Banksy on the cover of Science?
I was somewhat astonished to see this image on the cover of this week's issue of Science:
It turns out that there is an article in this issue about how societies deal with antisocial behavior. According to some, the work of the artist known as "Banksy" counts as antisocial behavior. Here's the caption Science provides for the cover: "An example of' 'art' by self-styled guerrilla artist Banksy, as seen in East London in November 2007. Human behavior that would be characterized as antisocial punishment can also be called art; prosocial institutions, most notably the campaign Keep Britain Tidy, refer to Banksy's work as vandalism."
I don't know much about psychology, and I'm not going to attempt to review the article, but seeing this particular artist on the cover of Science gives me an excuse to introduce others to his (admittedly controversial) work.
I've been a fan of Banksy's work for a couple of years now -- he does a couple of things worth noting: First, his bread and butter is outdoor "graffiti" of elaborate black and white designs, usually done with stencils, sometimes highlighted with deliberate focused use of color, and often exploring the "police state" aspects of the modern world, as in this example:
It turns out that there is an article in this issue about how societies deal with antisocial behavior. According to some, the work of the artist known as "Banksy" counts as antisocial behavior. Here's the caption Science provides for the cover: "An example of' 'art' by self-styled guerrilla artist Banksy, as seen in East London in November 2007. Human behavior that would be characterized as antisocial punishment can also be called art; prosocial institutions, most notably the campaign Keep Britain Tidy, refer to Banksy's work as vandalism."
I don't know much about psychology, and I'm not going to attempt to review the article, but seeing this particular artist on the cover of Science gives me an excuse to introduce others to his (admittedly controversial) work.
I've been a fan of Banksy's work for a couple of years now -- he does a couple of things worth noting: First, his bread and butter is outdoor "graffiti" of elaborate black and white designs, usually done with stencils, sometimes highlighted with deliberate focused use of color, and often exploring the "police state" aspects of the modern world, as in this example:
He also does a few interior art installations, like one in Los Angeles which included painting a live elephant to blend in with wallpaper (a literal "elephant in the room"):
Lastly, he's known for putting his own artwork up in great museums, as if it belongs there. Some museums have even accepted his additions, in the name of art. This YouTube video shows Banksy at work, installing his own edgy artwork when the curators aren't looking:
While I appreciate Banksy's art for his envelope-pushing content and panache, I can see how it would piss some people off. I think one of the cool things about science is that we can go and look into the big patterns of how society deals with even something as esoteric as "guerrilla art." I think it's great that science is even applicable to stuff like this. However, for my purposes, it's enough to sit back and grok on Banksy's art, and the point of today's post is only to share that art with others.
Labels: art, humor, science and society
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