Stefano Antonelli – författare

The largest presentation of works by Banksy, the world’s most enigmatic yet highly sought-after artist, including iconic works, installation objects, ephemera, and memorabilia all in one volume.Banksy is the world’s most discussed artist of recent decades, and this seminal collection features hundreds of works including Girl with Balloon, Pulp Fiction, Love Is in the Air, Barcode, and Monkey Queen. It also includes scores of paintings, serigraphs, stencils, and installation objects as well as a selection of memorabilia—many of which have never been published previously. Created with the cooperation of Pest Control, the group that manages all things Banksy, this is as official and authorized as any Banksy publication could be. Banksy is the world’s greatest practitioner of street art. His work has always been political, involving pointed critiques of inequality, injustice, consumerism, and the establishment, yet no one knows his identity. He is an exemplary case of fame and notoriety built upon absence and anonymity. His relationship with the art market is also complex: marked by mocking hostility while being one of the most marketable and most collected contemporary artists.

Catalogue to a major traveling exhibition focused on Banksy, the world’s most popular graffiti artist whose real identity remains unknown despite his domination of the global street art scene for over twenty-five years.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.