Graffiti is Good for your Business
Banksy's Graffiti/ Art. Courtesy of holytaco.com
Ancient Roman graffiti immortalised in ash at Pompeii. Source: homepagedaily.com
The discourses of disagreement surrounding graffiti and urban artists are regularly couched in their perceived legality and status as unstoppable underground defacement. Dating as far back as the Ancient Greek empire (think Archimedes with a marker pen, or Alexander the Great with a spray-can), it has been argued that the fine line between graffiti and art is delineated only by consent. Punishable terrorism in its most embryonic stages? Or simply pretty pictures connoting a postmodern milieu? Or both, in what is an oxymoronic tale of artistic vandalism? The jury remains locked in its decision regarding the contentious terrain of ‘civilised crimes.’
The 2-D daubings made by the mysterious, controversial and balaclava-wearing street artist Banksy can often be found at the epicentre of these debates, operating as he does with a seeming disregard for the U.K.’s ongoing environmental campaign to ‘Keep Britain Tidy.’ Imbued with a variety of socio-political themes, Banksy’s array of tags, etchings, paintings and stencils take subject matter as diverse as anti-Fascist commentaries and existential meditations, to the absurdity of society and the state of…well…the state.
Caricature of a politician in Ancient Pompei. Wikipedia
Greed and hypocrisy have received similar treatment, at locations as close to home as London and Bristol, right through to the Israeli West Bank barrier and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. ‘Anarchy in the U.K.’ – as screamed by the punk rockers The Sex Pistols in 1976 –no longer rings true, as the alternative and independent wings of the subversive have been spread far and wide. As such, the launch of the Banksy iPhone App – which provides users with a tour-map guide to his public artwork – indicates the geographical scope of the famous doodles. Yet at the same time it renders even fuzzier the distinction between graffiti as blatant sabotage and modern art. Indeed, the mainstreaming of Banksy’s pieces through social media might at once be an attempt to force the man himself out of hiding, nudging him into the public spotlight he so famously shuns. But altogether more likely is that the new-found accessibility of graffiti smacks of a legitimising procedure in which urban art functions as 2011’s own heritage sites and protected areas of significance. So while Wiltshire got the prehistoric monument Stonehenge, London has to make do with a picture of a monkey in a sandwich board.
In his provocative 2005 compilation book Wall and Piece (geddit?), the pseudonymous street artist reflects time and time again upon these tried-and-tested assumptions that graffiti is merely crass vandalism dressed up to look like politicised polemic. On one memorable occasion, he asserts:
“Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall – it’s wet.”
The glorification of urban artists through the rubric of a carnival sensibility, testifies to the customary Marmite metaphor which envelops anything anti-establishment that has any perceived style or merit. But what does a potentially controversial or inciting image on a brick wall have to do with conceptualising business models? The answer lies with Banksy himself. Consider the following soundbite, in which he summarises artist expression within the context of independent thought or, more specifically, lack thereof. Describing his own work ethic, Banksy admits “a lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to.” Whichever side of the spray-painted line you pitch your ideological tent, it is highly possible that the code of (dis)conduct for the hardened anarchist dovetails with the steps made by professional businesses as they seek to create what might be termed a successfully ‘anarchic’ business. Through a rejection and conscious disregard for the conventions which shroud their respective industries, both anarchist and business forge exciting and innovative new paths, re-shaping and re-structuring the entrenched regulations of the system from within. What is to consistently challenge in order to consistently change if not the mentality of the anarchist? In the absence of one enforced or centralized authority, anarchism’s lawlessness and signature disorder can, in fact, be adopted to create a successful matrix of creative thinking. Afterall, an innovative business model is highly infectious, breeding ingenuity like some sort of zombie-movie contagion in which the only symptoms are powerful ideas and pioneering concepts. Sticking to the practical methods of the past might not be the most fruitful way to organise the future. Be the anarchic artist and with the palette of opportunity, stencil your own subversive epigrams onto the wall of industry sameness. In short, become a Businessman Banksy.
Although you might want to save the balaclava for outside the office…
Co-written by Chris Holliday & Louisa Leontiades. This article is reprinted from Investment Impact, a business which defies the rules.
We live in a world where people only really think in terms of "one"s. One way to do this, one way to do that, one business model, one kind of lifestyle. Everything, and people, get put into standard boxes. The great problem with that approach is that it doesn't take into account that the best fit for most people is not a standard box. Some people work best in an office. Some people work best at home. Some people can thrive on an eight-day week. Others can achieve more in four days with a three-day weekend than they would with a standard 5/2 routine. Putting people in standard boxes loses not only creativity, but productivity. We sacrifice happy, productive people to tedium, depression, and apathy. Banksy forged his own rules but I don't think it has anything to do with anarchy. It was survival. How does you succeed in world you feel you don't fit in? You make your own box.
Nice piece. Can't help but think that if graffiti was "legal" no one would do it. Banksy will never come out of hiding, per se, because if he does his "art" will lose its meaning - to him. I don't think any graffiti artist gives a F#*$ about thier art becoming popularized. Noteriety remains subversive and part of the sub-culture it inhabits. Big business wishes to commercialize that which is considered cool and dangerous in order to seem "different" and appeal to the masses. Just another ruse to get us to BUY something. THEY DON'T GET IT. I bet Banksy is laughing in his den because there is "an app for that".
[...] has been much debate surrounding the idea of graffiti art. For some, it is blatant disregard for our cityscapes, and for those with a more acute aesthetic [...]