THE BANKSY MOVEMENT?
Graffiti is a means of expression which can be used to protest about something. Graffiti is also called street art because you can find it in the street, on trains, in public spaces,… It is illegal, in general,but, sometimes, cities hire street artists to paint on public walls.
Banksy is a street artist who masks his identity. He is recongnized by his title: The Troubadour of moderns times! He uses Warhol’s techniques and the “in situ” with stencil and generally antimilitarist, anticapitalism and antisystem slogans. He loves provocation, shocking or perturbing society, and it is what makes all the importance of his work.
The graffiti “echoes in enternity” painted by Banksy like its name indicates is a slogan which says “What we do in life echoes in Eternity”. This slogan is deleted by a man who’s painting with a stencil. The sentence is on the left and its color is pink, and the man situated next to the sentence is in black and white. The graffiti was painted in the Queens in New-York city in october, 14th 2013.
The slogan was inspired by a philosophic sentence in the film “Gladiator” and the man was inspired by a kid. That does a controversy against the artist with criticism as: “uninspired”. Banksy used that criticism to enrich and empower himself. We think the image illustrates all actions are important and symbolises destiny.
We chose this graffiti because it concerns us directly by this quote. But also we like street art and the refection that Banksy offers .
For Banksy, street art is a laboratory, an open worshop to the sky where he can offer his work to passers-by, it is not necessarily savvy or for art lovers. The street becomes a museum. The artist, in the heart of the city, sets up his equipment (scaffolding, glue,…) and soaks up the atmosphere.
Banksy and artists of street art offer us a new vision of an ephemeral street that can be crossed. A stencil can surprise us, challenge us in our day, this is the wish of the artist: leave a memory or cause a reaction.
Yaëlle Tixier & Valentin Mallet
A World of Graffiti 