This post has nothing to do with food, unless you like eating concrete. The inimitable Banksy, a world-famous and secretive British street artist, has graced San Francisco's urban canvas with at least six of his not-quite-legal embellishments in the last week. At least, they look like Banksy's stuff--I've really no way to verify. It's not like you always sign a graffito. But they're cool anyway, so I cruised around and snapped up some pictures before the militants of the middle paste them over with beige.
Banksy's earned himself an international reputation as a street artist and critic of consumerism, politics, the commercialization of art, and lots of other things that are kind of a laugh. His style has won him gallery shows and princely sums for his works, sometimes totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single piece. How's that for the commercialization of art!
Who am I to judge, but I admire Banksy for his guerilla tactics, humor and force. His work collapses the distance between quotidian life and art, often through the age old play of text and image in a new frame: the public spaces of sidewalks, brick walls and rooftops. If you have the chance, check out his stuff at the addresses below (which I got from Warholian.com. Warholian has far superior pictures and some video about the Banksy above Amnesia in the Mission, too, so be sure to check that out if you're interested).
There's also a new documentary out that's sort of about him called "Exit Through the Gift Shop." I saw it and loved it.
Full text reads: This'll look nice when it's framed
(Sycamore St and Mission)
(between Belvedere St & Cole St)
(corner of Commercial St & Grant)
(9th and Howard)
Dude, this is awesome. What a stud.