he really doesn't matter at all.(less)

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Feb 13, 2012 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

Banksy is clever without being deep, adventurous without being ground-breaking, and quite possibly the best known visual artist active in the world without being extremely talented. He's against the global soulless corporate machine, but his art is by nature a quick hit, the artistic equivalent of a Big Mac. It's incredibly refreshing and accessible and it's art that actually means something.

In a wander through a museum like the MoMA or the Tate Modern, you see some interesting designs, the occ...more

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May 03, 2009 Nicole Bunge rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

If you do not know Banksy, you do not know art.
Art as in confrontational, public, political, and utter satire.
He's a tagger/graffiti artist (supposedly anonymous) who bombs* London and the English countryside.
*bombing is the sorta-militant, hip-hop term for "defacing" public areas with your statement in graffiti. For taggers - it's all about the 'get-up' - ie, how frequently you bomb- how daringly public it is (like on the wall of a London Police Station in the middle of the afternoon where mill...more

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Aug 03, 2011 Jamie rated it 5 of 5 stars

“Nobody ever listened to me until they didn’t know who I was.”

When I lived in LA a few years ago, I went to a downtown warehouse after receiving a text message with the address. Banksy was in town, and in true clandestine fashion, the location of his show was a secret until just hours before it opened. I was impressed. I had never heard of Banksy, but his highly successful, clandestine, guerilla marketing intrigued me. I did a Google search on him and was even more impressed with the images of h...more

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May 26, 2009 G (galen) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: art, social-political-environmental, non-fiction

First of all, you can find out a little about Banksy, the pseudo-anonymous graffiti artist, Here.

The copyright page of this book contains the label "Copyright is for Losers" along with the statement that "against his better judgment Banksy has asserted his right... to be identified as the author of this work." There is also a disclaimer from the publisher: "This book shows the creative/artist element of graffiti art and is not meant to encourage or induce graffiti where it is illegal or inapprop...more First of all, you can find out a little about Banksy, the pseudo-anonymous graffiti artist, Here.

The copyright page of this book contains the label "Copyright is for Losers" along with the statement that "against his better judgment Banksy has asserted his right... to be identified as the author of this work." There is also a disclaimer from the publisher: "This book shows the creative/artist element of graffiti art and is not meant to encourage or induce graffiti where it is illegal or inappropriate."

The book itself is a collection of Banksy's amazing art work, both outdoor graffiti and installations as well as some of his drawings and altered oil paintings. Here and there you are also given brief glimpses into his thought process.

For example:
"The people who run our cities don't understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit... They say graffiti frightens people and is symbolic of the decline in society... The people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl their giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unless we buy their stuff. They expect to be able to shout their message in your face from every available surface but you're never allowed to answer back. Well they started this fight and the wall is the weapon of choice to hit them back."

A few interesting facts (lifted from the wiki article):

-Banksy came upon the idea for using stencils whilst hiding from the cops who interrupted an 'art making' session. He realized he could make his pieces in a much shorter amount of time with a stencil; less chance of being caught.

-On 27 April 2007, a new record high for the sale of Banksy's work was set with the auction of the work 'Space Girl & Bird' fetching £288,000 (US$576,000), around 20 times the estimate at Bonhams of London. On 21 May 2007 Banksy gained the award for Art's Greatest living Briton. Banksy, as expected, did not turn up to collect his award, and continued with his notoriously anonymous status.

-The owners of a house with a Banksy mural on the side in Bristol decided to sell the house through Red Propeller art gallery after offers fell through because the prospective buyers wanted to remove the mural. It is listed as a mural which comes with a house attached.

