Seven Years with Banksy

by Robert Clarke

Seven years with Banksy is an extraordinary memoir that offers a unique, first-hand account of the world's most celebrated, and elusive, graffiti artist.

Genres: Art, Biography, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Robert Clarke was brought up in Cotswold valleys. He came of age in Thatcher's Britain and has spent a third of his life travelling the world. He has held down dozens of jobs, from building to cycle messaging in Manhattan, NYC. He currently lives in Sweden with his wife and children and works as a writer. In summer he can be found sailing in the outer skerries of the Stockholm archipelago. His motto is, 'Be not conformed to this world'.

Reviews

[George Ilsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of somewhat vague, unsatisfying anecdotes. This writer has not followed the advice "show, don't tell". This text is mostly telling. Such things as "ran into Robin. We talked of incredibly interesting things. He half-smiled." Seriously, repeat that many many times, format the thing with big type and huge headers (on the sides of pages) and you have a book with little content that you can read in no time. The pictures, of course, are the most interesting part of this book.

A more accurate title would have been, Seven Years of Sometimes Running Into Banksy.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not all that well written, in need of an editor and crying out for better book design... there were times that it veered uncomfortably into the realms of hagiography (including relating mystical dreams about the artist), and other times when you wondered if there was even a story worth telling here, as it didn't elucidate Banksy the man to any great extent. Ultimately it's a book more about Robert Clarke than it is about Banksy. It is of course also difficult to ascertain the authenticity of some of the anecdotes and claims... but overall I found it a fairly interesting and entertaining bit of ephemera relating to an artist that deserves a lot of respect.

[Gem · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was nice to learn a bit about Banksy, but i did start to wonder the motivation of the writing the book, and did wonder how the artist himself felt about the book being written about thim, and there was nothing in there about his knowing of it.

apart from that, a nice easy read, interesting and loved the artwork secions :)

[Najwa Atia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars are the for the pictures and banksy’s art at the end.

[Aylin Alpustun · Rating 2 out of 5]

From somebody who has personally known this ingenious artist for the past seven years, I would have expected a more detailed account on the philosophy of Banksy.

Instead it was more like a narrative of a bunch of party "boys" running loose on empty streets trying to find obscure destinations to paint.

I felt it just brushed off the surface.

We already know that Banksy has a very aloof character and that he prefers to go "incognito" and that he is a very "intelligent" artist, not much to add to these already renown traits.

Really I found the content to be fairly poor

[Nathan Bohn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ground breaking? Not really. This is a book that gives insight on a chance meeting and goes to illustrate the casually deep relationship with the author and Banksy. It feels like an average guy writing things down which is easy to see in the writing. It rambles a bit and is more stream of conscience than edited plot. But it is honest and true.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, but the author annoyed me somewhat. Always banging on about how underground he is. It's definitely not what I expected. I was hoping for an insight into Banksy but all I got was a Bromance. Still I guess it must have been "good" if I read it till the end...

[Claudia Rambles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very easy to read. People expect too much because of the title but the story is about two guys. One happens to be Banksy.
Its not about solving the identity mistery its about a friendship.
Don't expect too much just because his name pops out, just accept and think about it.

[Artemis Eclectica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slightly pretentious. If he considers himself a writer, he's not working hard enough. Some really poor writing in this book.

[Elisabeth Bridges · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved getting to see the "human" side of Banksy. The story of him buying a toy rabbit for his niece was a personal favorite! He is such an inspiring artist.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

easy read - some interesting adventures

[Nathan Mays · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty terrible and the title of the book is very miss leading