Why I love Banksy

Me thinks these are strange times in the art world. Works that shock, works that don't, and old favorites such as ab ex and pop, while ever present, have transmogrified but don't seem to be cutting it. Whitney's biennial a few years ago questioned what could be considered art and found a chaotic breadth of work as an answer.

So, what is new? What is *ack* 'fresh'?

Take a bit of humor, a dash of bravado, a pinch of activism and you get...Banksy.

This link (thanks to Robert for sending it along) has some of Banksy's latest work in Palestine on Israel's 'security barrier'. It is very much a comment on the wall. The NEWS section of his website has more images of the project and Banksy is not afraid to add little transcripts of his discussions next to the images. Those discussions speak loads. An example:

Old man: You paint the wall, you
make it look beautiful.

Me:Thanks

Old man:We don't want it to be beautiful, we hate this
wall, go home.

His other work includes hanging his own pieces (of a stuffy 18th century royal who has just finished spraypainting graffiti, no less) in the National Gallery in London. His graffiti is so well designed that it'll make you laugh.

For more Banksy check out Banksy's homepage.