“Stop and Search,” an Uncommissioned Exterior
Wall Painting by Banksy
 |
| Figure 1: Jiminez, Rafael Rafa59. "Exterminio de Palestinos, Gheto de Gaza.” January 4, 2009. Exterior Installation on a West Gaza butcher shop in Bethlehem, Palestine. “Banksy” group on Flickr.com. Photograph. September 10, 2015. |
At
first glance, it looks like a child is frisking a soldier (see Fig. 1). This
exterior figurative painting is by British artist, Banksy, and features a
female child with braided pigtails wearing a pink dress and black mary-jane
shoes. To her right, a stenciled automatic weapon appears to lean against a
rough, gray, stone wall. This placement balances out the composition so the softly
colored girl is given focus as the central figure, flanked by two darker
colored images. The weapon appears to have been put aside from the action in
the painting, disconnected from the girl and the detained soldier. This
disconnection gives the weapon emphasis, as it sits unattended, unused and
alone. This might be interpreted as a symbolic call for disarmament by the
artist.
The unarmed
girl is seen patting down a soldier to her left, giving the painting a sense of
movement and the illusion of rhythm as the viewer imagines her tiny hands
searching his uniform, questioning what the military powers have to hide in
this region. The uniformed soldier has assumed the position to be frisked
against the wall. The soldier’s uniform is colored army green, in striking
contrast to the pastel color of the girl’s dress. He wears a helmet on his head
and his uniform matches those worn by the local military force that patrols the
West Bank warzone in the Middle East.
The soldier
depicted would be a common cultural sight in the location the work was placed,
contributing to an uncanny valley effect for viewers. As seen in the archival
photo of the work above (see Fig. 1), the repetition is almost inherent to the
location since the painted military subject matter is repeated every time an
actual flesh and blood soldier walked by this site specific installation.
Banksy’s
painted soldier was placed to blend in with the seemingly never ending pattern
of uniforms moving around this area of the West Bank. This repetition of green
soldiers both painted and real would create a sense of visual unity between the
art object and the original environment that it was displayed in. The subjects
would be familiar to the viewer when they came upon the artwork in their daily
life, although the subject matter is satirical.
“Stop and
Search” is painted in urban graffiti style, also referred to by collectors as an
uncommissioned exterior wall painting (Corbett, “Galleries Defend…”). Banksy
“cut a specific stencil or printed a wheatpaste that could only ‘work’ in that
one location. The artist then risked arrest and considerable fines to make sure
that all of us have the pleasure of seeing the work as we explore the locations
where we live” (Schiller).
Banksy’s medium was
at least four colors of spray paint/aerosol enamel, multiple layers of stencils
per subject, and masking. He uses tightly painted black outlines to unify each
subject into a highly defined visual element. However, the viewers’ attention
is first captured by the pop of colors on the largest subjects in the
paintings, the fragile pink of the child and fatigued green of the soldier.
After removal,
the 2007 work on stone measures 83” x 63” and weighs over a ton (Okpaku). The
front facing exterior surface features the painted side, which is covered by
bullet scars. The backside of the harvested work reveals a portion of the tiled
interior wall of the butcher shop that was chosen as the original installation
site for the artwork’s placement (Corbett, “Galleries Defend…”). Banksy deliberately
chose to create this work during a time of war, using a provocative subject
matter and placing it publicly into a society known for destructive bombings,
unrest and very few children standing up against the soldiers they often fear
or grow up to become. The contrasting size and proportions of the child in a
position of overpowering the soldier lends to the humorous interpretation of
the subject matter.
However, “the
work, like most street art, is often placed on private property, and in the process,
the artist ceases to own it. The fate of the work is left in the hands of
others.” (Vartanian) This placement can be interpreted as an aesthetic gift to
the locals, giving them a little beauty and humor on a piece of property
neither they nor the artist own or have permission to decorate.
Therefore, it
should not seem out of character for this artist chose such a challenging
“canvas” in the West Bank for “Stop and Search.” Banksy is a reclusive street
painter and conceptual artist from Britain thought to have been born in 1975.
His work has been shown around the world including exhibits at respected
cultural institutions such as the Tate Modern in 2003 and British Museum in
2005. (“Cave art hoax…”) However, this early work was not installed upon
invitation and his work was removed after the “pranks” were discovered,
archived digitally by the audience and subsequently publicized. These exhibits
were appropriate introductions for Banksy into the high art world, considering
the majority of his works are done on uncommissioned walls without the permission
of the property’s owner.
“Almost
unique to Banksy's street art however are the shrewd use of context… and humour
that define graffiti in a historical sense. He is also distinct in his
democratic vision, for example favouring the populist mass media as a means of
communication rather than… his own niche demographic.” (Lazarides)
| Figure 2: “Vartanian, Hrag. “Banksy. Stop and Search, 2007; stencil and spraypaint on stone taken from Bethlehem, West Bank; 83 in. x 63 in.” 2012. Installation view at CONTEXT Art Fair, Keszler Gallery with Bankrobber Gallery exhibit in Miami, Florida. Hyperallergic.com. December 14, 2012. Photograph. September 9, 2015. |
II.
