
In the past, Banksy has veered in and out of the public eye, often producing large quantities of work and exhibiting them, followed by relatively long periods in which we hear nothing about him. The controversy behind his work and his identity have consistently made for news headlines ever since the world's most famous celebrity couple started buying six-figure pieces from the artist last year.

Though critics often attempt to illegitimate his work, noting his inability to take himself seriously, time after time, Banksy brings to the table important (political) issues that the masses simply prefer not to preoccupy themselves with. His decision to theme his most recent exhibit around "art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming" demonstrates this.


Worth noting is the emergence of all the Banksy haters and skeptics recently. Perhaps they're even in the majority, but it's more likely that there's just a few too many disgruntled geeks currently dominating Banksy message board discussions, while the rest of us sit back and laugh it all off. Whatever the case, I say kudos to the man for keeping things interesting. He's one of the few contemporary artists who can produce work with virtually any medium and make it speak louder than any other artist in the world today. I used to compare him to Andy Warhol, proposing that he was the modern-day equivalent of Warhol; anymore, however, it's safe to say that Banksy has established an identity that is entirely unparalleled, and it would completely undermine his artistic capabilities to group him with any one movement or artist of our time. So how about we quit doing that?
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