scarecrow reviews
2.16.2005
Banksy - Cut It Out.
***
One wonders why anyone who lives outside of certain East and Westend pockets of inner-city London should ever have heard of Banksy - but they do. And is it any wonder? With artistic stunts and pranks such as hanging his own works in the Tate Britain and Natural History Museum respectively without the authorities knowledge the elusive Banksy has made quite a name for himself. Or maybe it was the unveiling of his brass statue mocking the British Justice System in Clerkenwell Square that caught everyone's eye, er, the stencilling of cows and other assorted livestock, the Acid-House smiling riot police peering down from a bridge in Shoreditch (although this didn't seem to go down too well in America of all places if the following email - one of many printed in the back of the book for our amusement - is anything to go buy: "Bansky: Respect pigs motherfucker. Would you like i paint your fucking english milky face? xxxxxx". Wow, someone actually knows what Banksy looks like then?). Cut It Out is Banksy's most recent collection. It is a quirky, humorous gathering of his varied street art. Banksy is obviously politically aware and his astute perception is ostensible throughout this savvy little book. His anti-war sentiments, for example, are highly admirable and commendable. Cut It Out is worth owning solely because of the ephemeral nature of Banksy's work, most are stolen, wiped clean or destroyed - maybe if you look hard enough in deepest, darkest Hoxton, Clerkenwell, a gable end in Hackney or under an overpass in Paddington or Ladbroke Grove you'll find a decent smattering but, rather sadly, it looks like the authorities are ahead as I write. Most I notice are gone within a day or two. So if you want to know what Banksy is up to, dip into his manifesto and capture his ephemeral stencilling, then buy the book - or the rats will get there first.
Lee Rourke © 2005.
