Banksy: Shredding Our Perception of Fine Art

By KAT STEPHAN ’19

Banksy, the elusive artist famous for his graffiti work throughout the streets of Europe (specifically London and Bristol), recently sold his piece “Balloon Girl” for $1.4 million dollars. Minutes after his piece sold, “Balloon Girl” slipped through its frame and, to the dismay of onlookers, began shredding itself. An artist who uses his art as a form of social criticism, Banksy is known for his thought provoking—albeit seemingly over-exaggerated—work. The painting’s self destruction was not a fluke; rather, Banksy had been planning this demonstration for a few years.

To most, destroying a painting after it was sold for over $1 million is counterintuitive. However, when put in the perspective with the rest of Banksy's work, the rebellious and flamboyant statement he made by shredding the painting is completely in character. Banksy claims that the purpose of art is to “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” Each of his pieces—ranging from an image of a young black girl spray painting a pink floral pattern onto a swastika to a child holding a machine gun loaded with a clip filled with crayons—strives to provoke the audience; the paintings force each person to think about where they stand in the modern world and, ultimately, where they will stand when they become part of history. In this case, many believe that the shredded painting was a pointed criticism of the art world’s stress on the monetary value of art rather than the cultural significance of the art. In addition to feeling frustrated with the art world’s relationship with the fine arts, Banksy, in an interview with The New York Times, explained that he feels that “graffiti art has a hard enough life as it is before you add hedge-fund managers [who want] to chop it out and hang it over the fireplace”

Ironically, art collectors and specialists have decided to focus on the new value of the piece; Leon Benrimon, Heritage Auctions’ director of modern and contemporary art, claims, “I think [the fact that it’s been shredded is] going to double the value of the work.” Rather than taking Banksy’s message to heart, the art world has become obsessed with the stunt, and people now see it as a way to increase the piece’s value.

To a certain extent, Banksy is right—modern art is now centered around the buying and selling of the literal “goods” rather than the emotions conveyed through the media. Jay Z explains the phenomena in his song “The Story of O.J.” when he raps that he “bought some artwork for one million/Two year later, that sh*t worth two million/Few years later, that sh*t worth eight million/I can't wait to give this sh*t to my children.” To most, art is an investment. This means it’s no longer a medium of the people: it’s inaccessible. When a piece of street art is copied onto a canvas, it is suddenly worth $1.4 million dollars. Then, on top of this absurd pricing, after the piece was shredded, the value of the piece increased.

However, not all of the blame for the reception of Banksy’s piece can be put on his audience. If he views the art world with so much “awareness,” Banksy should have realized that his stunt would be perceived this way; he should have known that dealers and “art connoisseurs” would be so invested in the piece’s economic value that they would be focused on the design of the frame rather than the statement the artist tried to make. Although Banksy’s message is important—art is designed to reach everyone, so it should be affordable for everyone—he needs to think about how his pieces will be received. Although he may not like the art world, if he wants to see a change in the modern day perception of art he needs to start taking into account how the art world recieves his work. Otherwise, no matter how truthful his message may be, it won’t elicit change.