-The Westminster City Council stated in October 2008 that the work "One Nation Under CCTV", painted in April 2008 will be painted over as it is graffiti. The council says it will remove any graffiti, regardless of the reputation of its creator, and specifically stated that Banksy has no more right to paint graffiti than a child.(less)

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Jan 21, 2009 Keith rated it 5 of 5 stars

British graffiti, guerilla installation, etc. artist's book of documented works and quotes. It's great fun for anyone with a bit of an anarchist bent to their personality. Even if, for some reason, you strongly disapprove of graffiti, you gotta admit Banksy's stuff is pretty cool (I think you do anyway, but who am I to tell you what to think). He may be too well known and hip for his political message to be heard now, unfortunately... I'm not sure, but it's my sense that to a lot of folks once i...more

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May 23, 2012 Matthijs rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Natuurlijk is Banksy na al die jaren waarin zijn faam gestaag gestegen is, uitgegroeid tot een icoon en daarmee tot een grote paradox. De kunstsector, één van de zelfgenoegzame bastions die hij aanvalt, omarmt hem en kunstliefhebbers betalen duizenden dollars voor zijn werk.
Dat maakt zijn roem wrang en geeft zijn kritiek een zweem van hulpeloosheid. Deze dubbele lading kon in het boek wonderwel tot uiting in de copyrightmelding aan het begin. Banksy is tegen copyright, maar wil toch, naar eigen...more

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Dec 08, 2008 Tatiana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: top-shelf, art

about a month or so ago i was walking home on houston street and noticed one of those huge side-of-a-building ads. it was a giant rat holding a paint roller with 'no publicity is good publicity' underneath. except underneath the white background of the rat appeared to be a fox 5 ad. i couldn't quite figure out if it was some weird ad-pretending-not-to-be-an-ad, or something else, and then just chalked it up to weird NYC shit.

a week later there's a NY times article about this guy banksy and his...more

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Jul 21, 2009 Pheobe rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first time I heard of Banksy was on this website. I gathered from the summary and people's reviews that, more or less, HE was worth the read, if not the book itself.

I love art, it's my vessel to any interpretation I choose to have, and if you truly love art, there are no lines that a person can't cross. There are no lines that an artist can't draw, no limits.

I firmly believe artists also think differently than normal people. More often, it is the artist who is the introvert or extreme extr...more The first time I heard of Banksy was on this website. I gathered from the summary and people's reviews that, more or less, HE was worth the read, if not the book itself.

I love art, it's my vessel to any interpretation I choose to have, and if you truly love art, there are no lines that a person can't cross. There are no lines that an artist can't draw, no limits.

I firmly believe artists also think differently than normal people. More often, it is the artist who is the introvert or extreme extrovert, the mysterious, the most imaginative, the more thoughtful and always the most perceptive. So really, this book makes me think that he is a scatterbrained person, as most artists are, who do not work well with organization but rather impulse, which I happen to like...it's easier but at the same time quite difficult. The compilation of this book was amusing and pretty rebellious; I just got this feeling that it wasn't voyeuristic in any way. And I wasn't inspired because it had ideas of "revolution" or "F*** pigs" and a singular, slightly irrelevant (in the way that only artists can get away with) reference to the Nazi camp and how through a lipstick tube, individuality sprouted. The issue I had with the book was how the ideas were inputted in a quote or two and expressed in pictures, but the pictures following were all the same (rat, rat, rat with gas mask. policeman, policeman, policeman urinating on the wall) so I couldn't develop my initial interpretation.

His art is wonderful to see, he is truly an artistic soul. He is witty and thinks outside the box, then cuts the box up with daggers. (referenced) It was interesting and recommendable. My friend told me this changed the way he viewed art, but I would've thought that the concept of art displayed anywhere, art that is different and rebellious against authority, art in a different medium, is not foreign and not necessarily unique. He graffitis in the security of knowing it is true art, and it is risky because of the places he chooses for display. I thought the "f*** pigs" on the pig was predictable, the security cameras in the woods relatively blah, tagging cows, the defacing of other people's art pretty lame. I don't know for sure if he cares to have respect for graffiti art, but if he does, he's going from the angle that other art disrespects his art, instead of their artists, in this book.

