Written By Armando Heredia
What created the type of scenario that would lead to a local street artist to become an international icon? Banksy is known the world over, not just in the street art circles, but in all echelons of artistic pop culture.
To speak, and to be a conscientious voice, speaking truth to power, outside of what is typically an “accepted” or even common method creates a different dynamic.
Personal risk creates an illusion of altruism, which may or may not be the case. Robin Hood was a thief, he was also considered to be a philanthropist, and a hero to the poor.
Had he been one or the other, he may not have been remembered as either.
This is not an argument for our efforts to be criminal, but to be unconventional.
At the end of the day, Banksy is both an artist, and a criminal, a genius and a vandal, and we know him because he is both of those things.
How do we apply the Banksy advantage to our work? It’s distilled in one word: notoriety. The notoriety that comes from working outside of social norms is the Banksy advantage.
What thing are you doing differently with your work that you could become notorious? What rule, or norm are you working outside of, or breaking completely, in the way you are accomplishing your efforts?
Again, I’m not advocating illegalities, but unconventionalities.
Lament for Icarus
We focus on the failure of weakness, the weakness of wax, but forget to celebrate the leap.
Years ago, my brother bought a large art piece from me. I was in a bind financially, and he had some extra funds. However, the piece was rather large, and the cost of shipping so high, that I ended up “holding” the piece. It has a temporarily permanent space in my stairwell. The art is a bas-relief sculpture of the fall of Icarus made from upcycled construction debris.
It’s so easy to default to failure.
At the time my focus was on creating work from found objects, and developing art inspired by the shape of the object. The scrap I found was tall and narrow and immediately inspired the idea of Icarus. The image I had in my mind was of that moment when, in his pride and disregard, he plummets to the ocean.
My brother pointed out something to me: the fall of Icarus is not the story. The real story is the jump.
“I am paralyzed with hope.1
How often have we not succeeded in a new work or an important project because we were afraid to fail? Much less than we realize, in my opinion. More often than not, we don’t succeed because we are afraid of the jump.
INFI
If not famous, infamous.
There are those whose names we know for good reason. They have acquired a fame, for a talent, skill or action.
Some we know for no good reason. They were at the right place, at the right time. Maybe they were associated with a person or event and co-opted the notoriety. Others, however, have earned a place of infamy, they’re not famous, instead they are the infamous.
Infamous: deserving of or causing an evil reputation; shamefully malign; detestable. (Dictionary.com)
How can we push the boundaries of infamy to a place of acceptance, and even adoption and/or adaptation? Banksy has realized that in order for him to survive and thrive in his criminal activities, he would have to become more proficient in his law-breaking effort. He adapted his technique and succeeded in first creating a reputation as a graffiti artist, not by being the best, but by being fast.
By adopting stencils into his work, Banksy was able to create and replicate his work quickly, which gave him the advantage of time, so he was able to do larger, more complex work. This is where his voice was amplified, like a megaphone, and moved him out of the realm of infamy, into fame (at least where the non-law enforcement public was concerned).
Another celebrity who used infamy to parlay himself into global standing is Conor McGregor, also known as The Notorious Conor McGregor. In addition to real skill as a fighter, he used his outlandish and sometimes controversial persona to make an almost household name for himself.
What is your megaphone? What are you doing that not only had a voice, but needs amplification?
- Roni Horn ↩︎