The Sirens of the lambs by Banksy

The little things

by Joana Prata

Topheadz Paint War Berlin

photos by Kate Bellm, London born, Berlin based photographer.

Kates World . tumblr . com

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More from Banksy

"I was 16 years old when I first trespassed onto some railway tracks and wrote the initials of the graffiti crew (of which I was the only member) on a wall. Afterwards the most incredible thing happened–absolutely nothing. No dogs chased me, no thunderbolt from God shot down to punish me, and my mum didn’t even notice I’d been gone. That was the night I realized you could get away with it.

That was also the night I discovered that beyond the “No Entry” sign everything happens in higher definition. Adrenalin sharpens your eyesight, each little sound becomes significant, your sense of smell seems more acute, and tramps shit everywhere.

To some people breaking into property and painting it might seem a little inconsiderate, but in reality the 30 square centimetres of your brain are trespassed upon every day by teams of marketing experts. Graffiti is a perfectly proportionate response to being sold unattainable goals by a society obsessed with status and infamy. Graffiti is the sight of an unregulated free market getting the kind of art it deserves. And although some people might say it’s all a big waste of time, no one cares about their opinion if their name isn’t written in huge letters on the bridge into town."

Banksy, 2010

Women Are Heroes

Working without authorization and identified only by his initials, Parisian artist JR exhibits on streets all over the world. Pasting his enormous photographs of local people onto buildings in neglected neighbourhoods, he makes art with and for its subjects. The vast scale of the work is breath-taking and the aim is always social connection, through revealing, close-up, often humorous portraits of people usually identified only by their poverty. JR’s projects have taken him on long international trips, to Cambodia, Palestine, Israel, China... He has wrapped his images onto Rio’s oldest favela and moving freight trains in Kenya. 


“Women Are Heroes, Kibera 2008”

"When you go to Providência, which is one of the most dangerous favelas in Rio, there is no NGO, no institution. Drug trafficking is huge. So, there is no reason for people to go to a place like that and create an artistic project. We were able to do this project just because the community had its own interest in its success. Because we arrived without any sponsors or political objectives, people always received us with open arms. They are happy to see another approach, and not a journalistic one - an approach where they are actors. These questions are really essential. The local people are conscious of their image. Their interest is to change the image we have of the favelas, to bring attention to them for something other than the drug traffic. And me…I want to continue my project, raise questions about the place of women in society. With the project done, I leave the country and I hope a bridge has been created between these people and the media. It is the testimonials of these people, their stories and their words, that are much more compelling than anything I can say. Each place is an unexpected meeting that continues. Sometimes I see people again when I come back to follow up an action and continue a project." JR

 

“Morro da Providencia, Rio de Janeiro, 2009”

JR

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Rossio, Lisboa 2008

Sculpture by Robert Indiana.
"Robert Indiana, originally Robert Clark, was a seminal figure in the pop art movement. Born in New Castle, Indiana in 1928, he studied in both the United States and Europe before settling in New York in 1956. He has called himself a sign painter, incorporating symbols, signs, letters and words throughout his art. Indiana's work has been inspired by old trade names, traffic signs, automatic amusement machines and commercial stencils. He has created poems, paintings, sculptures, silk screens and posters." The first LOVE sculpture was completed in 1971 in New York city or Boston, I'm not sure.

Banksy - The world's most wanted graffiti artist

"Banksy is the pseudonym of a British graffiti artist, political activist and painter, whose identity is unconfirmed. 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.

Known for his contempt for the government in labeling graffiti as vandalism merely because it does not serve a profit to them, Banksy displays his art on public surfaces such as walls and even going as far as to build physical prop pieces.

Banksy's works have dealt with an array of political and social themes, including anti-War, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, anti-authoritarianism, anarchism, nihilism, and existentialism. Additionally, the components of the human condition that his works commonly critique are greed, poverty, hypocrisy, boredom, despair, absurdity, and alienation."

Works


- In August 2004, Banksy produced a quantity of spoof British £10 notes substituting the picture of the Queen's head with Diana, Princess of Wales's head and changing the text "Bank of England" to "Banksy of England."


- In May 2005 Banksy's version of a primitive cave painting depicting a human figure hunting wildlife whilst pushing a shopping trolley was hung in gallery 49 of the British Museum, London. Upon discovery, they added it to their permanent collection. Also placed subverted artworks in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.


- In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton's debut CD, Paris, in 48 different UK record stores with his own cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse. Music tracks were given titles such as "Why am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?".





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MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.