Market
value and assessment of worth for an art object is determined by the following
criteria: condition, subject matter, size, provenance, and recent sales history of the artist’s work. The size and
subject matter of “Stop and Search” have already been discussed earlier in this
essay.
Art dealers,
Stephan Keszler of Keszler Gallery New York and Robin Barton of Bankrobber
Gallery London, “tracked down the works (by
Banksy), purchased them from the unidentified owners, shipped them to Israel
and a fresco specialist in Britain to remove excess dirt” (Corbett,
“Galleries Defend…”). Restoration took over three years but it created a
stabilizing frame for the work in its present condition (see Fig. 2).
“According
to Barton, the Palestinian owners excavated the works and had intended to sell
them on eBay. Instead, they ended up abandoning them… in a stone mason’s yard
(outside of public view) when they realized it would be too difficult to move
the two-and-a-half-ton works across tightly monitored border controls” (Corbett,
“Galleries Defend…”). According to this, Keszler rescued abandoned art from an
uncertain future and gave it a new audience.
Keszler originally asked $450,000 for “Stop and Search” at his 2011 show in the Hamptons. During 2012 Miami show, he had raised the asking price to $650,000 saying “now that they’ve garnered so much attention… (they’ll) be worth more and more over the years,” (Corbett, “Keszler and Banksy”). His statement is accurate. Artwork that has been the focus of published criticism and academic evaluation is known to experience an increase in the work’s value, adding credibility to its provenance claims. Provenance is increased with every photo of the artwork and critical review that is written about it.
Banksy’s
2013 residency in New York City led his fans on “daily
scavenger hunts… in which people searched for the latest work or installation
following clues or images on the artist’s website. Each new discovery would
then be captured in still pictures or video, posted on social media, and tagged
with the location so others could flock to it and document it themselves.” (Landes) New Yorkers were given a tour of their own
city with Banksy acting as tour guide in absentia through the deliberate placement
of his work.
“Street
art is concerned with the function of the symbolic structures and systems
embedded in the material locations where it exists. This is underscored by the
networked dissemination of the medium’s digital documentation.” (Okpaku) It seems exterior site specific
installations are often transitory, as the outside world can be a dangerous
place for the condition of artwork left out to weather the elements. Thanks to
the heavy archiving of Banksy’s work by the public, there are still images
online of work that no longer exists because it was destroyed or removed.
The
few pieces that do survive," Keszler said via email, "represent a
small but significant record of the artist's early output, and that in a world
where our physical exposure to such works is restricted to staring at the
myriad screens and gadgets that increasingly fill our lives, the ability to
offer people the opportunity to get up close and personal to such a collection
of genuine Banksy artworks in a sympathetic environment is something to be
celebrated rather than criticized. To be able to walk freely around the
monumental Stop + Search, exploring its
bullet-scarred surfaces and tiled butcher-shop interior has been made possible
only as a result of painstaking restoration (Corbett, “Galleries Defend…”) and
overcoming the “challenges of removing them from
their original sites. (Keszler) will pay for the cost of transporting them back
to his galleries or other storage areas… when those fortunate enough to find
and/or take his public works sought a place to sell them” (Landes). Sales history and provenance of these
types of restoration efforts heavily impact the value that museums come up with
for insurance purposes.
Condition
definitely effects the value of artwork, especially after taking into account
the cost of restorations and transport. Which begs the question, is it better
to move the work or just leave it put? “Street
art by its very nature is an act of faith in the public trust. You place the
work — most often illegally — in public, and you kiss it goodbye. A photo
online is usually the only residue of most of the ephemeral work” (Vartanian).
The canvas appears to be out of the control of the artist almost immediately
due to the sites chosen.
If the
canvas is not owned by the artist, then who owns the work? Legally, the
property owner owns the art object or mural placed on their real estate. “Building owners tend to become irate when their doors
go missing because of a stencil….” Keszler said, “Banksy needs to either cease
painting on other people’s private property or at least let the fate of those
works be decided by their legal owners” (Corbett, “Keszler and Banksy”).
This
means a mural artist can only copyright prints since they do not own the
original artifact. However, that is where their control legally ends. “Issues
of site specificity and property rights aside, for Banksy to admit authorship
would be a confession to criminal activity” (Okpaku). This may be why Banksy's authorized authentication service Pest Control never seems to verify street installation work.
III.
When
determining the value of this type art as a piece of property, we must ask if
graffiti is a form of aesthetic rebellion against the idea of private property
ownership itself. “Street art is willfully done on the property of others, but
that is part of its power. ‘Property is theft,’ goes an old anarchist phrase.”
(Vartanian)
“Graffiti is art attacking architecture, (symbolic of)
the marginalized attacking the mainstream. In painting your name on a
"public" space, graffiti writers symbolically take possession of that
which society has made inaccessible to them (economically). Simply stated, name
plus place equal possession. In re-appropriating an urban built environment
engulfed by skyscrapers and privately owned spaces, graffiti is a declaration
of identity and an assertion of power. In the middle of spaces that have
excluded them, graffiti empowers the marginalized to inscribe signs of their
own” (Giller).
