Part 2: Graffiti Love — Beauty of the Unknown
Imagine with me for a second. During the second world war, Hitler’s Third Reich stole and destroyed priceless pieces of art from the countries they invaded (the operation is poorly depicted in the the movie starring George Clooney ‘The Monument Men’). During this time, thousands of sculptures, paintings, etc. were destroyed or lost amongst the chaos in Europe. When the war was over, art specialist had to determine what was forgeries & what was real. Imagine if amongst all the priceless works, if they all were not signed by the artist. That they all held the same value and not placed behind a name. The Van Gogh’s, DiVinci’s, Dahli’s of the world, nothing but men with a brush. Imagine a world which the unknown artist is the most influential kind of art there is. In today’s society, the art form is graffiti and that artist is infamously known as Banksy.
Two weeks ago, Craig Williams came out with an extensive theory of the identity of the famous graffiti artist Banksy. Connected the dots, he made the statement that the leader singer of Massive Attack,Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja, is the unknown artist. Linking their tour dates with the dates that Banksy sightings were spotted around the world, he was convinced he was the man behind the mask.
https://glasgowtransmission.wordpress.com/2016/08/29/banksy-how-the-worlds-most-elusive-artist-may-in-fact-be-artists/ (Original Article)
In response, he confirms that he is not the famous artist but is a good friend. A fellow graffiti artist in his youth coming out of Bristol, he says he has known Banksy for years and that he has referenced another as the artist. If this is indeed the case, the unknown artist is still intact.
This is the beauty of graffiti. People can try all they want to discover who the artist is but in many cases you will never know. Their beauty lies on the bricks. The paint & design sings for itself and is self identifying. It is incredible the fascination people have with knowing exactly who created graffiti. The art form in itself represents the masked artist and to uncover that, diminishes the value and meaning of the art.
Del Naja said it best by saying that “We Are All Banksy”. Art is supposed to inspire people to go out and create and it is evident that Banksy’s work has done just that. It does not matter who makes it, if it creates an emotion and makes you think, that is what art is all about.
