Banksy: Rebel with a Cause by Barbara Justice

On Thursday I went to a lecture given by LA artist Richard Duardo here on campus. Duardo has been running a printmaking studio for 30 years and talked about his beginnings and changes and different people that he has worked with. Working with cyanotypes makes me realize how alternative process photography and printmaking can be very closly linked. During his lecture he explained the silk screening process he uses and the making of stencils, and use of film he has made from photoshopping techniques like our class did with the cyanotype contact sheets. He also talked about different artists that he has worked with and one that I have become curious about is named Banksy. He is an English street artist who does street stencils all around the world. His work is so well thought out and done that no one else has been able to do wht he does. The other thing about Banksy is that nobody knows his identity.

The thing about is work is that it is usually politically or culturally driven. He makes a statement of some sort. After Katrina he did works commenting on the loss that people delt with and the politcal breakdown of all levels of government during and after the hurricane. He has recently done political pieces in Israel commenting on the war.

So I started thinking about the process from beginning to end and what a job this must be. He starts out with a photograph of something, probably scans it and manipulates in in photoshop to get very high contrast images, prints several stencils for one piece depending on how many colors he uses, cuts them out, lugs them to his location, paints, all the while not letting anybody see him for fear of arrest or maybe even death. Now some street art is really crappy and without meaning, but his does have meaning and he is doing it for a purpose, and I respect that. Plus it is pretty brilliant imagery.

So if anyone is interested please check out Banksy and Richard Duardo who both in some format use the photographic medium for their process.