Prankster hangs own anti-war artwork in prestigious NYC museums

A British prankster has surreptitiously hung his own humorous artwork, some of them carrying an anti-war message, in four major New York museums over the last two weeks. The man, who calls himself "Banksy" on a Web site that displays his artwork, has pulled similar stunts at the Louvre in Paris and the Tate museum in London. "Banky" will be featured by KO tonight.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PRANKSTER_ARTIST?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME



Elsewhere in DU - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3341886 - is a thread discussing civil disobedeance / vandalism. Political pranksterism is the highest form of CD. To include art is the piece de resistance.

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http://www.woostercollective.com/2005/03/banksy-speaks-with-reuters.html

Thursday, March 24, 2005


Banksy Speaks With Reuters


About an hour or so ago, Banksy gave an interview to the American wire service, Reuters. In the interview he sheds a few more details on the how he pulled it off.

From the article:




Here's the entire article, hot off the press as they say:


British Prankster Smuggles Art Into Top NY Museums
Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:25 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many a visitor to New York's Museum of Modern Art has probably thought, "I could do that." A British graffiti artist who goes by the name "Banksy" went one step further, by smuggling in his own picture of a soup can and hanging it on a wall, where it stayed for more than three days earlier this month before anybody noticed. The prank was part of a coordinated plan to infiltrate four of New York's top museums on a single day.

The largest piece, which he smuggled into the Brooklyn Museum, was a 2 foot by 1.5 foot (61cm by 46 cm) oil painting of a colonial-era admiral, to which the artist had added a can of spray paint in his hand and anti-war graffiti in the background. The other two targets were the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, where he hung a glass-encased beetle with fighter jet wings and missiles attached to its body -- another comment on war, Banksy told Reuters on Thursday.

"It was just an outsider's view of the modern American bug, bristling with listening devices and military hardware," he said. An art Web site called www.woostercollective.com has posted pictures of the artist -- wearing an Inspector Clouseau-style overcoat, a hat and a fake beard and nose -- hanging up his work at the four museums and describing how he did it. Speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location in Britain, Banksy said he conducted all four operations on March 13, helped by accomplices who filmed him and provided distractions where necessary.

"They staged a gay tiff (lovers' quarrel), shouting very loudly and obnoxiously," said the artist, declining to give his real name or any personal details beyond his occupation as a professional painter and decorator. It is not the first time he has staged such stunts. Last year he smuggled work into the Louvre in Paris and London's Tate, attracting attention in the British media.

more......

"On March 16, authorities at the Brooklyn Museum discovered and removed one of his paintings that depicted a colonial-era military officer holding a spray-paint can, with anti-war graffiti in the background." snip

love the 'anti war graffiti in the background' statement included in his artwork. :)

They are supposed to be on the wooster site, but all I can find is a link to Banksy's website - http://www.banksy.co.uk/index2.html

And this image:



Now tell me, is this vandalism or art?

http://www.banksy.co.uk/exhibitions/01.html

For anyone who didn't recognize her, the girl in the middle is the one from the famous Viet Nam war picture of the napalmed village girl. To have her gripped like a prisoner by two corporate icons designed to appeal to children is an an amazing juxtaposition. Their fixed happy-faces look very sinister.

I wish I'd thought of it.

The choice of the symbols and their arrangement are just STUNNING. I can see why an art museum without its own secure source of funding might not feel safe about hanging it! It is so powerful, it's bound to royally piss of some people. And Disney and McDonald's would undoubtedly want to litigate to protect the kindly public images of their valuable corporate symbols.

This guy has some real talent, insight, and a wildly oddball kind of courage to express his outrage this way. And look how many people know about his images now!

Shows what can sometimes be possible when you refuse to be cowed. It's also a reminder of the power that images can have.

It's a well done piece...quite powerful and shows the grip of corporate power at home and the devastating horrors of US fp at the same time.

lmao

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http://www.banksy.co.uk/exhibitions/04.html

Go to any of the links above and click on "movie".

COOL art!
That is SO perfect...
Same with that lil Vietnamese girl one below... guy's a real genius...

(now this one is just wrong on so many levels, for those who don't know, Wild Style was the original hip-hop and graffiti flick, and the painting is exactly like the logo from that movie)

Witty and well executed! I think I'm in love :loveya:

n/t

The image with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald gripping the arms of the napalmed, screaming Vietnamese war victim is unforgettable.

On edit: the "o" should be lowercased....

don't really have problem with what he's doing.

As long as he's not actually defacing the other works in the museums, I just don't see a big deal in him placing his own piece alongside the others.

And I think his artwork is also well done.

When you think of all the starving artists wandering around trendy galleries with mediocre work and no original ideas, this is somewhat heartening.

You've found words for my thoughts.

But probably not legal. I doubt that he has the legal right to do that without the museum's permission. In essence, it's an extreme from of capitalist promotion.

Welcome to DU :hi:

'Preciate the welcome! Look forward to good discussions!