Banksy

**__ Artist: Banksy __**

 * Group Members: **
 * Rylee Ford & Morgan O'Dower **

source: http://www.banksy.co.uk/out.asp


 * First Impression:** This picture’s tone is lonely and destroyed and makes me think of Animal Cruelty. We can see that Banksy likes to speak through his art by conveying a certain tone. He does not use any color in this painting. We noticed that the wall that he drew on looks cracked and maybe on an abandoned building or in a very poor town.
 * Second Impression:** We know that Banksy likes to usually use dark and deep meanings in his work, and this one is a perfect example. After doing some research, we were able to relook at this painting and think of our own version of it's meaning. We have a couple ideas, and one of them include that the man is taking away the zebra's stripes to take away it's originality. Another idea is that the man is taking away what makes the zebra unique, and is trying to make it simple and ordinary. Our last idea was the literal meaning of animal cruelty, and how this man is taking away part of a zebra.

source: http://www.banksy.co.uk/out.asp

**First Impression:** We think the meaning behind this painting is that people are getting so caught up in technology, that they are forgetting more and more things about our world. We think that Banksy is very down to earth, and he may not like technology very much, so he painted this to show what our world might come to: people being amazed at things that we think are simple but that might become more and rarer to see. On the other hand, Banksy might be very appreciative of nature, and might greatly admire it, so he painted this to show his love of nature.
 * Second Impression: **We know now that Banksy likes to poke fun at society, and through looking at more of his work, we've realized that he only uses color to make things pop, like this pink flower. The figures (i.e. people and sometimes animals) are always in black and white, but if there's something else important in the painting, it is usually in color. We also found out that Banksy uses stencils for his paintings that he makes himself before he goes to paint, to "cut [his] painting time in half".


 * Balloon Girl**

 source: http://www.banksy.co.uk/out.asp

source: http://www.banksy.co.uk/out.asp
 * First Impression**: This picture reminds me of the time I got a balloon at a restaurant, and when I got home I accidentally let go of the balloon and it flew away, but we know this painting has a deeper meaning. We think that meaning maybe has to do with the little girl losing someone like a family member or friend because the balloon heart is flying away. Maybe Banksy painted this because he just lost someone in real life.We're guessing that he was sad or upset when he painted this since it’s very sad for a little kid to lose a balloon.
 * Second Impression:** This is one of Banksy's paintings that we could find a title for, but we can not figure out the meaning behind it. We know he likes to be sarcastic in his works, but this doesn't really seem to have a level of sarcasm to it. We do know that he made the balloon a heart for a reason, instead of a regular round balloon. Maybe he was trying to say something like you have to let go of the things you love, or something along that line.
 * First Impression:** We don’t think Banksy agrees with this saying because of the man that is washing it off the wall. We see a pattern of when he draws people, he does not paint them in color, yet he did the quote in pink. We think he did this to make the quote be the main focus of the painting. This man reminds me of a window washer and seems to have a bucket of supplies to help clean. The quote in this painting really makes you stop and think. Banksy’s art ultimately just makes me wonder more about him as an artist and his perspective of the world.
 * Second Impression:** We know that Banksy isn't a "typical" graffiti artist - most graffiti artist are focused and use big bubble-looking lettering, but whenever he uses words in his art, the words compliment his painting, and go with the theme of it rather than his art being focused on the words. Also, after looking at more of Banksy's work, we realized he only uses words in his paintings half of the time, but more often they have a very deep meaning, like this one. We think Banksy painted this man washing the words off of the wall as kind of an ironic statement because it's proving kind of the opposite of the statement, and showing society that nothing lasts forever.

After we did research, we discovered why Banksy portrays the meanings that he does. A major characteristic that is very apparent in his works, is the element of dark humor. Since Banksy is anonymous, it was difficult to figure out why his humor is so dark, yet deep, but we did discover that he has a hotel in Bethlehem, and a theme park called Dismaland in south-west England, that relate to his street art. No one has ever seen him or his face at these places, or in the UK (where he lives). This makes us think that he is very humble because people in the media today get so caught up with looks and appearances, and him staying anonymous shows that he is not devoted to the idea of fame, and that he wants people/ his fans to focus on the meaning of his art instead of his personality/ life. After finding more about his dark humor, we also realized that he expresses, in his paintings his opinions on child labor and violence, and he does not support those things.
 * Overall Second Impression: **


 * Reflection:**

- We think people show know that Banksy likes to use dark humor and sarcasm in his work, and that he also like to poke fun at society, but all of his paintings have somewhat of a deeper meaning.
 * If you had one thing to share about your artist, what is the most important thing for people to know about the artist and or artwork? **

- We think someone in the future might totally agree with Banksy’s messages, and say that he is absolutely right because Banksy likes to create art that relates to now, so someone looking back on today might say that what he is saying in true.
 * What would someone in the future say about your artist/the artwork? **

- Our question would be “We have a pretty good idea, but why do you like to stay anonymous and will you ever reveal your identity?” because we think that he is being very humble, and is not getting caught up with looks and fame, but we would like to know the real reason he stay anonymous.
 * If you had one question you would ask your artist that research didn’t answer, what would it be and why? **

**In** **evaluating your wiki, what’s your strongest section and why and give examples? (3 details)** - We think our strongest section is our first impressions. We think this because 1) we had a lot of ideas about Banksy, 2) we got to make a guess about Banksy’s life and his opinions, which was fun, and 3) we tried to create as much of Banksy’s background as we could with a little amount of starting information, and we feel like we did fairly well with guessing about Banksy.

- We think our weakest section is our second impressions. We think this because 1) we felt a little rushed when we did them, 2) we sometimes repeated our first impressions a little bit, and 3) it was a little challenging to find information about Banksy, but overall we think we did okay on our wiki.
 * What’s your weakest section, why (3 details)? **

Sources:

Works Cited "Banksy bombs detroit." //Detroit Metro Times//, www.metrotimes.com/detroit/banksy-bombs-detroit/Content?oid=2197438. Ellsworth-Jones, Will, editor. "The Story behind Banksy." //Smithsonian//, Feb. 2015, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-story-behind-banksy-4310304/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018. "Inside/Outside." //Banksy//, www.banksy.co.uk/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2018.