Showing posts with label Banksy Related. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Banksy Related. Show all posts

22 September 2017

Banksy Strikes Again: Basquiat, Graffiti, And The Issue Of Copyright Law

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File 20170922 17256 5sobrk
PA, CC BY-SA
By Enrico Bonadio, City, University of London


Banksy is back, in his own iconic style.

Two murals by the British street artist have been spotted on the walls of the Barbican Centre in London, which is hosting Boom for Real, a major exhibition dedicated to the genius of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The first mural represents a ferris wheel (with Basquiat-inspired crowns replacing the wheel’s passenger cars) with people queuing up at the ticket booth. It makes fun of the exhibition’s organisers, confirmed by Banksy’s Instagram post presenting the new artwork: “Major new Basquiat show opens at the Barbican – a place that is normally very keen to clean any graffiti from its walls.”

Basquiat himself started his career in the 1970s spraying artworks, messages and tags in the streets of New York City, often with his schoolmate and graffiti artist Al Diaz.

The second Barbican mural depicts a figure being frisked by two policemen, which bears more than just a likeness to Basquiat’s 1982 piece, Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump. Again, Banksy seems to mock the exhibition celebrating a former graffiti artist, highlighting how harshly street artists – who frequently face serious legal consequences including jail time – are treated by the police.


Saving valuable art?
Would it be possible to prevent the removal of Banksy’s new creations? It is difficult to foresee what the fate of these potentially very valuable murals will be. The walls belong to the City of London Corporation, which has not yet decided whether to keep them or even protect them. As has often happened in the past with Banksy’s street artworks, they may soon be cut from the wall, exhibited and then offered for sale for six-figure sums.

The elusive Bristol street artist has strongly disapproved of such removals. But he has never taken legal action to try to prevent removal by relying on copyright and moral rights laws.
This is probably due to the fact that Banksy often paints his murals illegally, namely without the authorisation of the owner of the wall, which exposes him to prosecution for defacement of property. Plus, he believes that copyright law is “for losers”.

But let’s imagine for a minute that Banksy changes his mind and wants to react in court against the removal and “indoor-isation” of his murals. Could he successfully invoke the so-called “integrity right”, which allows artists to oppose treatment of artworks that are prejudicial to their honour or reputation?

On the one hand, he could argue that his reputation is harmed by such treatment of his street artworks, as the public may think he has condoned it, which would tarnish his anti-establishment and anti-consumerist image.

On the other, the copyright statute does not expressly provide artists with the ability to oppose the exhibition, or in general publication, of their works in contexts different from those chosen by the artists themselves: which may represent an obstacle in any proceedings against someone who exhibits Banksy’s removed murals.

Could the Basquiat estate sue Banksy?
But could Banksy find himself embroiled in a legal fight for an alleged copyright infringement? We have seen how his own murals have incorporated an entire Basquiat work and the stylised crowns used and popularised by the American artist.

Jean Michel Basquiat was a street artist himself before he became the darling of a New York art scene dominated by Andy Warhol. epa, CC BY-SA

The first issue is related to Banksy’s anonymity. Should the Basquiat estate plan on going after the famous British artist, who should they sue? Despite various theories surrounding his identity, nobody outside his inner circle really knows who Banksy is. That may not be an insurmountable obstacle, though. A legal action could probably be started against the entity behind the banksy.co.uk website and the related Instagram account which are displaying pictures of the murals.

Also, far from just being an homage to Basquiat and a lawful use of a copyrighted work (for example, under the fair dealing exception for criticism or review), the two murals, especially the one depicting the figure frisked by two police officers, might be considered as unlawfully reproducing substantial parts of copyright-protected pieces of art. Canvases, prints, posters and even tea cups depicting Banksy’s murals can already be readily found on the internet, produced by people not linked to the street artist.

Most probably, such legal action will never get up much steam. The Basquiat estate will find it counter-productive to pick up a legal fight with the most appreciated urban artist in the world. They may be quite happy with the increased interest the murals have garnered for the current exhibition.
But street artists like Banksy who frequently incorporate in their murals copyrighted works of others may soon need to pay more attention if they want to avoid getting into legal troubles. The more graffiti artists enter the mainstream and increase their notoriety, the higher the chances they will receive complaints and be condemned if their works infringe others’ copyright.

The ConversationWhatever happens to Banksy’s murals, I wonder what Basquiat, if he were around today, would make of all this. He might have been delighted about the clever murals, having started out himself as a graffiti artist. Or he might have thanked Banksy for creating a nice media-friendly buzz for his exhibition. But as an artist who later successfully entered the professional art market, and understood its driving forces, Basquiat might also think: “Hey Banksy, that’s my stuff. That’s not cool.

