No Man’s Blog

I went down Brick Lane on a lunch break to shop for a reading book where I saw this Banksy book at the window. Now take a look at the red sticker on the book cover. It made me smile as this is how I sometimes think about him. So I thought that’s a good joke from the bookshop owners – they display/sell the book as it makes good business but in the spirit of the artist they’ve added their own gag.

When i entered the shop and saw the pile of books and that each one of them has that I realised that m**herf**ker prankster has done it again. I honestly don’t know what to make of him. I sometimes think he is genius, sometimes plain crap. There is this instant gratification in his works – you don’t have to think too much, and it usually makes you smile – nothing wrong with that. And anti-establishment gags/commentary is always important to have around as well as pushing the boundaries of the “what is Art” discourse etc. On the other hand there’s something extremely annoying about his PR (ish) style. It’s like guerrilla marketing meets conceptual art or something like that.

Anyway, read this if you, like myself, don’t know what to make of him – it won’t help you decide but will help you articulate your bemusement.