I read/interpreted it, carefully and with perspective. Again, cool cool art. But in the end, it just didn't read me. But I liked it! Don't take any of these reviews to heart. Art is art. Art is like people. Interpret away. That's why I'm focusing more on the book as a whole, not just his art. That's why it's a book review. Now I'm off to check out Banksy reviews!(less)

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Jul 22, 2011 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'll make this brief:

Banksy has a message, and it is presented through his artwork. He is raw and honest, even admitting that someone read deeper into his meaning than he had thought it through himself; though he admits he went with it, he also presents the truth in this book. Many artists/writers are pretentious and won't stoop to just being a person who happens to have talent. Banksy seems real and seems to love art for art's sake. His paintings tell a story (see: Banksy painted on the wall at...more

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Jun 22, 2012 Mike Meijer rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is a brilliant look into the portfolio of the mysterious artist that is only known as Banksy.
Still Brittain's most-wanted criminal graffiti artist, his work has gained him both international renown and notoriety, depending who you ask.
The art in Banksy's work lies in how, regardless of who beholds it, every piece he creates elicits deeper thought than most 'classic' artists.
His art is truly for the sake of art, not for money but rather for the masses, displayed anywhere from the cru...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Tara rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is funny, provocative and at times, borders on anarchy. As Banksy himself states, you will love him, hate him or you won't really care. So, how you feel about this book will be very personal. Does it speak to you, or not?

It did speak to me. I don't hold Banksy on a pedestal as some do, but I appreciate what he is creating. Art that challenges us. "What we need in this race is a lot more streakers." Or maybe just more provocative graffiti writers.

Banksy is clever (probably too clever fo...more This book is funny, provocative and at times, borders on anarchy. As Banksy himself states, you will love him, hate him or you won't really care. So, how you feel about this book will be very personal. Does it speak to you, or not?

It did speak to me. I don't hold Banksy on a pedestal as some do, but I appreciate what he is creating. Art that challenges us. "What we need in this race is a lot more streakers." Or maybe just more provocative graffiti writers.

Banksy is clever (probably too clever for his own good.) He is an artist in every sense of the word, creating pieces but also thinking and stretching boundaries. I particularly like that he doesn't take himself too seriously, readily admitting that the depth someone else saw in his work wasn't actually what he intended or that a group of "revolutionaries" robbing a cell phone store made his Che Guevara piece a little ironic . . . "Why would someone paint pictures of a revolutionary when you can actually behave like one instead?" I like that he admits that even the people he's writing for (specifically those behind the wall in Palestine) don't welcome his work.

At the same time there still seems to be an arrogance in Banksy, his view of the world being above reproach. I may not agree with everything he preaches but I do like that he challenges everything we hold dear about society, because a complacent society is a dangerous place. His work can make you think and challenge your complacency, if you let it. He goes straight to the heart of our societal problems (money, war, obesity, consumerism & capitalism as the highest good, class inequity and the unequal distribution of food, water and wealth in the world) and makes these issues funny and frequently uncomfortable.

He pushes art for the people pointing out something that I'd never really thought about before. "We the people, affect the making and the quality of most of our culture, but not our art . . . The Art we look at is made by only a select few. A small group create, promote, purchase, exhibit, and decide the success of Art . . . When you go to an Art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires." It makes me wonder how Banksy feels about his fame, wealth and celebrity followers. I'd like to believe he simply doesn't care.

The art makes me laugh and evokes strong emotional responses as I look at it. I wish I owned this book so I could look at it again and again. But, having said all of this, I still wouldn't want my son to grow up to be a graffiti writer. But, I don't want him to grow up to be an advertising executive either.(less)

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Jul 07, 2012 Denele rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: coffee-table-book, graphic-art, photography, wish-list, street-art

I really enjoyed this book. I appreciate the work that some of the local street artists do, but Banksy is something else. I find his work less about self-promotion and more about getting people to reflect and think about the things they so blindly follow.

I have always been unsure on whether street art was really art or vandalism, until I read this:

"You owe the companies nothing. You especially don't owe them any courtesy. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They ne...more

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Nov 17, 2009 Gary rated it 5 of 5 stars

An amazing collection of images from an artist who has taken the the form of public art we call graphitti and elevated it somewhere above our normal awareness. People walk by his pieces everyday and never see them. Then i saw one of his pieces in New Orleans that had a plexi-glass cases over it so that local anti-graphitti squads won't wash them off. The polarization of opinions about his works are a testimate to how complelling and topical they really are.

