"Banksy Unmasked"

[Brutus Beefcake]

Wow she can't even hold up the right CD for a photoshoot.

[Robot Devil]

Is that a photoshop? If not, why is she holding up a NMH CD?

[butnut]

She's a great fan of them apparently.

[Ciarán2]

But it must be spoken about.

What is your point humanleech? You're very fond of knocking down arguments with a glib statement ("I think culture is dead but now and then the corpse twitches" springs to mind), and you revel in sideswipes but it seems to me you have fuck all to actually say. So at the very least, if you're going to come up with a snide "quote" have the neck to say a) what you find so distasteful about it and b) what you propose in its place. Because sniping from the sidelines is all very comfortable and easy and I know you've read well and are capable of more.

[Ciarán2]

I think you're reading too much into it. I think he just doesn't know any better and knows his demographic.

I think very little is known about Banksy, I'm not entirely convinced that "he" isn't a collective of individuals, but regardless of intent, I think the meaning I suggested is there. Do you accept that much?

[humanleech]

But it must be spoken about.

What is your point humanleech? You're very fond of knocking down arguments with a glib statement ("I think culture is dead but now and then the corpse twitches" springs to mind), and you revel in sideswipes but it seems to me you have fuck all to actually say. So at the very least, if you're going to come up with a snide "quote" have the neck to say a) what you find so distasteful about it and b) what you propose in its place. Because sniping from the sidelines is all very comfortable and easy and I know you've read well and are capable of more.

I hate having to spell things out, especially when when the 'point' is so obvious to anyone who stops to think about it.

[Ciarán2]

I hate having to spell things out, especially when when the 'point' is so obvious to anyone who stops to think about it.

Well, if it's so obvious, spell it out. Seems to tie in with what I'm saying about Paris Hilton. It's all "so obvious" that she's not worth thinking about, so nobody stops to think about it. And they all hate "her" (i.e. the cultural entity which is "Paris Hilton") and have an opinion on her and yet still believe themselves to be above it all in some way. No, if it's shit culture, we need to know why it's shit. We have to be able to think about it.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I'm not entirely convinced that "he" isn't a collective of individuals

He has people who help him, but there is only one Banksy.

[gigolo aunts aren't gentlemen]

popjustice have a rather amusing 'take' on this.

[Xerxes & Friends]

He switched the CDs in store, so he took the old ones out and put his version in. But he left the original barcode so people could buy the CD without realising it had been interfered with.

So presumably he had to BUY 500 copies of the CD before he could doctor them and switch them?   Well, it's certainly made me rethink my opinion about Paris Hilton!!!

I wouldn't even have known she had an album out if it weren't for this news story.

[Catalogue Trousers]

Yes, there's the unpleasant irony that some people might now buy the bloody thing, anyway...

The thing is, she's hardly a worthwhile target. That's my main objection to Banksy's antics in this instance. Ooh my, a no-mark who's primarily famous for a widely-circulated porno flick. So she must be a bit of a slag. So...and here's the clever bit...I'll circulate doctored CDs with a picture of her as a DOG! Geddit, lads? Geddit?

Such daring there. What next? Banksy spray-paints the side of a bus shelter in Moreton Harwood with the legend "George Bush Smells Of Poo AND Wee"?

Woo. Go Banksy.

[Blumf]

Hands up who thinks Banksy would have been better off targeting the pillocks who actually buy Paris Hilton's CDs. You know, hang around the HMV counter until somebody purchases one and then following them home to piss through their letter box, maybe draw a big spunking cock on their wall.

[Ciarán2]

I disagree with Popjustice over this one, just as I disagree with them over Matt Willis and their over-use of the word "amazing".

Here's the Culture Show feature on Banksy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0IJSOq0xg

[humanleech]

.
Nice location! (That's it, on the right.)




A view inside -



Of course, I'm pissing about here, as there are actually three Paris Hiltons -

http://tinyurl.com/oxpmk

EDIT: No, I wasn't pissing about, as there are three Hilton Hotels in Paris, but only one actual Paris Hilton. See
http://tinyurl.com/3w6s3

[chand]

The thing is, she's hardly a worthwhile target.

I dunno though, people are so 'aw, leave 'er alone!' about vacuous celebrities nowadays that we sometimes forget how bad they really are.

[Ciarán2]

Beyond Paris Hilton being a "worthy target" or otherwise, the vacuousness of celeb culture is something which it's difficult to criticise isn't it? It seems to be an issue which has two sides to the fence - there are the thousands who unthinkingly lap up celeb goss every day, and there are those who find the whole shebang beneath them, in a seemingly inexplicable way. There seems to be bugger all which the two sets of people share, it's as if one set is incapable of communicating with the other.  Oh, I suppose there is also the supposedly intellectual broadsheets with their equally unchallengeable post-modern, ironic stance.

I think you can see the Banksy/Paris Hilton stunt in many different ways. It's a siilly and slightly amusing prank: the whole how-did-he-manage-it aspect. It's a well-known artist "exhibiting" in an interesting public space: the racks at HMV. It's a pathetic act of attention seeking. It's a bit of a cock-up in that it adds fuel to the Paris Hilton marketing machine. It's a disingenuous comment by one "artist" (an "outsider" artist, ostensibly) on the output of another - utterly mainstream - "artist". It could be a joke which you don't find funny, it could be an interesting "statement", it could be all or any one of or none of these things. In my view, it's an interesting little prank. Not a huge deal, I'm still interested in both Paris hilton and Banksy's careers, I'm especially a fan of Banksy's work as I've said. Popjustice have it that Banksy is "missing the point", I personally think that on this one, Popjustice are missing the point, but there you go.

