What are you looking at?
Banksy.
The art featured on this site is by the Bristol street artist, Banksy.
I have always loved and collected art. When I was based in Australia I had a long and enjoyable relationship with the Arts Law Centre, supporting their efforts to provide legal advice to Indigenous Artists, many of whom live in very remote and isolated communities in the Australian ‘outback’. Protecting the artists’ copyright in their works was extremely important since the sale and reproduction of art was one of just a few commercial income streams for remote aboriginal communities.
My interest in street art was sparked when I first became familiar with works by Banksy, which are rich in social commentary. Like my work with Aboriginal artists, Banksy’s art brings together my passions for art and social justice.
I now live in Shoreditch in East London where street art is prolific and reflects the wonderful diversity of the local community. Many rarefied visual arts (and the grand galleries that house them) are regarded as inaccessible and intimidating by significant segments of society, reinforcing unhelpful class and social structures. The commercial art world has to certain extent been duplicitous in promoting the fallacious notion that art is esoteric. In my view, one of the most compelling contributions of street artists has been the democratisation of art. The vast majority of street artists reject and challenge the commodity fetishism practised by a small number of their contemporaries, including the likes of Damien Hirst and Thierry Guetta, who produce magnificent collections and magnificent profits by a process that blends creative inspiration and market segmentation.
For me, the intrinsic value in street art is connected to its accessibility and temporary nature.
Copyright in the images used on this site is owned by the artist, who once wrote “Copyright is for losers”. Banksy is represented by Pest Control. The Pest Control website clarifies that the artist’s images may be used and reproduced for non-commercial purposes. As a full-time pro bono lawyer, who hasn’t charged a client for legal advice in at least 17 years, Banksy’s art seemed a good fit!