Banksy is an elusive graffiti street artist whose identity has remained concealed ever since he began decorating the streets of Bristol, believed to be his hometown, with political and satirical images. He embarked on his journey in the 90’s, stemming from the underground art scene, often using a stencilling approach as his trademark technique to create his provocative musings more quickly.

Being majorly inspired by other local graffiti artists, many his works are painted onto public buildings and hold a mirror up to many harsh realities overlooked in our daily lives. In one of his earliest pieces, in 1997, Banksy painted a picture poking fun at ex-soviet premier Lenin, presenting him with a Punk style Mohawk, already uncovering his political views. He continued these themes, with such works as “Bomb Hugger”, in which a young girl tightly hugs a large bomb, symbolising how youth and innocence can be taken away by the cruelty of war. In 2004 in a piece entitled “Napalm Girl (Can’t beat the feeling)”, Banksy took the iconic image of a young girl trapped in the middle of a Napalm attack, instead showing her holding hands with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald, implying how different her life should have been.

Banksy has also held larger exhibitions, in Los Angeles in 2006 a presentation called “Barely legal” displayed many different varieties of his artistic work, including one labelled “Elephant in the room” where he used a live Elephant, clad with a painted pink floral design, this was believed to be denoting the issue of world poverty. “I love you” is a simple yet moving design, he painted in 2008. The words “I love you” are coupled with an hourglass, slowly allowing a heart-shaped heap of sand to pour through, possibly giving the audience the idea that even love can suffer from time decay.

In 2010, Banksy wanted to call-out the large corporations and so created a picture on the side of a shop called “Interest in people”. This artwork depicts a man wearing a sign around his neck quoting “0% Interest in people”, demonstrating greed and profit is more important to businesses than the satisfaction of their customers. Banksy has also shown us his humorous side in 2011 when mocking a convicted graffiti artist who would simply tag his name in multiple locations. “Tox” displayed a young boy writing the name Tox in bubbles, presumably taunting the disgraced amateur as being childish. In another amusing piece in 2013, Banksy paints a young boy climbing on a friends’ back to retrieve a fictitious can of spray paint from a sign saying, “Graffiti is a crime”, lending to the ethos that kids see rules as something to be broken.

“Mobile lovers” is a very thought-provoking painting he created in 2014, in which two lovers appear to be embracing each other, however on closer inspection, you can see they’re actually both reading their phones over their partners’ shoulder. Returning to his political stance, Banksy shared his views with “Brexit”, artwork he painted in Dover in 2017, a mural of a man atop a tall ladder, slowly chiselling the stars from the European Union flag.

Back in his hometown in Bristol, Banksy blessed an old garage in 2018 with another eye-catching spectacle. The picture spanned around the corner of the garage, on one side he showed us a young boy happily lapping the falling snow from the air, on the other side, we’re made aware the snow is actually falling ash, blowing across from an adjacent dumpster which is on fire. Demonstrating what we think we are getting, isn’t always what it appears to be.

Canvas Prints Australia have a massive collection of Banksy artworks for sale in. a wide range of media options Fromm canvas prints, to framed prints, posters to wall decals and floating frames. We have something for evert street art lover.

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