What got you into Banksy?

[spence]

As I've said before on numerous occasions my brother bought me a Monkey Queen for Christmas a few years back. For me it was the start of my whole interest in Banksy and art in general.

It would be good to know how others came across him (apart for eBay scalpers please) and drew their interest.

What's your story..........? ;D

[Ågent ßacardi]

spence said:

As I've said before on numerous occasions my brother bought me a Monkey Queen for Christmas a few years back. For me it was the start of my whole interest in Banksy and art in general.

It would be good to know how others came across him (apart for eBay scalpers please) and drew their interest.

What's your story..........? ;D

My story is boring... I've always had a thing for graffiti, and while searching through pictures of graffiti in London on the web about 5 years ago, I came across Banksy. Been a fan since. The rest, as they say, is history

[gm]

I used to work near the South Bank and go for lots of lunchtime wanders. One day I saw a piece of graff that said "This is not a photo opportunity" and thought "but that's exactly what it is".

A couple of rats - aww, I love rats so they were OK by me ;D

An angel with a mohican and some writing about a revolution: "now that's a bit feckin good!"

And so on...

If any of them were tagged I never noticed. I never had any idea they were by the same person. I never knew who or what a Banksy was. And worst of all, I didn't own a camera at the time

Then someone on an internet forum that I used to frequent posted something about this graffiti bloke called Banksy, so I clicked on the link and everything fell in to place.

The rest, as they say...

[Daniel Silk]

What got me into Banksy?

Well, I started out from being a fan of The KLF, and when Jimmy Cauty did his Stamps Of Mass Distruction it got into more of the art side of things. James Cauty sold his work at ArtRepublic in Brighton, and I was on The London to Brighton MINI run ;D I called into the shop and got a Stamp ;D Looking around the shop I noticed some pieces by Banksy & Jamie Hewlett that I liked and when I got home I searched online Found POW ;D and here we are! a couple of years later ;D

[foundation]

Similar lines to Silk, KLF-Hewlett-Banksy the end...

[Daniel Silk]

foundation said:

Similar lines to Silk, KLF-Hewlett-Banksy the end...

The KLF did a bit of Graffiti The album cover for "Sh*g, Sh*g, Sh*g!" ;D

I will look for a pic back in a minute ;D

[RBK]

I remember reading about his museum installation antics through cnn.com and woostercollective.com and loving it. However I didn't dig deep then.

What really did it for me was buying Wall & Piece at Urban Outfitters (embarassing I know)

Then stumbling onto 2 magical forums and the obsession was born!

[Daniel Silk]

admin said:

foundation said:

Similar lines to Silk, KLF-Hewlett-Banksy the end...

The KLF did a bit of Graffiti The album cover for "Sh*g, Sh*g, Sh*g!" ;D

I will look for a pic back in a minute ;D

arrrhhh! cant find a picture of it online


Image nicked from www.positivevoid.co.uk

[Daniel Silk]

Got it!

KLF Graffiti back in the 80's

[gm]

Cauty Cauty Cauty...

What about Bill, eh?

Was anyone here... erm... "lucky" enough to have him come round and take over their kitchen?

There seemed to be something about turning up at a stranger's house and doing this communal thing with a bunch of people you have never met before. I was staring at a map of the British Isles that we have stuck on the larder door. I started to imagine a straight line all the way across the map joining Belfast and Nottingham. Then I had an idea. It was a simple one and it went like this: the line is called The Soup Line and anyone who lives on it has the right to contact me and invite me around to their place to make soup for them, their family and close friends. I then went to bed and slept soundly.

You can read the full thing here: www.penkiln-burn.com/highlights/soup/words.html

All together now... "Julian Cope is dead... I shot him in the head..."

[InactiveX]

Living around Bristol way it was hard to miss. I can't remember when I first saw Banksy's stuff, but it always caught my eye and mind.

[Run Pig Run]

I've always been into Blur and the artwork they use, I bought Think Tank and saw on their website that someone called Banksy did the cover. A few weeks later I was looking at the books in waterstones and came across "Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall" I bought it and loved it, but I didn't really know about the prints till late last year when i bought my first one: Napalm.

[victorwilliams]

I traveled down to London for the day about two years ago to skateboard with a load of people from a skate forum and whilst skating under a road near waterloo station something caught my eye I stopped to find it was the monkey with the detonator that banksy did. Hooked ever since.

