Who is Hanksy?
On a trip to New York City in August, I spotted this Hanksy painting on the wall. Apparently, there’s a guy parodying Banksy going around New York City posting stencils of Banksy’s iconic art with Tom Hanks from Castaway.
This is an interesting addition to the street art conversation. After watching Exit Through the Gift Shop, I wonder if this is perhaps Banksy parodying himself or the work of Mr. Brainwash.
I interpreted Exit Through the Gift Shop as Banksy parodying himself. In the film he’s questioning the commercialization of street art, asking what happens when this form of subversive art becomes mainstream and accepted by the art gallery and art collector world?
The film also pokes fun at what he does by having this French director Mr. Brainwash become LA’s next biggest art sensation, although the vast volume of work he produced for the Life is Beautiful artshow looks like spin-offs and copies of Banksy and Shepherd Fairey’s work.
What’s also interesting about the film is how Mr. Brainwash doesn’t really create the art himself, but it’s largely scanned and Photoshopped work, which he employs other artists to create for him.
The film raises questions of authorship now that the street art world has become more accepted (but not entirely embraced) by the traditional art gallery world—in that if these stenciled pieces or Andy Warhol-esque paintings of Elvis with a gun can be churned out on large-scale inkjets and sold—where is the actual artistry and talent involved in this process? Could anyone just juxtapose 2 images in Photoshop, or do Warhol-esque coloring on a famous face and sell the painting, like Mr. Brainwash with the Madonna album cover?
The film raises questions of authorship now that the street art world has become more accepted (but not entirely embraced) by the traditional art gallery world—in that if these stenciled pieces or Andy Warhol-esque paintings of Elvis with a gun can be churned out on large-scale inkjets and sold—where is the actual artistry and talent involved in this process? Could anyone just juxtapose 2 images in Photoshop, or do Warhol-esque coloring on a famous face and sell the painting, like Mr. Brainwash with the Madonna album cover?
In this conversation, what would they say about my book, which features characters borrowed from stories by Jorge Luis Borges, recontextualized in present-day Berkeley, California?
Here are some other blogs that reference the Hanksy artwork:
Also related, here’s a Stephen Colbert/Warhol inspired piece of street art I also spotted in Manhattan:
