Imagine a city in which graffiti is not illegal; a city in which everyone can draw whatever they want, where every street has millions of colours and sen- tences, and where waiting at the bus stop does not leave one bored to death... That city looks like a par- ty to which all are invited, and not only the owners of major capital. Imagine such a city, and don’t lean on the wall – it’s wet! This is how Banksy speaks, an artist whose works are sold for millions and whose identity no one knows. Indeed, who is the man who went from un- derground street art into the homes of the richest people in the world and launched interventions in classic Impressionism, when he took Claude Mon- et’s famous “Lilies”, added a symbol of the consum- er society – a shopping trolley from a supermarket – and surreptitiously hung that painting in the Tate Gallery? Who is the man whose works are bought by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie? Who is the van- dal who went to a promotion of Paris Hilton’s CD and replaced all of her discs with his own, depict- ing the famous rich chick with the head of a dog, and who replaced the song titles with questions: “Why am I famous?”, “What have I done?”, “What am I for?”. Banksy’s identity has re-
ITALIJA U FOKUSU ITALY IN FOCUS
The authors of the Rome exhibition travelled around the world for two years to find and collect Banksy’s work
mained a secret to the whole world for more than 20 years. This year scientists from Queen Mary University in London tried to identify him using the method that is used to detect terrorists and seri- al killers, and all they found was that he might be called Robert Gunningham. As this has not been confirmed, all that remains is that which was previously known - that he is from Bristol, and that he used
Kako je najmisteriozniji gerila umetnik današnjice postao ljubimac bogatih i slavnih i da li mu se dopada to što je njegova izložba u Palazzo Cipolla najposećenija izložba u Rimu ove godine? How has the most mysterious guerilla artist today become a favourite of the rich and famous and does he like that his exhibition at the Palazzo Cipolla is the most visited exhibition in Rome this year?
the stencil technique (making a cardboard template over which he can quickly pass with spray paint) in order to quickly escape the Bristol police. The rest is history. Like when he printed a se- ries of 10-pound banknotes ten years ago and re- placed the face of Queen Elizabeth II with the image of Princess Diana, writing by “Banksy of England” instead of “The Bank of England”. The fact that he smuggled his works into the Louvre, the British Mu- seum and the Metropolitan – is already an urban legend, but it’s true. Now, whether he sneaked into the Cipolli Palazzo in Rome in the past few months to see his exhibition “War, Capitalism and Freedom”, we do not yet know. We believe that he was interested in what the biggest exhibition of his works that he himself had nothing to do with looked like. More than 100 of Banksy’s works have been collected for this purpose from private col- lections and that was done this year by Rome, one of the most desirable artistic destinations. If you haven’t seen it yet, hurry to Rome, and if you arrive in late September, after it has already closed, perhaps Banksy’s response will be awaiting you on some of the walls of the Eternal City.
Benksijeva poruka je jasna – autoriteti ne postoje, umetnost pripada svima Banksy’s message is clear: authority doesn’t exist and art belongs to everyone
Rat, kapitalizam i sloboda , Benksijeva izložba u Rimu “War, Capitalism and Freedom”, Banksy’s exibition in Rome
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