[LoveRat]

I first read an article about him in Bizarre back in 2002.
Then a couple of mates from Bristol came to stay with me , got talking about graff and remided me about him . Been hooked ever since

[numusic]

I remember seeing his work at a club do in 2000, thought it was ok, then I dj'd at Cargo the same year and he was having a show at the same club, fuck me I thought, they're great ! took a shit load of photo's thinking I was being very uncool. Year after discovered POW and bought the books, looked at the prints and thought, "what would I do with a 50 quid poster, too studenty" ? never considered them, then saw Laugh Now on wall a couple of years later, 2002, and made my own first stencil works. Still didn't consider buying them due to a severe shortage of cash but kept my eye on his work. Finally took the plunge a year later and bought a few signed prints. Dropped off the radar and came back to it late last year and saw most were sold out ! Bought what I could finally afford and then discovered the mad mad world of ebay, forums and RSI ;-)

[andrewd]

Ah, the KLF! I was in Liverpool when the punk thing happened and have a hoard of original tour posters, including the Anarchy in the UK tour poster. At the time Bill Drummond ( the other 1/2 of the KLF ) was in a group called Big in Japan. Kept an interest in music and of course couldn't miss the KLF and all of their antics, lots of self publicity ( like Banksy ) and by then I lived round the corner from the Tate when they did the alternative Turner prize.
First became aware of Banksy when I was passing Santa's ghetto in Kingly Court, Dec. 2003, his stuff stood out, I also went to the Tom Tom exhibition of modified oil paintings that was on at the same time.

[Daniel Silk]

andrewd said:

Ah, the KLF! I was in Liverpool when the punk thing happened and have a hoard of original tour posters, including the Anarchy in the UK tour poster. At the time Bill Drummond ( the other 1/2 of the KLF ) was in a group called Big in Japan. Kept an interest in music and of course couldn't miss the KLF and all of their antics, lots of self publicity ( like banksy ) and by then I lived round the corner from the Tate when they did the alternative Turner prize.
First aware of Banksy when passing Santa's ghetto Kingly Court in 2003, his stuff stood out also went to the Tom Tom exhibition of modified oil paintings that was on at the same time.

Yeah, I think The KLF and Banksy have loads in common ;D very much a similar style of doing things. I think thats really why I like Banksy's work so much I have grown up with The KLF, and they are influenced me massively.

[joe]

I first remember seeing his work outside the club Cargo around 2000, it was the monkey with 'bomb middle england' on it and i thought it was particularly funny.
Then a couple of years later I started spotting his work all around London.

[numusic]

andrewd said:

Ah, the KLF! I was in Liverpool when the punk thing happened and have a hoard of original tour posters, including the Anarchy in the UK tour poster. At the time Bill Drummond ( the other 1/2 of the KLF ) was in a group called Big in Japan. Kept an interest in music and of course couldn't miss the KLF and all of their antics, lots of self publicity ( like Banksy ) and by then I lived round the corner from the Tate when they did the alternative Turner prize.
First became aware of Banksy when I was passing Santa's ghetto in Kingly Court, Dec. 2003, his stuff stood out, I also went to the Tom Tom exhibition of modified oil paintings that was on at the same time.

"arrrr we're BIG in japan".. ha ha.. those were the days.

[trowel]

Moved to Bristol 11 years ago and started to notice his work a couple of years later. I think the first I saw was his helicopter/painting rats on the wall by 21st Century Flicks, though there was a motto graff on the side of Maples for a while that looking back may have been his - some witty consumerism statement?

Discovered he sold the damn things a few years back when I played poker round a mate's house, who's friends had given him a Barcode as a moving in present..... mmm.

[bonesy]

"Word Spamming" on ebay I have been a fan of Shepard Fairey and Barry McGee for a few years and probably a year and a half ago Id sometimes see this "Banksy" word showing up in item descriptions.
Love Is In The Air is what hooked mev

[yab]

Mine would be a rat on the bottom of a wall, on the way to Spitalfields Market, we were lost the first time we went there and this girl pointed to the wall and said 'shall we ask him'. It made me smile, I actually thought it was just one of those illusion things where you see something and it's actually not that, but sure enough upon closer inspection it was a sprayed image, thought nothing of it till a few weeks later there was another one near London Bridge...the rest is history.

Also the Mona Lisa outside the Prince Charles Cinema I liked but didn't connect it, on my travels abroad too, these kind of visual icons were like a hidden art gallery for those with the keenest eyes.

[rolyateel]

blur album

looked him up on the internet, bought existencilism, and saved some of the pics from the POW website...but for some reason never bought any prints....which i am obviously now kicking myself about

[irf2112]

I needed a logo for a company I was a part of several years ago. Prior to getting a logo I went out and researched. The best book I found was by Leslie Carbarga - Logo Font and Lettering Bible. Within the book there was a ref to Shepard Fairey and how he was the modern day Paul Whiteman. From Shepard there were links to Banksy and the rest. Even Kinsey.

[brut]

I got hooked onto graffiti in the mid eighties when a school mate fished a copy of SUBWAY ART by Martha Cooper & Henry Chalfant out of his bag.A truly great book with images by the likes of seen (the godfather of graffiti),Blade & dondi.
I still have my copy that was purchased from wh smiths in 1986!!
It is the graffiti bible.Explains & shows the birth of the whole movement.If you don't have a copy then have a look through one as it is still stocked in most book stores.Better than that,buy a copy.
I got into Banksy when i was on my way to the globe & kept seeing lots of small rats along the southbank.Went home,hit graffiti rats into google & hooked ever since.