/art

I missed something on my list last week.

You may have seen this couch gag from The Simpsons:

It was the first time I heard of Banksy. I shrugged, thought it was clever and subversive and went about my business. Then a couple of months ago I watched this movie (it was available for free on Hulu, but now you need Hulu Plus or Netflix):

It was nominated for an Oscar, was about Banksy and because of the couch gag (and liking to be able to say that I watched an Oscar nominated documentary), I spent my lunch break watching it.

I'm hooked. The main reason being the "Obey" images that popped up everywhere, and Shepard Fairey being covered in the film. (Seriously, I had been wondering about it since I first some them about 20 years ago). There's also the eccentric Frenchman, Mr. Brainwash, who may or may not be a creation of Banksy. (And I am, after all, a reluctant francophile).

Like most people, I'm a fan of Monet, Dali, Picasso, Rembrandt... the big names in art. I go to the museum to see lily pads and landscapes, melted clocks and cubist interpretations. In high school, I went to another kind of art museum. We'd go into the flash flood tunnels underneath I-15 and the Strip, mainly to scare and be scared, but there was also lots and lots of graffiti, and much of it could be qualified as "street art," and not only doors to hell (of which there was one).

There's also a grand gallery here in St. Louis on the backside of the flood walls which includes, among other things, a large Spaceman Spiff comic.

To be clear, a lot of graffiti is crap (arguably most of it), but there is some that transcends it's stereotype and becomes art.

In addition to its aesthetic, I'm also a fan of a lot of the commentary of the art. We need subversives and revolutionaries. I may not agree with all of the opinions but it's always important to question where we're at.

When we stop questioning, we stop growing. When we stop growing, we die. It might be a bit dramatic but I believe it, (and it's also how nature works. Viola atrophy).