Art Styles

                          Graffiti of Banksy

Graffiti is one of the most powerful forms of modern art. It is largely popular in urban areas and it gives people who are not art enthusiasts the chance to look at and appreciate art. The work of Banksy is as expressive and powerful as graffiti gets, he has gained an international status with his eye-catching social and political artistic messages. Banksy’s art hints at various issues in our society, a piece by Banksy that particularly caught my attention and admiration, is this piece:

Most of his work reminds me of shock advertising, the way it is in your face and is meant to startle you in some way. This piece is less shocking than his average work, but it is symbolically very strong and eye catching. The way I perceive it, this piece is symbolic of how moral values such as peace and love are dying in an age of consumerism and materialism. The doctor is leaning over to a heart and checking up on it as if to see if it’s still beating. There could be other interpretations to this piece, as there are multiple valid interpretations to many good works of art.

The visual elements of the piece are also very well thought out; Banksy uses the wall space wisely to make his work standout. The wall is a peach/whitish color so Banksy wisely gives the doctor or medical practitioner black clothing, as opposed to the typical white we are used to seeing. This creates a sense of contrast making the foreground stand out, this is a very important technique in differentiating between visual elements on a page or a canvas or a wall in this instance. The colors Banksy uses are also just right for setting the tone and the mood for the visual. It gives us the sense of mourning; the dull background and the red and the black certainly help with that.

This image also uses some elements of typography, even though the page is not equally balanced on both sides. The image gives us a flow of eyesight from left to right, the same as when we are reading across a page, at least that was the way that I looked at it. The size contrast between the objects, another important element in gestalt and typography, is set perfectly to communicate the message effectively and have all the parts be adequately emphasized and not undermined in their importance.

The work of Banksy is one of the few things keeping the general public interested in art in this new age, the controversy and his hidden identity are what makes his art so appealing to the masses. Pretty much anybody can relate to a specified piece that Banksy has created, his art reaches out to all walks of life. Banksy has gained international recognition through the variety and boldness of his work, and he is often cited in pop culture and his work is sold lucratively.  Here are a few other pieces of graffiti by Banksy that are highly effective as well as controversial:

 

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