Last week, street artist Banksy announced his largest show yet: Dismaland, which mocks the corporate entity that is Disneyland. The response has been mainly positive, ironic considering Banksy is a corporate entity himself. He has largely shaped the public perception of himself as someone who is anti-consumerism, anti-war, and critical of hypocrisy, causing anyone who questions to be at risk of seeming elitist. By making his art so accessible to the public, anyone who criticizes him automatically becomes the bad guy.
“His work looks dazzlingly clever to idiots” said satirist Charlie Brooker of Banksy, calling out his cliché iconography. We all know that excess consumption and pollution and inequality are bad things, but Banksy keeps delivering those same messages in uninspired ways. Even if his art is aesthetically pleasing, what has he said that hasn’t said before? Aside from this, Banksy has been accused of emulating a little too closely the style of Blek le Rat, who has been quoted saying that he disapproves of Banksy copying his style, which has taken years for him to cultivate. While art allows and even requires some degree of creative exchange, copying someone’s work and capitalizing on it shows a disregard for the rules.
"When I see Banksy making a man with a child or Banksy making rats, of course I see immediately where he takes the idea. I do feel angry. When you're an artist you use your own techniques. It's difficult to find a technique and style in art so when you have a style and you see someone else is taking it and reproducing it, you don't like that. I'm not sure about his integrity. Maybe he has to show his face now and show what kind of guy he is." -Blek le Rat
One of the main complaints of Banksy from other street artists is that he simply does not respect the culture and rules of street art. He is notorious for covering up other writers tags and incorporating other pieces into his own. What’s more is that he has gained so much popularity from doing less work: although a more complex technique doesn’t necessarily equate to “better” art, it is widely understood in the world of street art that freehand graffiti takes much more precision and practice than does stencil and wheat paste art.
He also undeniably gets special treatment from the society he is constantly criticizing, the media, and the police. Where other artists work is viewed as vandalism, his is viewed as social commentary. Where other artists work is covered up, his is actively protected by the police.
Banksy is quoted saying “Modern art is our disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little” and that modern artists are “slow and self-obsessed.” He tries to separate himself from the rest of the art world and one can’t help but have the image of someone who rejects everything mainstream to appear “different” come to mind. Besides the irony that that quote describes him to a T, it is also ironic that he would insult modern artists considering he collaborated with several to create Dismaland, including Jenny Holzer and Damien Hirst.
Disney has had an immeasurable impact on our society and culture. It isn't necessarily about the magic, though -- it's more about the money (specifically, $48 billion in 2014.) Everything from release dates of films to the distance between food carts at Disneyland is carefully planned to ensure he highest profit. It's an easy target for anyone. Bansky criticizes it from the angle that we are blind consumers of Disney because it has marketed itself as the "happiest place on earth." However, isn't that exactly what Bansky has done with his art? The name "Banksy" and "street art" are nearly interchangeable. Banksy has worked himself into the mainstream culture he so despises and is not just an artist, but an entity, a corporation.
His hypocrisy is evident in his work, attitude, and now, Dismaland. He creates a persona that despises capitalism, but capitalizes off of it. He condemns art museums and says that the street is the best place to experience art, yet charges to get into Dismaland. He loves street art, but won’t allow graffiti in his exhibit, despite the fact that he has been covering other writers work up for years. Banksy uses irony to send a message, but perhaps the most ironic thing is that he is part of the system that he vilifies.
