Graffti Art

Most people view graffiti as an annoyance and they often consider the person spraying the walls a criminal: a vandal. In the art world, however, a summer exhibition in 2009 entitled ‘Banksy versus the Bristol Museum’ hoped to change people’s minds. The exhibition featured over 100 works by Banksy who was fast becoming a famous graffiti artist.

Like most graffiti artists, Banksy likes to remain anonymous. Nobody knows much about his personal life or his background but many people believe that his real name is Robin Gunningham, Robert Banks or Robin Banks and that he was born in 1973 near Bristol. He seldom gives interviews and never reveals personal details. He truly is a man of mystery.

Perhaps Banksy’s most controversial ‘street art’ are spray paintings that he made on live sheep and cows and graffiti on the huge wall which divides Israel and Palestine. He has become a minor celebrity to other celebrities and Brad Pitt spent over 2 million dollars on a Banksy original. Banksy also designed an album cover for the Britpop group Blur in 2003, but he refused to do any adverts for Nike. In 2004, Banksy made a film called Exit Through the Gift Shop which tells the story of a French street artist living in America. The film received many positive reviews but nobody knows if it was biographical, autobiographical or fictional.

Graffiti as an art form is becoming more popular and the DPM Park in Dundee, Scotland has the longest legal graffiti wall (almost 110 metres long) in the UK. The wall is like a blank canvas and is free for anyone to paint on at any time of day or night. The organiser of the graffiti wall, Mike Crilley, tries to show the positive side of graffiti and gives classes to local children.

Any would-be graffiti artist should remember: it’s illegal to paint on somebody else's property so, if you want practise your skills as a graffiti artist, make sure you find a wall like the one in Dundee or you have permission from the owner of the property.