Who really is the artist Banksy?

Banksy’s life and history of his artwork is primarily a mystery to the world because he chooses to remain extremely anonymous to the public. He is prominently known for his street art and graffiti work that are displayed on public spaces; mostly sides of buildings, sidewalks or walls in cities.

Banksy refuses to have any of his work sold for profit himself, although some people have tried to sell them without his permission. Banksy’s work first started appearing in the 1990s, on train cars and buildings, within the city of Bristol where he grew up. However, he began to expand his canvas to other parts of the world as he became more popular.

The mystery behind Banksy’s identity only makes his artwork more interesting to the public. People want what they cannot have and Banksy refuses to satisfy the public by conforming to typical artistic standards.

A lot of people dislike Banksy, dislike his work, or both. His work emphasizes the idea that most artists can be pretentious when it comes to presenting their artwork to the public. Most of the time Banksy presents his work on public and private property without any real permission from the owners. However, this is also the reason for why Banksy is such a popular and sought out artist.

Ephemerality is the concept of things or ideas only being in existence briefly or for a short time; this is what Banksy is trying to communicate through his artwork. He wants to communicate that art should be appreciated while it lasts and for its beauty, not for its financial worth.

During October of 2013 Banksy had an art sale in Central Park where he sold his artwork on canvases for $60 each. Then the next day he announced to the public what he had done and how he wouldn’t be doing it again. He stated, in an unverified interview with Village Voice “There’s no gallery show or book or film. It’s pointless. Which hopefully means something."

This event that Banksy created is one example of how he hopes to draw attention to how the art world is infatuated with the way artwork is sold and presented.

Banksy has many other types of art and different stylistic choices that he chose to use. One example is his dead, dying and decrepit version of Disney World that he created in the UK. He completely recreated Disney World to represent everything that Disney is not and tries to avoid. Banksy created a truly gruesome space to be in and provides a critique of Disney World at the same time.

To look at more of Banksy's incredible works visit: http://www.banksy.co.uk/