I don’t know what to make of Banksy’s art or his pranks, like Painting an Elephant Pink - a live Elephant Pink, which at the time, I did not know that Banksy was behind it. But let’s look at this from internet buzz - Banksy’s art is all about controversy and that makes news, but does it organise sensations…..it is really art?
There was nothing much happening with Banksy this year (at least, since April) till Banksy defaced several Paris Hilton CD’s. Honestly, in this case, I don’t mind him defacing Paris Hilton - but that’s just me. I’m sick of Paris Hilton, but also feel sorry for her - everyone is using her, but then again, she invites by making herself a target/
"A British graffiti artist has defaced 500 copies of Paris Hilton’s new CD, Paris, changing pictures on the album sleeve to show Hilton topless and with a dog’s head and adding stickers advertising her "hits" such as "Why Am I Famous?"
I wish there was a picture of that defaced album, but I can’t find one online; did find a online video that re-enacts what Banksy did with Paris Hilton’s new CD.
And the LA show got a lot of visitors, as seen in this photo above - where the Pink painted Elephant was on display. But Banksy also got many celeberities to attend like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt; Angelina purchased 400,000 dollars of Banksy’s art, as seen below:
Well, if that’s not a social commentary, I don’t know what is. It works for me but I’d like to see a closer up view. I can understand why Angelina Jolie bought this painting (Picknic - pictured above)- but I wonder if Brad Pitt is getting sick of this stuff…?
"At guerilla artist Banksy’s Los Angeles show this week, Angelina Jolie spent nearly $400,000 on three pieces. One painting, called Picnic, shows a "white family of four lunching under an umbrella while 15 starving Africans look on," and another is a portrait of a man who was hit in the head with a pie. The last item was a "bullet-ridden bust." Picnic alone cost $226,000, while the other two pieces sold for $75,000 each.
Oh well, let’s look at some demographics and see who is responding to Banksy’s art (besides half of LA and Angelina Jolie). According to AdLabs Demo, 61% of the audience for Banksy is male and 39% female, which the greatest interest in young people between 18-24 years of age (Generation Y?).
I’ll do another post that goes into Banksy’s Demographics in much more detail.
