Stefano Antonelli – författare

This monograph gathers and presents the largest assemblage in one volume about the life, work, and ideas of Banksy - the world's most discussed artist of recent decades. Featuring hundreds of works - Girl with Balloon, Mickey Snake, Dismaland, Love is in the Air, Barcode, Monkey Queen -- the book includes reproductions of paintings, serigraphs, and stencils. The most iconic works are here, but so too are numerous installation objects and a selection of memorabilia all with the official approval of Pest Control, the group that manages all things Banksy. Banksy is considered the world's greatest practitioner of street art at work today. His work has always implied political critiques - of inequality, injustice, discrimination, consumerism, pollution, and the establishment. But, Banksy is a ghost -- no one knows his identity. He is an exemplary case of fame and notoriety built upon absence, anonymity, and the denial of one's explicit contribution to the public debate if not in terms of creative activism. Banksy's relationship with the art market is also complex: at the same time mocking, distant, and hostile and yet all he does is based upon a marketing logic that has proven to be among the most effective ever attempted. In short, an apparent (or real) contradiction between adhesion to the market and ferocious criticism of the market itself. This volume is published to coincide with a major traveling exhibition of over one hundred Banksy works, but it is sure to be a must have for art lovers and Banksy fans alike for years to come.

This accessible volume devoted to the enigmatic artist known as Banksy showcases pivotal works from private collections grouped to reveal Banksy's key reference points and creative drives. The show features more than 100 original iconic works always topical and certainly never dull including Girl with Balloon, Gangsta Rat, Monkey Queen, along with lesser-known examples in other media such as Banksy of England banknotes, satiric CD covers, posters, and rare T-shirt designs. Laced with caustic and critical messages, Banksy s works examine capitalism, consumerism, war, social control, freedom, and other features of our time with groundbreaking freshness and immediacy. Insightful essays explore such topics as Banksy's philosophy, relationship to the art market, and choice to remain incognito. Banksy's paintings, sculptures, prints, infographic cladograms, and tube maps are accompanied by detailed contextual analysis and a time line with highlights of Banksy's career.