W2 Banksy

Have you heard of Banksy before reading these materials for class? If so, what do you think of his work. If not, would you like to know more about him? I'm familiar with Banksy and have always had interest and respect for most street artists. When the line between graffiti and street art is brought up, Banksy is always a popular name to throw into the conversation since they draw attention world wide but I think until I started to learn more about them I didnt fully understand why they do what they do (of course I still dont completely now, but I think having some background knowledge on this particular artists makes his work much more interesting). Banksy is an artist that is able to create work on a wall, knowing how temporary it could end up being and that they likely wont profit from it financially, but they continue to thrive in the art world. Surely Banksy sees some financial gains from the pieces they create but I've never seen any solid proof of what their income and networth might be. Considering the fact that Banksy frequently makes art to then sell at a very low price, knowing it will likely be re-sold for much more shortly after, makes it seem like the art is *really* about the art for them and not the profit or fame and there's something inspiring about that.

What do you think of the "Balloon Girl / Love is in the Bin" "incident"  at Sotheby's? This is a huge part of Banksy's artwork, the conversation that happens afterward and the experience of the viewer. I feel like everyone at Sotheby's that evening should have assumed that there was more to this piece than meets the eye but I can imagine that when its about the money and $1 million of work is on the line maybe a surprise like this isn't as exciting.

What are your thoughts on the references/memes based on this work? I'm always on the fence when it comes to memes/references/t-shirts and the like when they're taking the content from an artist but I feel like it depends on the context. Its discouraging to see a tshirt for $10 at Target with a Keith Haring piece on it, but if the money goes to a charitable cause does that make it less upsetting? I don't know what the answer is, and in Banksy's case the reaction to the artwork seems to be an important part of the artwork itself, but does that still count when an artist that is consistently commenting on capitalism then has their artwork used for inspiration by large corporations like McDonalds? Or does the shredded artwork inspiring McDonalds and Perrier make them look more dense for not understanding what Banksy's motivation is?

How would/could you use Banksy's artworks in your art classroom? Banksy rose to fame in the art world is such a different manner than a lot of artists and I think that's something that's important to share with students. Banksy's message is an important part of the work they create even if it isnt always obvious, and they've created work in so many different mediums that hopefully one is bound to pique the interest of students.