random walkway: Who is Banksy and Was He Here?

I think I said it before but it's worth repeating...I love street art!

Santiago has it's fair share of very good street art. Last night we was wandering around Bellavista, the "Bohemian district" of Santiago and we came across what seemed like a Banksy stencil.

Up until a several weeks ago I had no idea who Banksy was (is). Actually, I still don't know much about him since it's the culture of street artists to maintain their anonymity for various reasons...one being jail. The one thing that folks are certain of is that Banksy is British, beyond that it's anyone's guess.

His art, which has appeared overnight in various cities around the world, is often satirical takes on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. This past September, Banksy (or so most people believe) hit New Orleans overnight just days prior to the third anniversary of Katrina.

From the Times Picayune...

Whether Banksy did these new designs, they are by far the best guerrilla art ever seen on Crescent City masonry. On the corner of St. Claude Avenue and Kerlerec Street, you'll find a little girl hiding beneath an umbrella. Unfortunately this particular umbrella isn't protecting her in the least. Instead, it's drenching her in a silver waterfall -- the way certain presumably protective levees drenched the city three years ago.

Out past the Industrial Canal on Claiborne Avenue, you'll spot a young boy swaying on a tire swing -- except this swing is really a life-preserver. The crippled man waving the American flag on St. Claude Avenue in the Lower 9th Ward seems oblivious to the NO LOITERING sign sprayed on the wall behind him. On the side of a St. Claude Avenue convenience store, a child flies what at first seems to be a kite, but is really that familiar post-flood symbol: a refrigerator. A pair of stenciled soldiers loot a building on Elysian Fields Avenue.

Whether you agree with his point of view, you'll agree Banksy's art is timely, poetic, and beautifully done. Banksy's designs are so far beyond the usual graffiti doodling that it's possible anyone can appreciate them -- if they ordinarily adore graffiti or despise it.

About that boy swinging on a life-preserver, well it seems that some folks don't quite appreciate Banksy's art and in the process probably flushed down the toilet a couple hundred thousand dollars (the going price from Sotheby's for some of Banksy's stencils). Duh!