[raiden]

I was looking over the Bonham's catalogue for the (*yawn*) Chester Limited Edition Print Sale and came across these older British artists Sir Eduardo Paolozzi and Sir William Russell Flint priced at £150 pre auction estimate - for shiite I'd never have on my walls...

But both had "SIR" before their titles. Hmmm...

Got me thinking...

Banksy may go down as the most famous British artist of the century (with all due respect given to Damien Hirst) and I feel safe enough going out on a limb to say he may qualify already as one of the top ten most influential British artists in history.

His work has enhanced tourism to the UK. He counts Prince Harry as a buyer of his work - so he's got an in with the royals (no matter how much of a fuck up "rebel" Prince Harry attempts to be.) Plus, by the time Banksy rides out his entire career (40 more years if he doesn't get hit by a bus or get bored of painting or what not), he's going to have made unbelievable amounts of money and possibly be viewed as every bit as influential as Dali, Picasso, and Warhol.

As a monarchy hating American who has no idea how one picks up a silly knighthood, please educated me...

Should we expect one day to see... Sir Robin Gunningham? Ahem, I mean Sir Banksy?

I'm thinking if Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Engelbert Humperdinck, and those other artists in the Bonham's catalogue got it, Banksy's bound for it eventually.

Do we need to get signatures or something for this new "Knight Banksy Now!" campaign??

[Viva Hate]

'the century is only eight years old'

no, he will never get knighted, moron. Will Georege gallaway ever get knighted?

Hang on, maybe if we sing pop songs like Kyie Minogue we can maybe achieve an MBE, for fucks sake.

Does it really make a difference?

[Deleted]

After the 'Queen Vic' and the Stoke Newington piece, he aint got a chance in hell of a knighthood. Thats assuming the monarchy research who they give a knighthood to and actually know why they are giving out such titles. My guess is they dont which is why Mugabe had one.

[Viva Hate]

If he gives some profits to a derilict school maybe he will achieve the desired 'knighthood'
Then he will have to bow down and call call ther queen gracious one which I can see happening before licking her manky feet.

[raiden]

He's got a long career ahead of him. Still think knighthood is an eventuality for Banksy... Even with the Queen Vic.

Paul McCartney did a crap load of drugs in his Beatles days and still managed to snag a knighthood... so youthful indiscretions seem not to count against knighthood.

Plus, Banksy's West Bank "separation wall" work really did count as something special in terms of progressive political statements. Once his work starts making retrospectives and academics start dissecting it, I think the story of Banksy will be one of "democratizing art" and "challenging perceptions and injustices through artist criticism" blah blah blah - whether you buy that or not now is irrelevant. I don't know if I would agree, but I think that will be the eventual spin.

Not to get too crystal ball here... but over the next 40 years of Banksy's life, I see more Santa's Ghetto's in weird "disadvantaged" places on the globe. At this point, who knows the extent of his charity today, but with his earnings potential, I can't forsee him giving less than £10 million to charity. And though it might break hearts of those who love the myth of Banksy, I can't imagine he'll remain the shadowy street bomber into his 50s and 60s - I'd be shocked if he would want to.

For all these reasons, I see Sir Banksy in the future.

[ruat caelum]

Jul 27, 2008 2:28:38 GMT 1 raiden said:

He's got a long career ahead of him. Still think knighthood is an eventuality for Banksy... Even with the Queen Vic.

Paul McCartney did a crap load of drugs in his Beatles days and still managed to snag a knighthood... so youthful indiscretions seem not to count against knighthood.

Plus, Banksy's West Bank "separation wall" work really did count as something special in terms of progressive political statements. Once his work starts making retrospectives and academics start dissecting it, I think the story of Banksy will be one of "democratizing art" and "challenging perceptions and injustices through artist criticism" blah blah blah - whether you buy that or not now is irrelevant. I don't know if I would agree, but I think that will be the eventual spin.

Not to get too crystal ball here... but over the next 40 years of Banksy's life, I see more Santa's Ghetto's in weird "disadvantaged" places on the globe. At this point, who knows the extent of his charity today, but with his earnings potential, I can't forsee him giving less than £10 million to charity. And though it might break hearts of those who love the myth of Banksy, I can't imagine he'll remain the shadowy street bomber into his 50s and 60s - I'd be shocked if he would want to.

For all these reasons, I see Sir Banksy in the future.

Whilst I do not wish to be unkind, are you fucking serious?

Based on what you've seen of his artwork, do you really think Banksy is a monarchist?

[robotoil]

"Knighted". You fellas crack me up. I got a round table if anyone is looking for one.

[Octopus UK]

So, raiden, we can determine the worth or contribution of an artist by the price their works are selling at?

[snakes]

"I look nothing like a monkey. Chop off this peasant Banksy's head"

[Heavyconsumer]

Quite a ridiculous question imo for the here and now. The guy is a disestablishmentarealist and is wanted by the police for committing crimes of vandalism. That can't really be compared to Paul McCartney's taking drugs in the 60s and 70s imo. Incidentally has anyone with a criminal record ever been knighted before, rather than knights having later commited crimes? Genuine question.

However, as Raiden says, who knows what the future holds? Life's all about choices and he could choose to give it all up anytime he wants. He's already alledgedly given millions to charity and for all his crimes, is clearly a decent, warm-hearted character, who cares about what's wrong with the world in his eyes, enough to make statments about it through his art. I also think he's likely to be held up as the man who democratised art one day and with that status, who knows what could be possible, IF he is no longer anonymous?

[snakes]

Most rossers I know could not give a sh1t about his decorative skills - in fact quite a few have his work adorning their walls!

[thinkbank]

in fact?

[snakes]

many thanks thinkbank

[mcster]

Can't see it happening somehow, but there again who would have thought that Vivienne Westwood would have accepted her OBE (it was an OBE she got wasn't it?) when you consider her anti-establishment past.

I really hope this doesn't ever happen though, I think it'd devalue (in terms of credibility rather than financially) everything he's done.