Banksy

Considering I have written my essay about street art with a focus on the British artist Banksy in a more broad sense, i though that i would write a blog post about some more specific aspects that i enjoy. When i first saw a piece of Banksy's work in grade 11 media arts class, the designated project was to find an artist that influences you and create an artwork in the desired artist's style. Unfortunately Banksy was introduced to me by my fellow classmate who had already claimed him for his project which prohibited me from also using him as my influence. However, my feelings towards him did not change simply because i wasn't able to choose him as my inspiration. The first artwork of his that i saw was the bandanna protester throwing a bouquet of flowers. My initial though was that something was wrong with this picture, but i liked it. It looked at that image for a while, forming different ideas as to why such an angry looking silhouette would be throwing a colourful bouquet of flowers. Was it supposed to be a photoshop joke? Is this guy famous somehow? Who is he even throwing the flowers at? I was faced with competing ideas and it wasn't until i looked at other pieces of his street art that made me understand what kind of person Banksy was. Seeing all of the graffiti initially made me think that he was some sort of hooligan going around London tagging walls. I think it was all of his rat stencils that really made me appreciate his works because of the lack of visual appeal that he was presenting to the public with these rats. To Banksy, it isn't about crowd pleasing, but instead it is about making people think. That is what i like the most about Banksy and all of his magnificent street art.

ART ATTACK!

Now, this entry might sound slightly childish or immature, but I know im not the only one. Ever since I was a very young boy, from the years of waking up at 6am just to get my bowl of cereal and plop myself infront of the tv before school, I have been a die hard fan of the show "Art Attack!" If you're born in the 90's then you know exactly what I am talking about. The show was amazing not only because Neil Buchanan had something new to create every episode, but because he showed how you could make it yourself at home. Now I am not going to say that I would make what he had made everytime, simply because I am, and always have been, a pretty awful artist. But those odd times that I would take on the challenge of recreating what Neil had created, even if it turned out horribly, always gave me a sense of accomplishment and satisfication. Nonetheless, Art Attack is a show that I will always remember and I hope that one day when I have children, there will be a similar medium for them to experience and express their creative side like I did so many years ago. Thanks for all the good times Neil!

Film as Art

For many years I have been a lover of film. Though I tend to be drawn to satirical comedy films, I can extremely appreciate the use of film to portray art. I personally would rather watch a film about art instead of looking at a single piece of still art. This is not to say that i dont appreciate that kind of art, however i feel that film produces the ability to interpret what you are seeing in many more ways than a single canvas painting ever could. Having constant moving images run through my mind even after the film's end is a very powerful thing and is not something that happens often to me when I look at a single piece of artwork. Overall, to me art has a much larger impact on the view when there are more images to interpret opposed to the traditional art seen in galleries.