UNIT 3 Art as a Message

Banksy is an infamous artist who creates meaningful stencilled art using the walls of streets as his canvas. The masked artist is highly controversial as his artwork tackles universal issues, from social acceptance to political stupidity, using his artwork to convey his messages.

Kissing Coppers 2004

Banksy’s 2004 “Kissing Coppers” mural was painted on the side of a Brighton pub and caused a lot of controversy as LGBT relationships were still unfortunately frowned upon. Although the mural was vandalised in 2006 Banksy’s message lived on over the internet and photographs that all love is valid. No matter who shares that special bond, love is love, and couples should feel safe to express their love publicly without fear and judgement. In my opinion, Banksy’s style compliments his work well because the point of his work is to act as a message and the simplicity of his monotone stencils emphasises the context rather than take attention away.



The Caveman 2008

In this piece of artwork Banksy is mocking society, the use of an expressionless caveman represents every man woman and child illustrating that universally we have forgotten our roots, our backgrounds and history. The fast-food may depict that in between the introduction of modern ways of life and our competitive obsession of having the most updated possessions we have forgotten important traditions and heritage. It wouldn’t surprise me if future generations truly believed the caveman survived off greasy processed burgers and chips.