The Art of Banksy: brilliant art in a complicated context
17 Jun 2018

by Drew Rowsome - Photos by Raul Da Silva

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The small artwork - designed in a mash-up between Mobstr, and yes Banksy, word play and a ransom note - hangs in the cavernous entrance to The Art of Banksy exhibit. There is a large hand-painted entreaty to "Read This" with an arrow pointing down. I don't know if it is a Banksy or not, but it is very telling.

The art on display in the actual exhibit varies wildly, not in quality or style, but in the emotional response it elicits. All are visceral, statements of anger and impotence towards wealth, war, politicians, royalty, commercialism, et al, rendered in a deliberately deceptively simple graphic format. Some are comical, some induce tears, all are blunt, and quite a few are all of the above. The iconic image"Balloon Girl," which is also being used to promote the exhibit, is a perfect example: simple and heartbreaking.

Banksy's art, having its genesis in politicized graffiti, is fervently anti-capitalist and establishment. And when his wit combines with his outrage, the results are brilliant. Sometimes in ways not originally intended: the "Dorothy Police Search" print should be plastered any and everywhere in the environs of this year's Pride.

I can't vouch for The Art of Banksy being a comprehensive overview of the artist's work but it was great fun to be reminded of the Paris Hilton CD 'reverse-shoplifting' conceptual piece, and there are numerous works that triggered memories. And triggered personal reactions. The question is context.

Banksy is a determinedly anonymous and avowedly socialist artist. He is also a prankster and cultivates and plays off his mysterious persona. There are not any pieces from the Dismaland project or The Walled Off Hotel. And seeing the "Queen Vic" stencilled on a metal shop door is powerful in the way that a pristine print just isn't. While the logistics of touring street art, and the walls and surfaces it was originally painted on, would be prohibitive, the photos of the actual street art hint at what Banksy's true genius might be.

The curator Steve Lazarides explains that the exhibit consists only of work that is "from exhibitions or were for sale." And there we get into the problem with The Art of Banksy. Just who is Steve Lazarides? According to Lazarides, expounded upon in the many entertaining video interviews explaining various artworks, he worked as Banksy's friend, documenter, co-conspirator and unofficial agent. He describes selling prints from "the boot of a car" when Banksy needed money, and a very clever gallery stint selling prints of "Balloon Girl" as Banksy created them.

The pair parted ways in 2009. Lazarides says it was because he needed to move on, but Banksy's website homepage prominently features a note, the only text, saying,

Send all questions, complaints and threats to faq@banksy.co.uk.
Banksy is NOT on Facebook, Twitter or represented by Steve Lazarides or any other commercial gallery.

Lazarides says he has curated The Art of Banksy because he wants the art world to respect Banksy's art and welcome him into that rarefied world of the art establishment. Much of Banksy's career - the now doubly ironic documentary titled Exit Through the Gift Shop - has deliberately mocked the art world establishment. It is an "unauthorized" exhibit but it is also getting the blockbuster treatment - it apparently cost $35 million to produce - courtesy of Live Nation and Starvox Entertainment, both known for theatrical and pop music presentations, not for art exhibits.

Of course there is also the distinct possibility that Banksy is in on it all and the whole exhibit is an elaborate prank. While we waited for the media showing to begin, we attempted to get a photograph of the front of the warehouse at 213 Sterling Road, an area that is suffering mightily from rampant gentrification, a Banksy pet peeve. An overzealous and snide worker from the construction site across the street demanded our camera as we were not allowed to take photos of the "Museum of Contemporary Art" which is what the site apparently is. We didn't know that was what the forbidding structure is, nor did we photograph it.

Now MoCCA has been embroiled in scandals but forbidding photography of the exterior? Did we inadvertently witness some construction shenanigans? Was the construction worker an aspiring neo-nazi? Or were we being pranked by Banksy? Warned against the commercialization and canonization of art? And then we entered the warehouse where preparations for the evening's opening party were frantically underway. It was obviously going to be a grand soiree and the rumours were that it was the party to be seen at this social season. The rumours were also that Banksy hated the whole idea of an opening party for the elite, and was planning a disruption.

Then, the day after opening, there was a press release from Live Nation stating,

We can confirm a piece of art went missing during setup of The Art of Banksy exhibition in Toronto.
The incident was reported to the police who are currently investigating the disappearance.
The piece is entitled Trolley Hunters.
Due to the investigation, we will not be commenting further at this time.

And then hilarious video footage of the painting being stolen by a mysterious hunched over hoodied figure was released, ostensibly to help the police bag the burglar. It just raises more questions. Who was watching (or in this case not watching) the camera feed? Why did a $35 million dollar exhibit not have motion detectors? Why didn't they hire one of the overeager goons from MOCCA? Was the man on the videotape Banksy? Is it all a publicity stunt? This story will continue to unravel but the art is now inextricably tainted by the context of its exhibition.

Unless there is a statement from Banksy himself, we will never know how he feels about The Art of Banksy, and I suspect that the moral confusion may be part of the art event itself, a conceptual layer. But when I was admiring the "Flying Copper" suspended menacingly in a gallery, the very charming Michel Boersma of Live Nation stopped to admire it as well. He enthused that this is the first stop on the exhibit's tour where they have been able to suspend the sculpture/painting as it was intended. He sighed when he admitted that having that artwork mounted on the wall just did not have the same effect. The effect that he seemed to sincerely believe was what Banksy would want.

Or maybe he was pranking me. 

Or maybe he was Banksy in disguise. 

Or maybe that is the best result from spending time experiencing The Art of Banksy, the sudden questioning of everything. An aftertaste of paranoia regarding authority, populists and the art world. I do think that Banksy would approve of that result. I don't know what he thinks of the gift shop that one exits through but if it had of been open, I might have bought a t-shirt.