![]() Anonymity is less important than the impact of his art, which is more than likely created, fabricated and situated by a group of collaborators. His greatest triumph has been his ability to keep that identity swathed in mystery, even though the artist’s name is said to be in the public domain beyond all reasonable doubt, readily available on Wikipedia and subject to myriad press revelations in the past five years. To the press and public, the question of Banksy’s identity is more intriguing than the legitimacy of his work and the price that celebrities, dealers and other wealthy patrons are prepared to pay for it. Prankster, polemicist, painter, Banksy is arguably the world’s most famous unknown street artist. ![]() The paper compares the deadpan, but hugely popular, drawn language of the stencil with the freehand calligraphy of the taggers, ‘kings’ and other exhibition ‘writers’, and closes with a set of questions, in particular what is the future of drawing in countercultural expression. Exploring the origins of his work in stencil the paper examines how he has both radicalised the genre, while still retaining its essential value as an industrial, utilitarian, and iconic graphic. This paper explores the persistence and ubiquitous spread of the stencil as a vehicle for mass–produced street art, made especially popular through the iconic work of British street-artist Banksy. At the other extreme are the stencil-cutters, who by comparison are regarded within the peer community of the subculture, as lesser writers, relying on craft skills that are held to be quaint, even fraudulent. At the apex are those writers who create the imposing wildstyle exhibition pieces, large-scale vivid inscriptions that require a high degree of graphic invention and daring. He said he was moved by it.Contemporary graffiti artists, or ‘writers’ as they are known, observe a strict hierarchy that self-ranks ambition, daring and calligraphic innovation. While the artist painted the wall, a fan of his stopped and told the artist he had seen his work in another city. Here it’s completely different,” said Blek Le Rat. “I really prefer to be in Nashville than in New York, because in New York if you do something on the street, nobody care. There are now six at MBA and one in Germantown.īut the artist says he also came to Nashville for another reason. To work with students and paint murals in the school and throughout the city. He was invited to Nashville by Montgomery Bell Academy Some say he influenced street artists like Banksy. He’s famous for his artwork throughout the streets of Paris, especially his many paintings of black rats. So my work now is to introduce old masters of music like Beethoven with the modern music ,” says Blak Le Rat, as he arms himself with a gas mask to avoid breathing in the fumes of the cans.Ī pioneer in the stencil graffiti art movement. The end result is a portrait of Beethoven, spread across the white-bricked walls of a coffee shop on the corner of 4th Avenue North and Monroe Street in Germantown. You can easily hear theĪrtist rattle his spraycans and a hissing sound as paint splatters onto a series of stencils. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t making noise. When Blek Le Rat, otherwise known as Xavier Prou, works, he doesn’t talk. Nashville has added another mural to its growing street art scene, after French graffiti artist Blek Le Rat visited the city last week and left his mark.
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