My Top 5 Favorite Banksy Pieces [Art/Artist Review] - T.E.C.

I really enjoy art. Modern art, not necessarily, but art, yeah. I like to create art such as music, cosplays, drawings and more. I think art is such a great tool to express how you feel and who you are. I especially enjoy fanart of my favorite fandoms and/ or people that I look up to. Art is defined as, “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” I love this definition, but I believe art is more than one can define. I believe art can come from anywhere and anyone. Art is a wonderful experience and form of expression of the different complexities and wonders of human life. There are no rules for art, and if it works, do it! I really enjoy not only experiencing it, but creating it. Art is cool. One artist I especially love, you probably know him, is the artist going by the name of ‘Banksy.’ Banksy is an anonymous artist whose pieces display many political and moral thoughts and ideas. His art is inspiring and has layers upon layers of complexity and meaning. I have compiled a list of my 5 favorite pieces of his, (hard to choose from honestly,) including a few honorable mentions. Without any further ado, let me introduce my 5th favorite piece;

NUMBER 5: “This’ll Look Nice When It’s Framed”;

-This piece depicts a young, (oddly gorilla-looking) child standing next to painted text, The text seems to be painted in what looks like blood. (I’m not sure if the blood has any significance but I digress.), The text reads, “This’ll Look Nice When It’s Framed”. This piece is teasing/ referencing the fact that Banksy doesn’t like nor understand why critics always like to frame and sell his art after it’s made. A quote from Forbes reads, “..Banksy has continued to make his feelings on the commercialism of his art exceedingly clear. He calls galleries that sell his art ‘unauthorized’..” Though the piece itself is not the best of Banksys’, the message he puts through brings it up to a comfortable 5th place.

NUMBER 4: “We’re All In The Same Boat”; This piece of art depicts 3 children standing together in a little wooden boat. Two are wearing paper hats, and one is looking off into the distance with a telescope. I have interpreted the message of this piece to be a bit of reassurance for people around the world. You see, this piece was discovered, (and created) around August of 2021, amidst the, well, situation of 2020. I believe this piece was created by Banksy to give many people, not only fans of his, some piece of mind about the world and happenings around us. I am also a big fan of the location of the piece, as it appears to be in the middle of a forest, and, (for some reason), on the side of a bridge. This location is appealing to the eyes, and strangely fits the piece. It is also interesting that the boat in the picture is two pieces of debris leaning against the wall. I enjoy the message of the piece and its general appearance, making it a nice choice for 4th place.

NUMBER 3: “Follow Your Dreams”; This work of art depicts fairly messy writing on a wall reading, “Follow Your Dreams,” with a red outlined word plastered on top that reads, “Canceled.” Next to the words stands what looks to be a man with a painter’s outfit on, holding a tool that most likely plastered the word. To me, this piece represents how in many different places in the world, creativity and individual thought is discouraged. It shows how, (in some places), there are few to no opportunities for expression and releasing your creative self. I feel very fortunate to live in a society where individual thought is encouraged and supported. In my society, inclusivity has been on the rise as discoveries into the human mind and human emotions have been continually explored. Unfortunately, this piece is highlighting the bad part of society where people want you to be one thing, and being yourself isn’t seen as normal or healthy. It is unfortunate, but the best thing we can do is to continue to fight traditional thoughts and beliefs about equality and normalities. Another theme this piece could relate to, (that has little to do with expression or societies), is retrofuturism. Retrofuturism is defined as, according to Google, “Retrofuturism is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipating what will come, retrofuturism is the remembering of that anticipation.” The theme of ‘Follow your dreams - canceled,’ reminds me of quotes and themes such as, “The future that never was,” and, “The lost dreams of the world of tomorrow.” These two perspectives definitely differ, but they are both valid and intricate. The ability to provoke so much thought is incredible on Banksy’s part, making this piece a worthy 3rd place.

