Banksy Does New York is not only an incredible documentary about the anonymous artist known as “Banksy,” it also shows the beauty of art in the city of New York. When art was done in earlier times, artists would paint people or landscapes. As New York became industrialized, landscapes seemed less relevant to paint. People began painting directly ON things, such as buildings or sidewalks. This became known as “graffiti”, which became popular in the 1960s. It gave artists an opportunity to show the public their talents, mainly without selling their work. Graffiti is, however, illegal, which makes this particular kind of work hard to get done. However, if you don’t get caught, people walking around the city are able to see some amazing artwork, which is exactly what Banksy did.
In October of 2013, for one month only, this famous artist held a residency in the city of New York and announced to everyone that he would be presenting a new work of art for 31 days only in various locations, sort of like a scavenger hunt for art lovers. It forced people to travel to parts of the city they may have never seen before. Fans of Banksy’s work went crazy looking for these hidden pieces.
At first, it started out as a fun game for people, until people started taking advantage of it and began stealing the works of art and even defacing some of them by putting their own name next to it, taking the credit. If there was a painting on a door, people would cut down the door and sell it. One day, Banksy created a cement sphinx and placed it in a junkyard, basically. Knowing that this sphinx could be worth lots of money, a group of men took it home with them and sold it to a famous art gallery. People even started charging other people to take a picture of the new Banksy piece that was put out. The scavenger hunt that first started out as a fun way to travel around the city, turned into a chaotic month for New York.
The most interesting aspect of this documentary is that Banksy never came out of the shadows to get the money for his pieces. He let people steal them and never said a word. Every day, he continued to place a new work of art somewhere, probably knowing that it would be taken. Perhaps he just did this out of the goodness of his heart, or maybe just to get more word out about his art. Either way, it is shocking how hidden he stayed knowing all of this was happening. Since nobody knows what Banksy actually looks like, he could have easily been anyone on the streets also looking at the new work of art. He could have been around people the whole time and no one would know it. However, at the same time, he is very visible because his work is so famous.
The pieces that Banksy set around the city weren’t always graffiti. Some were interactive, and some were very random, not making much sense. In my mind, Banksy wanted peace, not chaos for this experience. He wanted people to have fun and explore New York. Before the new work of art was placed each day, Banksy would put out an audio tape online, giving a clue to where the piece was and sometimes even a small backstory to his work. I think if people had not taken advantage of this scavenger hunt, it would’ve turned out to be a great experience for all Banksy fans and even people just walking past the art.
Banksy was already a very well-known artist before doing this New York scavenger hunt. He wanted to give fans an opportunity to see his new works of art and have some fun with it. From what we learn about him in the movie, he is a unique artist, who just wanted peace. He stays in the shadows possibly because he doesn’t want to be mobbed by crazy fans. I think he creates more hype by being more mysterious because it gets people more curious as to who this man actually is. He did this out his love for art. Also, since graffiti is illegal in New York, if he was ever to get caught, he would probably go to jail for a very long time. Graffiti is considered vandalism. Since he is such a well-known artist, he couldn’t risk being seen and going to jail. However, BECAUSE he is such a well-known artist, he was getting more attention for his art. His work was on the news a lot and cops were determined to find him. Still to this day, Banksy stays hidden. Even if you are not someone who is interested in art, Banksy Does New York is an exciting documentary, teaching us about a unique, contemporary artist and street art in New York.
This documentary also gave me new insight to who Banksy really was. He likes to stay in the shadows and clearly doesn’t want to be the center of attention. Or maybe he just stayed in the shadows from his fear of being caught by police. In my eyes, Banksy’s intentions were positive. He never charged anyone to look at his paintings and never wanted money for them, during the documentary at least. He is a fun new artist and I will continue to follow his work.