The last frontier of unadulterated expr...more

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Oct 28, 2011 Amber Bennett rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 11, 2009 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Whether making a political statement or merely being provocative for provocation'ss sake, Banksy has put together an impressive body of work. Though I know little about his actual political tendences (other than what is obvious from his art), one does note a certain regrettable inclination towards Adbusters-style rhetoric, though he certainly deserves credit for his paintings on the Israeli apartheid wall. Regrettably, Banksy adds little text to contextualize his graffiti, and what he does inclu...more

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May 09, 2010 Maggie Stiefvater rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Like many people, I just find the story of Banksy -- a sort of artist Robin Hood -- incredibly compelling. In my head this most elusive of graffiti artists looks like Sean Bean and drives a Lotus Elan or something like that. This book spares the words and lavishes the photographs, letting Banksy's political statements, hastily and secretly sprayed onto walls, speak for themselves. If Banksy was just an anarchist, rustling with discontent, this book, and his art, would be unimpressive. But Banksy...more

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Jul 12, 2009 Jamil rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: art-design, cities, life-during-wartime, photo, graffiti

"The people who run our cities don't understand graffiti because they think nothing has the right to exist unless it makes a profit...They say graffiti frightens people and is symbolic of the decline in society, but graffiti is only dangerous in the mind of three types of people; politicians, advertising executives and graffiti writers.

"The people who truly deface our neighborhoods are the companies that scrawl their giant slogans across buildings and buses trying to make us feel inadequate unle...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Martín rated it 5 of 5 stars

Gran construcción gráfica que resume su trabajo en algunas imagenes, pero el grafiti como expresión debe trascender la imagen estática, el sentimiento rígido y el relato plano. Es algo que el formato no permite preservar, pero que el artista manifiesta en su actuar, su creación, su postura ante el mundo. El Stencil utilizado por Bansky en su obra callejera es un acto de reivindicación creativo, dinámico y fluctuante entre las calles de la ciudad, la urbe y la humanidad. Los signos y las metafora...more

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Jul 24, 2011 Rick Christiansen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: art

This is an art book, but here some of my favorite quotes:

"Despite what they say graffitti is not the lowest form of art...it's actually one of the more honest forms available.

A wall has always been the best place to publish your work.

A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to.

Why would someone just paint pictures of a revolutionary when you can actually behave like one instead?

Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can't even finish my second apple pie.

P...more

3 likes · like · see review

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About Banksy

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.

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.

Banksy's work was born...more

More about Banksy...

Books by Banksy

Exitstencilism, Vol. 2: Black Book, Pt. 1

Banksy Locations & Tours: A Collection of Graffiti Locations and Photographs in London, England

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Quotes from Wall and Piece

“A lot of mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves.” — 308 people liked it

“Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a great and glorious nation. Favourite amongst his subjects was the court painter of whom he was very proud. Everybody agreed this wizzened old man pianted the greatest pictures in the whole kingdom and the king would spend hours each day gazing at them in wonder. However, one day a dirty and dishevelled stranger presented himself at the court claiming that in fact he was the greatest painter in the land. The indignant king decreed a competition would be held between the two artists, confident it would teach the vagabond an embarrassing lesson. Within a month they were both to produce a masterpiece that would out do the other. After thirty days of working feverishly day and night, both artists were ready. They placed their paintings, each hidden by a cloth, on easels in the great hall of the castle. As a large crowd gathered, the king ordered the cloth be pulled first from the court artist’s easel. Everyone gasped as before them was revealed a wonderful oil painting of a table set with a feast. At its centre was an ornate bowl full of exotic fruits glistening moistly in the dawn light. As the crowd gazed admiringly, a sparrow perched high up on the rafters of the hall swooped down and hungrily tried to snatch one of the grapes from the painted bowl only to hit the canvas and fall down dead with shock at the feet of the king. ’Aha!’ exclaimed the king. ’My artist has produced a painting so wonderful it has fooled nature herself, surely you must agree that he is the greatest painter who ever lived!’ But the vagabond said nothing and stared solemnly at his feet. ’Now, pull the blanket from your painting and let us see what you have for us,’ cried the king. But the tramp remained motionless and said nothing. Growing impatient, the king stepped forward and reached out to grab the blanket only to freeze in horror at the last moment. ’You see,’ said the tramp quietly, ’there is no blanket covering the painting. This is actually just a painting of a cloth covering a painting. And whereas your famous artist is content to fool nature, I’ve made the king of the whole country look like a clueless little twat.” — 145 people liked it

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