Its come to something hasn’t it when your name threatens to become a verb? Possibly the ultimate accolade, it is certainly a sure sign that the number of people in the world who not only know your name, but understand exactly what it is that you do, has reached a point beyond which the thing itself cannot be mentioned without your name coming up. So it is with Banksy and Street/Graffiti/Urban art.
Nothing happens in this counter-culture world come gallery establishment staple without a reference to Banksy. He is the ringleader, the mysterious trickster who has achieved total commercial sell-out, whilst retaining his iconic, quasi-revolutionary status. His film made the Oscars, and his gallery shows attract the overnight camping queues more usually seen on Oxford Street before a free giveaway. Yet, and yet, a new Banksy-attributed graffito sets the world alight with wonder excitement and speculation.
This is because Banksy really has dared to dream the impossible dream. He has sold out commercially, his work even selling online through people like myartbroker.co.uk, and somehow managed to stay good. And by good I mean innovative, creative, bold, exciting. Top of his game and secretive as ever.
And most recently he’s been doing it in Camden. Jeffrey Street by all (uncorroborated ) accounts. Check out the image above.
So back to ‘Banksied’, or ‘Banksy’d’ if you’d prefer. The term looks likely to enter the lexicon as a shorthand for ‘something cool and illegal done in the street/urban environment somewhere in the world in the name of art, with a mushy, indistinct but nonetheless political message’.
This Soviet-era bronze statue of the Russian Red Army “liberating” the Bulgarian masses was recently ‘Banksied’ when some brave and amusing soul painted the figures overnight into American superheroes and Ronald MacDonald. Pretty funny. Bet Banksy wishes he’d thought of it, but its OK, he still gets a mention.