About Today's Contributor:
Enrico Bonadio, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of London

This article was originally published on The Conversation

23 March 2016

Elaborate Banksy Exhibition in New Museum in Amsterdam

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BANKSY 'TORTOISE HELMET STEEL' 55 X 75 CM 2009 (PRNewsFoto/Moco Museum)
New museum on Museum Square in Amsterdam opens its doors with exhibitions of Banksy and Warhol
Moco / Modern Contemporary Museum will open its doors to the public the beginning of April. The opening exhibition will combine works of art by Pop Art-protagonist Andy Warhol and Street Art-legend Banksy. 
BANKSY 'CORRUPTED OIL - JERRY' 50 X 60 CM 2003 (PRNewsFoto/Moco Museum)
The new museum for modern and contemporary art located on the Museum Square in Amsterdam wants to reach out to a wide, international and young audience. During the exhibition there will be more than eighty works of art from both artist, among which the 3 x 4 meters painting "Beanfield" by Banksy, which was showcased last in 2009. A very important canvas that characterises Banksy as an activist artist.
BANKSY 'BEANFIELD' 250 X 350 CM 2009 (PRNewsFoto/Moco Museum)
Moco museum is a private initiative by Lionel and Kim Logchies, owners of LionelGallery on the Spiegelstraat in Amsterdam. For more than eighteen years the couple has worked with works of art by renowned names within the international art scene. From Picasso to Koons, from Hirst to Basquiat.
BANKSY 'FOUR MONKEYS' 75 X 75 CM 2001 (PRNewsFoto/Moco Museum)
The couple now gives Banksy, who has been at the top of the art world for more than two years, the unauthorised exhibition he deserves. Before the artist was known to secretly place his works of art in museums.
By establishing the Moco Museum they are able to show the top pieces of art which would normally stay outside the reach of the general public. Many artworks are given on loan to the museum by an international network of initiators.
WARHOL 'MARYLIN' 90 X 90 CM 1967 (PRNewsFoto/Moco Museum)
Moco Museum :
Exhibitions Banksy 'Laugh now' & Warhol 'Royal'
Address: Honthorststraat 20 / Museumplein, Amsterdam. The Netherlands


SOURCE: Moco Museum

25 July 2013

History of Banksy Graffiti Art [Infographic]

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Street Artist Banksy is known for his Banksy wall and Banksy stencils styles. Banksy stencils is a method that he uses for some of his artwork, which is used to produce the cut design on the surface with a thin sheet of cardboard, plastic or metal with a pattern of letters cut out of it.


Despite not calling himself an artist, Banksy has been considered by some as talented in that respect; he uses his original street art form, combined with Banksy stencils style. Due to the shroud of secrecy surrounding his real identity and his subversive character; Banksy has achieved somewhat of a cult following with his Banksy Art from some of the younger age group within the stencilling community. Banksy Prints are famous all over the world, especially Banksy Los Angeles artwork.

There is always hope graffiti is perhaps the most famous graffiti Banksy, There is always hope is located in London, South Bank. Canvas version of this Banksy print was sold in 2007 for 37200$ at Sotheby's auction.


Flying balloons Girl by Banksy is located on a stretch of the Palestinian side of Israeli West Bank Barrier. While Banksy was creating this graffiti art, guns were drawn on him. However despite of all of that, Banksy went to work to create this masterpiece,.


And again, another famous Banksy print - Girl searching Soldier this time of graffiti .. Palestine, Wall of West Bank in Bethlehem, 2007. Yes, yes, it is graffiti on the wall of security in the ancient city of Bethlehem. This barrier in the form of the wall was built by Israel and the United Nations considers this building illegal. This Banksy art was used  as a promotional piece for Banksy's exhibition  in Santa's Ghetto to help draw  a large audience. 


Banksy Rat appears in many of his graffiti. Banksy symbolizes rats in his graffiti as the only truly free animals in the city. Banksy also represents himself through rats, as rats are the night creatures as  Banksy is. Not only are Banksy and the rat both creatures of the night, they are also both looked down upon by polite society. 


Monkeys are another reacquiring theme in Banksy graffiti art.  One of his most iconic stencils features a downtrodden monkey wearing a sign that reads, Laugh now, but one day well be in charge.  A commentary on Man's feeling of superiority towards his simian cousins, or, conversely, the monkey's knowledge that it is the superior race, this stencil appears in many permutations. Other monkeys in Banksy art proclaim that "lying to the police is never wrong." While this expression is typical of human rebels, it also expresses the world from a monkey's point of view. If lying to the police will keep it out of a zoo or a science experiment, a monkey should always lie to the police. Banksy Media Monkey wears headphones, operates a camera and holds an old-style clapperboard. Is Banksy commenting on the mindless nature of modern film-making or the mindless nature of those who make films, including his own films? Or is he noting that monkeys may well make better movies than those that currently invade the theaters? 


Why does Banksy favor monkeys? Perhaps it is an expression of the imitative nature of man as expressed in the aphorism "Monkey see, monkey do." After all, art imitates life and life imitates art. Graffiti artists imitate one another, either as a tribute or to mock another's work. Perhaps Banksy enjoys monkeys simply because they look so much like, yet so much more comical than, their human counterparts.



Source: History of Banksy : Art off the canvas

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19 May 2013

Art As Social Commentary: A Match Made In Heaven

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Art As A Social Commentary
Image by Samdecle

Society is a fluid construct, in a constant state of flux as issues that affect it move in and out of fashion, and then is some cases, back in again. Within this complex system, art has given the people who exist within it a platform to have their voice heard, the means of carrying a message that attempts to make sense of the world around them, or in some cases, protest against it.

Throughout time there have been countless art movements that have reflected the society, defined by their style, technique, time frame and artistic ideal that allows them to carry the public, social and economic issues of their time.

Here we explore four of the most significant and influential art movements the world has ever seen.


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