5
Oct
2008
Banksy and his Damn Rats
The recent pieces of Banksy Art in New York this week have caused quite a stir.
The first mural was a sketch of a rat drawing on the wall and the sketchiness was presumably intentional as the people who actually painted the piece were from Colossal Media a professional outdoor media company.
This appears to be a new tactic for Banksy and one which is proving to be unpopular with some Banksy Posters on the various Internet forums, although how any Artist (who is supposed to be anonymous and is probably wanted by the Police on the technicalities of being a vandal) is supposed to negotiate the logistics of painting giant murals in the middle of New York on their own is questionable.
Then a second mural followed, a giant rat with an umbrella significant of the coming financial storm, the sharp tie of the Wall Street worker, blood on its hands as it clutches a briefcase leaking money as it scurries away from the financial turbulence its brought about.
The second Rat has already been targeted by a local graffiti Artist, who has sprayed “Damn Rats” below it, perhaps a comment aimed at Banksy, who some feel has become commercialised.
The scale of Banksy Graffiti and the sale of his works may well have broken away from the underground, but I don’t feel that this should cause resentment; at the end of the day he is bringing the spotlight to the fact that graffiti is a valid art form.
And who else is reminding us of the woeful response of the Bush Administration to Hurricane Katrina and just in time for an election that may well bring Bush Mark Two to the presidency?
