And now he's been awarded as Britain's Greatest Living Artist or some shit. The shittest thing is, I'm worried that he may actually BE our greatest living artist, and that's upsetting, because he's shit.

Someone cheer me up by showing me some better art by living British chicks and dudes.

I think I could've seen his stuff and found it kinda funny, but beyond that it's just banale. Charlie Brooker agrees with me (again):

Banksy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank fucks: David Hockney - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

i like Banksy and used him as a motif in my screenplay.
I agree that he has been commodified but is this not one of the problems in our modern society?
People claim that he sold out, but was he not really bought out. Banksy is a victim of the system he rebells against. When people with money agree with the anti-estabishment movement then they make it part of the establishment. The tide of change against the war in England had a lot to do with his sudden rise in popularity. not really his fault

he doesnt make any money from these things at auctions anyway so how has he sold out. he makes prints and releases them, then other people sell them for millions. does that mean cobain is going to sell out when courtinnay flogs his stuff in a few weeks? hes never embraced celebrity and its not his fault that the rest of the uks artists currently are awol

well said

i like kevin mccourt

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yay, you like charlie brooker

I know exactly what you mean, but again, the disposability could be seen as part of the concept, like pop art. I am disappointed that he does appear to have sold out, selling pictures to angelina jolie & famous rich people...I feel like I don't respect him as much, but as trace says, it is perhaps other people selling his stuff? So maybe we shouldn't hate him as much?

I do really like the pictures David Hockney's been doing recently, the really big countryside ones. I don't know much about modern art though

'much' meaning 'anything at all'.

I don't think he "sold out" at all. I think he was always pretty average, occasionally funny but only subversive in the most mainstream and candified of ways, and that if he actually had any problem with "the system", he'd be doing portraits of everyone who's paid more than a fiver for one of his pieces hanging from a tree with their guts out.

Personal opinion, natch. It's just that his "subversive" stuff is really really tame and predictable. I couldn't give a shit about him doing a painting of Kate Moss or whoever, artists have always done stuff like that, but subversion done unintelligently is so much more tedious than anything conformist or staid.

Splash > George Bush and Tony Blair cramming their cocks up each other or some stupid thing.

did anyone listen to that peter blake special on r4 last night

art on the radio, mmh

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I found a Young British Artist who I don't hate.

Chris Ofili:

STELLA VINE

I really love alot of her work
it's weird and fantastic

i find a lot of his so called subversive stuff doesnt actually make sense when you deconstruct it, so that whilst on the surface it might appear funny/edgey etc, when you actually think about it, its pretty stupid.

he has also said some pretty stupid things, i cant remember exactly what they were, but i remember someone really took him to task for saying it was always right to lie to the police, and the guy criticising him said that meant he was saying huntley was right to lie to the police over those murders, and hence he was a fucktard. which was a fair point.

i dont really like too much of recent art in this country, the whole brit art thing really fucks me off, it is way too self satisfied. sam taylor wood is a lot less talented than most of the people i know who consider themselves artists

Bumping because of gleeez. And yes, the above is true, and true of pretty much anyone "subversive" who fumbles at their own language like a faggot trying to finger a pussy. Actual intelligent people don't do subversive the way dumb people do. They are too aware of precedent for their consciences to allow them to exploit idiots.

did Banksy do this?

because it's about on the same level as the rest of his work.

i saw his work at the saatchi, elephant dung and all.

Lets just be glad its not Damien Hirst winning this greatest living artist prize.

"ooooh lets make art about how rich I am - money mo money money moneeeey!"

You perfectly worded what I was about to type.

Banksy fascinates me (I wrote alot about him in my dissertation.) I think that he's probably more amused by his 'fame' than we are, although Banksy's fame is fascinating in itself; can YOU be famous if no-one knows who you are? The image of Banksy is purely Banksy's work, Banksy is a brand. The Banksy brand could be argued as contradicting all his original statements of anti-consumerism. However that brand has been made by us circulating him, rather than a change in his attitudes. He has said in retaliation to comments on his 'selling out', " None of you know what I'm doing with the money" (or something along those lines, I read the quote months ago) which is a good point, how do we know that he isn't putting the money into charities or setting up arts projects.

As for people selling Banksy's work, again he doesn't seem too affected by it. He jokes about how when he was younger he was selling pirated goods, so he has no leg to stand on!

Besides, Banksy doesn't even consider himself to be an artist. Banksy has in numerous interviews contested the proclamation of him as an artist. He's an anti-artist and anti-hero. The spatial adaptation of his art alone declares a certain resistence towards the who art world.

I've probably strayed from the point. I'm tired and get my degree results in just over 24 hours. I have a soft spot for Banksy.

If you cannot see why Damien Hirst is a great artist then I am not sure you should be allowed to be alive. However, if you simply don't care and are just saying this because you and art have some sort of mental block, okay. In both cases, Damien Hirst is one of the best artists that has come from Britain in recent times.

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