- Jan 14, 2013
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Having just re-watched Exit Through the Gift Shop last week, great movie btw, we went to go to the overpriced 'Banksy, Genius or Vandal' exhibit in Manhattan last night. It's unauthorized, so it's primarily signed prints from a private collection and some other pieces, plus just photos of some stuff, but with an audio guide to most of the pieces as well as written info. We knew it was overpriced going in but where else are you going to see around 100 Banksy pieces in one place while learning about them too? If you haven't heard about Banksy, he is worth looking up. His art is commentary on society and is usually pretty thoughtful and sharp.
Turned out to be interesting as I learned about some of his stuff I had no idea about, not just some individual pieces, but bigger works such as his 2015 interactive exhibit Dismaland (play on Disneyland) in England that was brilliant, as well as his actual working hotel in Palestine facing the Israeli built wall called The Walled Off Hotel with 10 rooms advertised as having the worst views in the world (looking right at that wall). The story of the Walled Off Hotel is particularly moving.
Also there was a really cool story about his Pulp Fiction piece with Travolta and Jackson holding bananas instead of guns, and what happened when it got painted over by the government, then what he repainted there, then what another artist painted over that, and then what happened to that artist.
Link on Dismaland: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/08/dismaland/
Link on the Walled Off Hotel: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/banksy-opens-bethlehem-barrier-wall-hotel
For both of those he organized and created them, donated some of his originals but also invited many other artists to participate. In Palestine the other artists are all local. The stuff is excellent, usually evocative or sometimes just whimsical.
Here are some photos:
Turned out to be interesting as I learned about some of his stuff I had no idea about, not just some individual pieces, but bigger works such as his 2015 interactive exhibit Dismaland (play on Disneyland) in England that was brilliant, as well as his actual working hotel in Palestine facing the Israeli built wall called The Walled Off Hotel with 10 rooms advertised as having the worst views in the world (looking right at that wall). The story of the Walled Off Hotel is particularly moving.
Also there was a really cool story about his Pulp Fiction piece with Travolta and Jackson holding bananas instead of guns, and what happened when it got painted over by the government, then what he repainted there, then what another artist painted over that, and then what happened to that artist.
Link on Dismaland: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/08/dismaland/
Link on the Walled Off Hotel: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/banksy-opens-bethlehem-barrier-wall-hotel
For both of those he organized and created them, donated some of his originals but also invited many other artists to participate. In Palestine the other artists are all local. The stuff is excellent, usually evocative or sometimes just whimsical.
Here are some photos:
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