A Visual Protest: The Art of Banksy

A Visual Protest: The Art of Banksy

Decades before he blew the lid off the art world by tearing up a work immediately after purchasing it at auction, Banksy was engaged in artistic acts of protest on the streets, walls and bridges of cities around the world. We still don’t know who Banksy is, but thanks to this book we have a better idea of how he operates.

This book contains approximately eighty works from the beginning of his street art career to today, most photographed in situ and presented in vivid illustrations. This book guides the reader through Banksy’s artistic processes and explains his influences, such as the Situationism movement and the May 1968 uprising in Paris. It delves into key works such as Love Is in the Air, a stenciled graffiti that subverts the idea of violent protest; Flag, in which the iconic American photograph of Iwo Jima is altered to depict a group of Harlem children atop a burned-out car; and the slyly titled Turf War, in which Winston Churchill wears a grass-covered Mohawk.

The book also pays tribute to Banksy’s rats, a maligned symbol of urban decay that the artist reinterprets as rappers, fiddlers and painters. Banksy continues to expose the political, economic, and racial oppression that takes place daily in cities around the world. This book shows how the artist has nestled himself in the psyche of both the powerful and the voiceless, without ever giving up his own identity.

• Cover: Hardcover
• Dimensions: 28.7 x 23.8 x 2.2 cm
• Publisher: Prestel
• Pages: 224
• Format: Portrait
• Language: English
• Category: Street Art