Banksy in NYC

For fans of world-renowned British street artist, Banksy, it's an exciting time to be in New York right now. As for those who can't stand the man, good luck trying to escape his presence; he's pretty good at making it known wherever he goes. As usual, the Banksy-related shit-talking has already begun and I don't anticipate it dying down until long after he has left the city and is well into another who-knows-how-long hibernation back in the UK.

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.

This month, a Manhattan-based storefront has been functioning as the artist's most recent gallery space. Entitled "The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill," the exhibit there includes a headphone-wearing monkey watching television, a pair of floating fish fingers in a fish bowl, hot dogs under heatlamps, a rabbit draped in pearl necklaces stationed in front of a vanity mirror, and chicken nuggets intact with legs sipping ketchup. Apparently the faux pet shop has fooled quite a few window shoppers and has even enraged passer-byers, causing some to express their disapproval regarding "the conditions" in which the animals are kept there. See how it's all pulled off.

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.

Meanwhile a great debate ensues over the "I Love NY" rat mural that was just painted on the side of a four-story building in Soho. While it's been established that Banksy did not in fact paint the mural himself, there's still questioning as to whether or not he had it commissioned by Colossal Media or whether it was solely intended to be a rip-off of his other iconic rat images and meant to promote an entirely different show at the Deitch gallery.











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?