NUMBER 2: “Nola”; This piece, (which greatly relates to the #1 spot, I know), depicts a young girl named Nola who is holding an umbrella. She is holding her hand out from under the umbrella, but rain is not falling outside, but under the umbrella itself. To me, the main theme of this piece is perspective. It is very hard to explain, but in the work, Nola’s perspective is of holding the umbrella. However, the umbrella is the exact thing producing the rain. This relates to how sometimes, we produce/hold on to things that cause us pain and sadness. For example, this is exactly what a toxic relationship is. A toxic relationship isn’t all bad. For example, the other person can be extremely rude and unpleasant some days, but other days, they can be very sweet and loving. The person caught up in the relationship would not want to break it off, because they enjoy some parts of it, and they would try to overlook the bad parts. The best thing to do would be to break the relationship off, or if we are talking about the work of art, to throw the umbrella away. If Nola threw away the umbrella, she would see how there was no real rain at all and it was all in her head. This theme is extremely hard to explain, but I hope you are picking this up and understanding what I am saying. This complicated metaphor along with an aesthetically pleasing art piece lands this work in a firm 2nd place.

HONORABLE MENTION: “Floral Slingshot”; I enjoy this piece, not because it has some intense udeeper meaning, or an interesting perspective on life and the nature of human existence, but nbecause it looks pretty. I simply enjoy this piece because of the neat arrangement of the flowers. dThere’s not much to say about it, really. The deep shade of red-pink is nice to look at, and the boy ewith the slingshot looks alright. I really enjoy it, but I didn’t want to put it in the top five. However, I rneeded to make it an honorable mention, or I would be kicking myself in the leg. Now, to the smost important choice, number 1.

cNUMBER 1: “That One Banksy Joke From Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse”; Nah, I’m kidding.

oNUMBER 1: “Umbrella Man”; This piece depicts a man with a briefcase and an umbrella rwalking through a rainbow rainstorm. To his right stands a small child, arms open, enjoying the ecolorful downpour. Some finer details I would like to point out in this picture mainly include the umbrella being 3D, with half of a real umbrella sticking out of the wall. It is also neat how on top of it, bright paint is splattered this way and that. It is aesthetically pleasing, matches with the rest of the art piece, and adds some great depth and perspective to the physical work. Another detail I would like to point out is how the man is black-and-white, and the little child out in the rain is bathed in rainbow colors. It acts as a great contrast, and provides good physical separation between the two. To me personally, this photo represents the theme of childhood and even nostalgia. I think the colors represent the simple joys and values we experience throughout life, mostly in early childhood. (Running free without a care, drinking lemonade on a hot summer day, watching the sunset, things like that). The small child has not yet been influenced by the weight of the world, unlike the umbrella man. The umbrella man is wearing a business suit, so I would presume he represents the average man; going to work each day, driving home, trying to make a simple living, striving to live a simple life. The umbrella man has seen more than the innocent child, and is aware of the systems, laws, and establishments set in place by the human race. The two people are living simple lives in different ways. The man is living a simple life; a life deemed “simple” by people who once were and assorted social normalities. The child is living a simple life, not aware of happenings in the world, not yet as emotionally established as the grown man. Living a life without cares or responsibilities. This brings me full circle back to the rainbow rain. The umbrella man is most likely a busy, hardworking guy who doesn’t have time for simple pleasures like the child. It is incredible that these two perspectives of the world have been conveyed so clearly with such a relatively simple work of art. This just shows how skilled and talented of an artist Banksy is, also giving an example of how he views the world and human establishments/developments. All these thoughts and views come together to form a work of art that truly deserves the #1 spot.

Those are my top 5 favorite Banksy works of art. I hope you enjoyed reading and seeing my perspective, and I hope you took something away from this post. In all honesty, this art analysis has been in production for a very long time, and it has been very difficult putting all these pieces together in what I hope is a satisfactory ‘essay’ of sorts. I really hope you liked it, and feel free to read more reviews/posts! I would really love to know your thoughts on this ranking, so feel free to leave some comments below. What are your favorite pieces? I would love to read about it. Thank you so much for reading this whole thing, and I hope you have a great day! - T.C.E

DISCLAIMER: 1) Most of these art pieces do not have official names, so I took some creative liberty in creating the names for the ranking. 2) I am not a professional artist or critic. I am just sharing my thoughts with whoever wants to hear. 3) Don’t take this too seriously.

*This review was written over the span of many months, and has been in production for a very long time. I sincerely apologize if reading this felt a bit. choppy, or my opinions differed severely. Thank you!*