It's reinvigorated my interest in Banksy though. So his attention-seeking plan has worked on that level. I'm going to buy his book later in the week. I've been snooping around his website. I love the film clip of him spraying the legend "THE JOY OF NOT BEING SOLD ANYTHING" on a blank billboard. I don't care if it's attention seeking, I don't care if it's going for an easy target, I agree with the sentiment there, and it brightens my day just to think that these tiny random acts of art are possible at all.

[Dusty Gozongas]

Beyond Paris Hilton being a "worthy target" or otherwise, the vacuousness of celeb culture is something which it's difficult to criticise isn't it?

Not in her case.

Paris Hilton is famous for being famous by association. That's hardly a job by any stretch of the imagination.  Who the fuck would she be if her father wasn't an hotel and her mother the capital city of France?

I'm being silly, obviously, but no sillier than newspaper editors take their punters for.

Hopefully she's a happy and fulfilled person. I wouldn't wish any less for her.

[Ciarán2]

Yes, well I suppose Banksy agrees and, just as you're doing now on a messageboard, is saying so in his own way. And I think he's done so with some amount of wit.

[gazzyk1ns]

This "Banksy" twat pisses me off. What he does is vandalism/graffiti, and I don't see how anyone can justify what he does. I know he's not killed anyone, but it can't be one rule for him and another for everyone else; neither can we have some sort of situation where somebody can go around doing as they please, just as long as they can prove they're talented at what they go around doing. Art galleries, and probably more relevantly, things like magazines and the internet do exist, it's not like he's being suppressed.

I always hate people who do things like this, it's the claim that they should be allowed to do what they do because they're doing it for the benefit of mankind/society/freedom/whatever else. I know various pieces of art (of varying kinds) have inspired or bolstered good things in the past, but obviously the opposite is also true. If everyone did try to accept and respect stuff like Banksy's then chaos would ensue, every other Banksy-wannabe would be out there doing whatever they wanted, purely because it gives them a buzz (and that is what I believe motivates people like him, "I'm trying to get an important message across" is a convenient excuse, not a genuine motivation). I think it's important that he's regarded as a bit of a self-obsessed tosser. I also think it's a good job that about 5% of the population think he's great, about 5% think he's a twat, and the rest haven't heard of him.

Paris Hilton has just done what she has felt like doing. Exactly like "Banksy". Yes, my quotation marks are an expression of disgust.

[humanleech]

Does anyone know the rates for an executive room?

[Labian Quest]

I think his work does have quite a bit of artistic merit, both in  the concept and in the execution, I just think it's a shame he can't find a way to express himself that doesn't a) involve defacing other people's property or b) put a hole in the ozone layer.

[Catalogue Trousers]

Ciaran wrote:

"I love the film clip of him spraying the legend "THE JOY OF NOT BEING SOLD ANYTHING" on a blank billboard."

"...NOW GO AND BUY THE BIG COFFEE-TABLE BOOK OF MY ART, SUCKERS"

[Ambient Sheep]

I think his work does have quite a bit of artistic merit, both in  the concept and in the execution, I just think it's a shame he can't find a way to express himself that doesn't...put a hole in the ozone layer.

Erm, not for at least ten years or more.

Was quite surprised to discover that the USA banned CFCs in aerosols as long ago as 1978.  I thought that must be a misprint when I first read it...a rare example of them leading rather than following in environmental matters.

[Labian Quest]

Fair cop, you're right, I knew they were phasing them out, but I didn't realise they were banned outright now and the Ozone layer is now apparently repairing itself, still he must have done a fair amount of damage to it in the time when CFC's were still legal and known to be dangerous [/backpedalling]

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Banksy has always existed and done his art in a way that society's authorities can't aprove of.  In fact that was kind of the point of his artwork.  It's certainly a little problematic that his work is now being culturally accepted to the point that when he puts a picture opposite Bristol coucil offices they decide to leave it there (even if they did have a massive row over it).  In fact, you could argue that the most effective way to kill Banksy's career is to approve of him.

Mind you, I don't actually think he gives a shit either way.

[Ciarán2]

Ciaran wrote:

"I love the film clip of him spraying the legend "THE JOY OF NOT BEING SOLD ANYTHING" on a blank billboard."

"...NOW GO AND BUY THE BIG COFFEE-TABLE BOOK OF MY ART, SUCKERS"

I buy things every day, so I don't have a problem with buying his book, I think it'd be a source of income for him (as well as the publisher and Hodges and Figes and so on, admittedly). But as I said, each day I line Coca Cola and EMI's pockets. There's no avoiding it. I don't really think Banksy's work represents a mass advertising campaign for his book.

I'm more worried about having something in common with Bono, in that we both approve of Banksy! (The Independent "commissioned" the graffiti pieces on the wall in Israel/Palestine, for the Bono-edited edition of the paper last May.)

[Goldentony]

Video of how he did it -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxUl9Mxbh1E

[butnut]

I've got the same computer as Banksy! Wooooo

I'm actually quite impressed after seeing that video. I'm still somewhat skeptical of the attention-seeking nature of what he does, but it's clear that a fair bit of work and planning went into the 'stunt' (for want of a better word).

[Xerxes & Friends]

I'm even less impressed after seeing that.  So is "That's hot" her catch phrase or something?  I did not know that.  You see, it is possible to just ignore these people.  

So now I know two things about Paris Hilton that I did not know before - she has an album out, and she says "That's hot" a lot.  She has received shitloads of free publicity, plus her album sales have been boosted by 500.  Yeah, I bet she's gutted.

[rudi]

I'm still somewhat skeptical of the attention-seeking nature of what he does

But he's a(n) (grafitti) artist.

Attention is kind of part of the deal, surely...?