When the topic is street art, Banksy is probably the most famous and mysterious graffiti artist in the world. Vancouver’s modern art lovers can see The Art of Banksy Without Limits exhibit for the first time after its worldwide success with over 2,100,000 visitors. You can see 200 of the artist’s works, including 60 original pieces of his art, prints, lithographs, photos, murals, installations, and sculptures.
The street art exhibit opens on February 20 and will be held at 1 Alexander Street in Gastown. The exhibit is suitable for all ages and ticket prices range from $28 to $46 for regular tickets to $73 for premium tickets. Tickets can be purchased online at www.feverup.com, or on the Fever app. Limited tickets may be available at the onsite box office. The event is produced by Events Muse and Fever and takes approximately one hour to see.
No one knows Banksy’s identity. The Mail on Sunday claimed in 2008 that Banksy is Robin Gunningham, born close to Bristol, and several former schoolmates and acquaintances agreed. In a 2003 interview with Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian, Banksy was described as “white, 28, scruffy casual—jeans, T-shirt, a silver tooth, silver chain and silver earring. He looks like a cross between Jimmy Nail and Mike Skinner of The Streets.”
Although a lot of his art is produced in public places, he reveals his new work after he creates it on his social media.
Banksy first received attention for spray-painting trains and walls in his home city of Bristol during the early 1990s. He was influenced in his early days by a French graffiti artist called Blek le Rat, and 3D, a founding member of the band Massive Attack.
Banksy’s first known large wall mural was The Mild Mild West painted in 1997 to cover advertising at a former solicitors’ office on Stokes Croft in Bristol. It depicts a teddy bear throwing a molotov cocktail at three police. On 19 July 2002, Banksy’s first Los Angeles exhibition debuted at 331⁄3 Gallery, a tiny Silver Lake space owned by Frank Sosa.
In the 2000s, his artworks started appearing all over the UK and other parts of the world. Banksy used stencils to create his pieces as it was quicker than painting freehand. In addition to street art, he has produced drawings, paintings and installation pieces. He even created his own theme park called Dismaland.
His work is known for delivering political messages. In December 2019, he raised the issue of homelessness with a mural showing two reindeer pulling a sleigh.
Banksy once characterised graffiti as a form of underclass “revenge”, or guerilla warfare that allows an individual to snatch away power, territory and glory from a bigger and better equipped enemy. He sees a social class component to this struggle, remarking “If you don’t own a train company then you go and paint on one instead.”
Banksy’s works have dealt with various political and social themes, including anti-war, anti-consumerism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, anti-authoritarianism, anarchism, nihilism, and existentialism. His art also condemns greed, power, despair, poverty, hypocrisy, boredom, and alienation.
His work is very valuable and can sell for millions of pounds. Show me the Monet reimagines Claude Monet’s Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, adding two shopping carts and an orange traffic cone. This painting was later sold for £7.5 million at Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction in 2020.
He no longer sells photographs or reproductions, but his public installations are regularly resold, often by removing the wall displaying the art. A mobile home with one of his murals painted on the side sold for £500,000. A small number of his works are officially, non-publicly, sold through an agency he created called Pest Control.
In addition to his art, his documentary film Exit Through the Gift Shop debuted at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Banksy has also published several books that contain photographs of his work accompanied by his own writings.
The artist has donated several works to promote various causes, including Civilian Drone Strike, which was sold in 2017 at £205,000 to raise funds for Campaign Against Arms Trade and Reprieve. He gifted his painting titled Game Changer to a hospital in May 2020 as a tribute to National Health Service workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was later sold for £14.4m in March 2021 to benefit several NHS-related organisations and charities.
