Banksy is p much the face of gentrification–when poor brown people express themselves and are taggers, they get arrested. When Banksy does it as a well-off white guy, he’s rewarded.
Tagging is largely the oppressed claiming space, space for themselves and space for their art. It’s not meant to make anyone feel comfortable. The fact that the very same people who think that black people’s live are worth so little embrace Banksy is proof of this.
One of the things that’s recently pissed a lot of taggers off is, he’s not part of the tagger community and doesn’t know the rules, doesn’t follow them. NYC is locals only when it comes to graffiti, since they’re the ones whose space it is.
Like. He went to East NYC, predominately black and Latinx, majority poor, where there are a TON of local taggers, and claimed areas as his, Instagrammed the general area so people (mainly white middle to upper class) could come flocking He’s going to poor parts of NY–areas where taggers flourish–and waltzing in and claiming space as his.
He’s also like, peak liberal. ‘Down with the system!’ while being the very system itself. ‘Destroy capitalism!’ while doing everything he can to capitalize. Literally ‘If you repeat a lie often enough it becomes politics’ while being someone who benefits from the horrors committed.
Basically, you got white hipster British dude who hsa access to p much any medium he wants choosing to use a medium that has a legacy and a meaning that he will never understand, to spread the most watered down messages of all time. He’s like the Zen Pencils of the Graffiti World.
If you’re interested, here is a post talking about some great and well known taggers who aren’t Banksy.
This blog showcases real graffiti art and is largely artist-submitted. (WARNING: AUTOPLAY!) You look at some of these gorgeous works, hand painted that takes days/weeks to complete, you look at the skill and the artistry and you just have to go…And all this recognition is going to Stencilhead LiberalBoy instead, while the actual artists are getting slammed to the ground by cops and charged ridiculous fees.
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