This article was automatically translated from Japanese using AI. The Japanese version is the authoritative version.
I went to see “The Art of Banksy: Genius or Vandal?”
The exhibition runs in Nagoya from February 3 to June 20, and in Fukuoka from July 2 to October 31.
The exhibition’s website is here
Banksy is an anonymous artist based in the UK, and works attributed to Banksy can be found scattered all over the world.
I didn’t know much about Banksy, but when I learned that he was a street artist who paints satirical images symbolizing criticism of society all over the world, I became curious about what kind of person he is and what kind of work he makes, so I went to see the exhibition.
Photography was allowed for every work in the exhibition, and everyone who came to see it was taking pictures with their smartphones.
This time, in order to see Banksy’s works themselves without preconceptions, I decided to look at the works as directly as possible, avoiding the explanatory texts.
Having seen it all the way through, my impression is that, if I had to answer the exhibition’s question, Banksy is both a genius and a vandal.
That said, while I agree that Banksy is a genius, the label of “vandal” felt a little off to me.
This is just my personal take, but Banksy seems to feel a kind of sadness toward society and the world.
People have lost sight of what it means to be human, and are tossed about by the world and swallowed up by consumer society.
The strong fail to notice the weak, widening the gap even further.
And he seems angry that people never question the things they take for granted.
That’s the impression I got.
Because he is a genius, he has come to see the true nature of the world.
But since he couldn’t change the world even by becoming a politician, he appeals to the world as an artist instead.
Since I know almost nothing about Banksy, I have no idea whether this reading is right.
I may be completely off the mark.
Still, while I felt a strong will in the works, I didn’t sense the violent side that the word “vandal” implies. What came through was sadness and Banksy’s own strong conviction—and perhaps to conceal that, or perhaps out of humor, it is expressed in the form of satirical images.
Honestly, for nearly half of the works I had no idea what they were trying to say.
But with the other half, something came through to me naturally.
It is precisely because Banksy is a genius that he can create critical satirical images with humor.
I also thought his technical skill as a painter was outstanding.
I myself have things I want to criticize about society and things I want to speak out about, and perhaps those feelings overlapped with Banksy’s works and led me to interpret them this way.
I think anyone who looks at Banksy’s work will feel something.
I’m very curious how Banksy’s works look through your eyes.