Banksy

TV Has made us Monsters

While I was studying, in one of my art classes all students had to talk about something that they were passionate about - whether it be an artist, book, saying etc.
Anyway one girl in my class talked about this graffiti artist Banksy from London. She was fascinated by his work, she brought along his book to our class so everyone could see his work. I was amazed. It was fascinating work. Since that class alot of stuff happened and changed in my life and I kinda forgot about stuff I had learned. I even forgot his name. Recently though I remembered his work and still could not remember his name. However I googled him and found his name - Banksy. I was looking at his website and also fan page on facebook and was mesmerised once again by his work. It is very thought provoking and interesting. What's more no one knows his real identity and the police want to arrest him because of his supposedly offensive work.
I have added one of his drawings to my blog, I really like this work, it speaks so much more powerfully than words. I also like some of his other drawings from his website, one about the fall of man. There is also one of the Pope flashing and he has legs like Marilyn Monroe, rather random, but funny.

I also liked what he did, he went to the Louvre in Paris and put up a similar painting of the Mona Lisa but with a smiley face over her face, he also put an official looking info card with information on it - it got taken down soon after, but it proved a point. I like his approach. This is a quote of his regarding that incident, "To actually [have to] go through the process of having a painting selected must be quite boring, It's a lot more fun to go and put your own one up."

He primarily works at night, but plans his stencils beforehand. He makes sure no one sees him and spray paints his work onto various places that will have impact on people.

Recent thoughts

Lately I have been thinking a lot about certain things, in particular atheism, evolution, values (morals) and suicide, not necessarily in that order. last Saturday morning I attended a meeting/breakfast thing. It was about realness in life and religion. It was quite interesting, the guy gave a history about evolution, atheism and also schools of thought from Modernism to Post Modernism. I found it fascinating how different schools of thought and philosophers are still influencing our society. The phrase "I think; therefore I am" was said by Rene Descartes in the 1600s and it is still influencing society today. "Therefore, Descartes concluded, if he doubted, then something or someone must be doing the doubting, therefore the very fact that he doubted proved his existence. "The simple meaning of the phrase is that if someone is wondering whether or not he exists, that is in and of itself proof that he does exist" (Wiki site about Rene Descarte). Hmm...I can understand where Atheism fits in. I digress; this talk was interesting. He talked about how postmodernism is impacting our current culture. Post modernism was a movement that began with architecture, however it has moved into all parts of society, even to how people think. "Postmodern architecture began the reaction against the almost totalitarian qualities of Modernist thought, favoring personal preferences and variety over objective, ultimate truths or principles. It is this atmosphere of criticism, skepticism and subjectivity that defines the postmodern philosophy" (Wiki site about Postmodernism). There are no absolutes with postmodernism, what another person believes is ok as long as they are ok with what I believe. In other words it doesn't matter what I believe, it doesn't matter what someone else believes. It's all relative. I remember when I was studying in my first of Uni in NZ I had to do an essay on Cultural Relativism, I can't remember what I wrote, but I do remember being confused. If there is no set law or set of values then how does one know what is right? Relativity is defined as the absence of standards of absolute and universal application. Hm... this was one of the points the guy was trying to make about our society and why it is becoming so confusing to live in. I don't know enough about post-modernism, relativism and such. I do know one thing though, I am a product of the post-modern relative society. Many times I have not said anything about my beliefs because in the end it doesn't matter anyway, who is going to listen to me and who is going to believe that what I believe is right? Its all relative.