some sort of Banksy retrospective
The seal was painted at the same abandoned gas station in Midwood, Brooklyn, as the Trump “gentrification” piece. According to locals, both pieces were painted around 10 March. The seal uses the remaining part of the Mobil gas station logo as his ball.
Image: Banksy’s Instagram
A 22-meter-long mural was unveiled on 15 March in New York in support of jailed Kurdish painter Zehra Doğan. It is a collaboration with New York artist John Tsombikos, aka BORF. The piece can be found at the corner of Houston Street and the Bowery.
“I really feel for her. I’ve painted things much more worthy of a custodial sentence,” Banksy said in a statement to the New York Times.
Photo: http://www.banksy.co.uk
Banksy is back in New York with his first piece since October 2013. It’s a brilliantly executed “rat-in-the-clock”, a theme which has been used a few times before, most recently at The Walled Off Hotel. The piece can be found on 6th Av, a few blocks south of the Empire State Building.
Image from Banksy’s Instagram
Due to legal issues, Banksy announced this morning on www.banksy.co.uk that he is cancelling the promotion of a free print for voting against the Tories.
On 3 June, Banksy announced a new print release, a version of the iconic “Girl with Balloon”, only available to registered voters in the Bristol area who vote against the Conservative party. It would have been Banksy’s first regular print release since “Choose your weapon” in 2010.
Screenshots from http://www.banksy.co.uk and Banksy’s Instagram
Donald Trump’s visit to Bethlehem was announced on Banksy’s Instagram account on 24 May 2017. The picture of the presidential suite and the video clip of the Trump motorcade were removed a week later.
Banksy’s take on Brexit comes at a contentious time for European politics: the UK is currently undergoing a general election that will dictate the relationship with or without the EU. And France is deciding on its European future on the other side of the Channel, only 80 km away. Confirmed by Banksy’s Instagram account on 7 May 2017.
Photos: @banksy
Dismaland was a temporary art project organised and financed by Banksy, constructed in the seaside resort town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England. Prepared in secret, the pop-up exhibition at the Tropicana, a disused lido, was “a sinister twist on Disneyland” that opened during the weekend of 21 August 2015 and closed permanently on 27 September 2015, 36 days later. Banksy described it as a “family theme park unsuitable for children.”
Banksy created approx 15 new works and funded the construction of the exhibition himself. The show featured 58 artists of the 60 Banksy initially invited to participate. 4,000 tickets were available for purchase per day, priced at £3 each.
Some of Banksy’s pieces at Dismaland. Photos: R.A.
In February 2015, Banksy published a 2-minute video titled “Make this the year YOU discover a new destination” about his trip to Gaza Strip. During his visit, he painted a few artworks, including a kitten on the remains of a house destroyed by an Israeli air strike and a swing hanging off a watchtower. In his own words in a statement to the New York Times:
“I wanted to highlight the destruction in Gaza by posting photos on my website — but on the internet people only look at pictures of kittens . I don’t want to take sides. But when you see entire suburban neighborhoods reduced to rubble with no hope of a future — what you’re really looking at is a vast outdoor recruitment center for terrorists. And we should probably address this for all our sakes.”
Photos: http://www.banksy.co.uk
After frenetic activity in previous years, Banksy slowed down in 2014. Six works are documented, all in the UK, and only one in London (!!). One can assume that The Banksy team was preparing for 2015.
On 1 October, Banksy began a one-month “show on the streets of New York”, for which he opened a separate website and Twitter account. Every day for the rest of the month, he produced one street art piece in different locations.
A pop-up boutique of about 25 spray-art canvases appeared on Fifth Avenue near Central Park on 12 October. Tourists were able to buy Banksy’s art for just $60 each. The artist wrote in a note on his website: “Please note this was a one-off. The stall will not be there again.” The BBC estimated that the street-stall art pieces could be worth as much as $31,000. The booth was staffed by an unknown elderly man who went about four hours before making a sale, yawning and eating lunch as people strolled by without a second glance at the work. Banksy chronicled the surprise sale in a video posted to his website, noting, “Yesterday I set up a stall in the park selling 100% authentic original signed Banksy canvases. For $60 each.” Two of the canvasses sold at a July 2014 auction for $214,000. Source: Wikipedia.
Chronological sequence, from 1 to 31 October:
Banksy unofficial 