Banksy created a new Christmas-themed artwork in Birmingham yesterday of reindeers pulling a real park bench, with a homeless man called ‘Ryan’ lying on it; it was said to highlight the problem of homelessness. I applaud that rationale.
There was a lot of greenygreyness in the images from the scene, so the greenYgrey art world has called it greenygreyndeers: (greenygrey with Ryan-reindeers).
Hero hippies aren’t on crack
they’re on the railroad track…
… adding colour to the greenygrey
human nature beautiful display.
Banksy YouTube Conspiracy?
I wrote Banksy’s shredding of his painting at Sotheby’s was reminiscent of Suicidal Tendencies’ Art of Rebellion album cover in yesterday’s blog post.
I also wrote it was a total coincidence I was listening to it on YouTube. I think it was, but it was a suggested video, or their Freedumb album (1999) was first, and AoR followed, so who knows how it works; I don’t!
Maybe Banksy works for YouTube, or knows somebody that does?
Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum
If you think about things like that, the possibilities are endless. I recently read Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum (1988), and he makes that point; that there are always connections if you look hard enough; something I showed in my XaW Files: Beyond Humanity.
I am now certain XaW is a credible Eco for beginners: a less scholarly, but more entertaining version. We both studied semiotics at university; I did mine on my own, straying from the methodology the department wanted, starved of supervision in my first year.
Both books have thin plotlines and are more a writer digging deep into philosophy, psychology and knowledge, for personal learning and sharing. I was bored for much of the over 600 pages of Pendulum, and think most modern casual readers will be; whereas I wrote XaW in small entertaining sections, ideal for the modern social media user with low attentions spans, because that’s what I am; especially because I think I always have had ADHD.
Eco (no relation to environment!) passed away a while ago, and was obviously a great writer and academic, so I’m not being ‘competitive’!
Banksy Art History – Marcel Duchamp’s Readymadesy
The greenYgrey didn’t find the greenYgrey world’s Andy Warhol, Andy Wolfhol, on the XaW Files travel quest, but it did find Marcel Duchamp and his Readymades. I realised that the relevant images and photos I’d been rebranding greenygrey/greenYgrey; and then POP (PinkyOrangePurple) were like what Duchamp had done a century earlier, in what some people consider the most important artistic contribution of the century. I named mine readYmades, in line with the greenYgrey rebranding!
Jonathan Jones traced Banksy back to Duchamp in an article on MSN today. There is even a link to the Suicidal Tendencies’ Art of Rebellion album cover featuring the Mona Lisa, as Jones cites Duchamp’s drawing on a copy of the Mona Lisa.
A fresh coffilosophy thought now wonders if Suicidal Tendencies knew of Duchamp, and they were referencing him by featuring the Mona Lisa. Are they modern dadaists, protesting against elitism and war in their own LA way… the possibilities are endless..!
I hadn’t connected the railroad tracks image at the top of the blog post to the Banksy-Duchamp article when I started writing this, but now I realise it’s my latest greenYgrey readYmade.
The greenYgrey may have left Earth, but it’s spirit lives on…
I apologise if this blog post has been too long, and it’s been very male. Gwyneth Paltrow was on the news this morning promoting her Goop brand, and she talked and looked great, and many women are capable of great art and deep thinking, as I’ve tried to strongly promote over the last fifteen years of arduous; sometimes fun; creative writing… and editing, which is never really fun, but is rewarding when improving the spontaneous prose and eliminating errors that would have spoilt it.
MSN featured a video on the news this morning wondering if it was Banksy filming his own shredding stunt, which I think was an excellent return to form, for me anyway, surprising me at least, returning me to how I felt when his/their artwork first started appearing. They were an inspiration to me and my Greenygrey/greenYgrey concept. I thought his dismaland theme park was like the old-fashioned greenygrey sunless world, before its yellow core rebranding (with a big chunk of parody/satire comedy, mixing sunshine and cowardice connotations, greenYgrey style!).
Great Artists Reference Each Other
Banksy referenced Picasso on Instagram explaining the painting shredding: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge” – Picasso
Did he also reference the greenYgrey as he started his video filming the scene in Sotheby’s (presuming it was him), choosing to include this rebranded greenYgrey painting, another homage to continue the great greenYgrey epic classic tale; while at the same time commenting on how the crowd were only interested in his ‘celebrity status’ image, ignoring the great greenYgrey art in front of them!:
As Banksy explained how he created his art, I will also let you in on my secret. I read MSN this morning, watched the video, went back and stopped it where I saw the greenYgrey near the start, and then screenprinted it.
Then I cropped it to the finished image, leaving the timeline visible, to show it was right at the start.
There was also some Banksy inspiration to my wandering wondering poetry, although there were many others too, from past decades and centuries.
By total coincidence I was playing Suicidal Tendencies’ Art of Rebellion (1992) yesterday morning, and thought that was relevant to Banksy’s shredded painting, as well as the Mona Lisa in flames being very greenYgrey… years before my greenYgrey… maybe Banksy was referencing ST… via me!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mirror-Poems-Reflections-Marc-Latham-ebook/dp/B0094
mistYmuse 