This
idea of the economically marginalized who live in properties they will never
own, rising up to take aesthetic control over their environments is
revolutionary and also illegal. “Pest Control deals only with legitimate works
of art and has no involvement with any kind of illegal activity (such as
graffiti)…. Pest Control is now the
sole point of sale for new (print) work by Banksy” (“What is Pest Control”).
This leads us to conclude that the uncommissioned exterior paintings are really
more like artifacts, giving profiteers a nicer way of seeing their rush to
seize the works from public eye before Banksy’s paint has even dried.
“It is
no longer street art; it is a historic artifact much in the way Assyrian murals
stripped of their original temples and public buildings are displayed in
museums the world over. This is history, and this needs to be preserved….
They’re more akin to relics of the Berlin Wall that were salvaged for display
around the world…. We often justify those thefts because they preserve the (value
of the art) objects and save them from vandals, profiteers, pollution, or
iconoclasts. Others have preserved Banksy’s work in other ways, like an owner
of a wall Banksy ‘blessed’ in Toronto, who chose to protect it from vandals
using tightly sealed Plexiglas… the vandal is now being protected from other
vandals” (Vartanian).
In
consideration of the design elements used to create this piece by an
established mid-career artist along with the work’s substantial provenance and
steps taken to preserve its condition, I judge this work to have value because
auction history proves people are willing to pay for it. However, I feel the nature of owning graffiti
is flawed since it really is commodifying a revolutionary public statement as an
artifact that is often hidden away in a private collection, thus silencing the
artist’s voice and original intention.
WORKS
CITED:
"Cave art hoax hits
British Museum." News.BBC.co.uk. British Broadcasting Channel. May 19,
2005. Web. September 9, 2015. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4563751.stm
Corbett, Rachel.
“Galleries defend Controversial Banksy Show.” Artnet.com. Artnet Magazine.
September 1, 2011. Web. September 10, 2015. <http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/corbett/keszler-gallery-on-banksy-controversy-9-1-11.asp>
Corbett, Rachel.
“Keszler & Banksy: Pest Control Stymies Keszler Gallery Sales.” Artnet.com. Artnet Magazine. October 12, 2011. Web. September 10, 2015.
<http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/corbett/keszler-banksy-10-12-11.asp>
Giller, Sarah.
“Graffiti: Inscribing Transgression on the Urban Landscape.” Graffiti.org. Art Crimes: The Writing on
the Wall. 1997. Web. September 3, 2015. <http://www.graffiti.org/faq/giller.html>
Jiminez, Rafael Rafa59.
"Exterminio de Palestinos, Gheto de Gaza.” January 4, 2009. Exterior
Installation on a West Gaza butcher shop in Bethlehem, Palestine. “Banksy”
group on Flickr.com. Photograph.
September 10, 2015. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/26154230@N05/3166250580/in/dateposted/>
Landes, Jennifer. “Art
Dealer Casts Himself as ‘Villain’ in New Banksy Film.” East Hampton Star Newspaper. East Hampton Star. November 12, 2014.
Web. September 13, 2015. <http://easthamptonstar.com/Lead-article/3/Art-Dealer-Casts-Himself-“Villain-New-Banksy-Film>
Lazarides, Steve.
“Banksy.” Lazinc.com. Lazarides Gallery. After 2009. Web. September 10, 2015.
<http://www.lazinc.com/artist/banksy>
Okpaku, Temisan.
“Review From Miami: Banksy Out of CONTEXT.” ArtPractical.com.
Art Practical. January 17, 2013. Web. September 4, 2015. <http://www.artpractical.com/review/banksy_out_of_context/>
Schiller, Marc and
Sara. “The Banksy Exhibit We Won’t be Seeing at Art Basel Miami and the Reason
Why You Shouldn’t Either.” WoosterCollective.com.
The Wooster Collective. December 4, 2012. Web. September 9, 2015. <http://woostercollective.com/post/the-banksy-exhibition-we-wont-be-seeing-at-art-basel-miami-and-the-reason-w>
Vartanian, Hrag.
“Street Art Isn’t a Crime Until Somebody Steals It: Banksy in Miami.” Hyperallergic.com. Hyperallergic.
December 14, 2012. Web. September 9, 2015. <http://hyperallergic.com/61522/street-art-isnt-a-crime-until-somebody-steals-it-banksy-in-miami/>
Vartanian, Hrag.
“Banksy. Stop and Search, 2007; stencil and spraypaint on stone taken from
Bethlehem, West Bank; 83 in. x 63 in.” 2012. Installation view at CONTEXT Art
Fair, Keszler Gallery with Bankrobber Gallery exhibit in Miami, Florida.
Hyperallergic.com. December 14, 2012. Photograph. September 9, 2015.
“What is Pest Control.”
pestcontroloffice.com. No date listed. Web. September 13, 2015. <http://pestcontroloffice.com/whatispco.html>
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