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Banksy Quotes

Banksy is an anonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist and film director of unverified identity. Their satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. Banksy's works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy's work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that they were inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist who later became a founding member of the English musical group Massive Attack.

Banksy displays their art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. Banksy does not sell photographs or reproductions of their street graffiti, but art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell the street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder. Banksy created a documentary film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie", which made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released in the UK on 5 March 2010. In January 2011, Banksy was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary for the film. In 2014, Banksy was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby Awards.

Banksy: 82 quotes120 likes

Famous Banksy Quotes

“I don't know why people are so keen to put the details of their private life in public; they forget that invisibility is a superpower.”

Banksy

“Some mothers will do anything for their children, except let them be themselves.”

Banksy

Cut It Out (2004)
Source: Wall and Piece

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

Banksy

“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they're having a piss.”

Banksy

Other sources
Source: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall
Context: Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums. Graffiti has more chance of meaning something or changing stuff than anything indoors. Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren't listened to. Graffiti is one of those few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don't come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make somebody smile while they're having a piss.

“You're mind is working at its best when you're being paranoid.
You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation
at high speed with total clarity.”

Banksy

Source: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall

Banksy Quotes about people

“Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place, some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.”

Banksy

Banksyhttp://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2018739.stm
Variant: Some people want to make the world a better place. I just wanna make the world a better-looking place. If you don't like it, you can paint over it!
Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

“People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish. But that's only if it's done properly.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

“The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules. It's people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages. As a precaution to ever committing major acts of evil it is our solemn duty never to do what we're told, this is the only way we can be sure.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

“People who should be shot: Fascist thugs, religious fundamentalists, people who write lists telling you who should be shot.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“If you want to say something and have people listen then you have to
wear a mask. If you want to be honest then you have to live a lie.”

Banksy

“Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.”

Banksy

Banksy Quotes about painting

“People are fond of using military terms to describe what they do.
We call it bombing when we go out painting, when of course it's more
like entertaining the troops in a neutral zone, during peacetime in a
country without an army.”

Banksy

Source: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall

“I'd been painting rats for three years before someone said 'that's a clever anagram of art' and I had to pretend I'd known that all along.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

“Painting something that defies the law of the land is good. Painting something that defies the law of the land and defies the law of gravity at the same time is really good.”

Banksy

Existencilism (2002)
Source: Wall and Piece

“Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece

“Try to avoid painting in places where they still point at aeroplanes.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“A lot of people think that scuttling around stenciling images onto buildings in the middle of the night is the action of a sad, frustrated individual who can't get attention or recognition any other way. They might be right, but I've done gallery shows and, if you've been hitting on people with all sorts of images in all sorts of places, they're a real step backwards, painting the streets means becoming an actual part of the city. It's not a spectator sport.”

Banksy

Tristan Manco, Stencil Graffiti
Other sources

Banksy: Trending quotes

“Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can’t even finish my second apple pie.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

“There are four basic human needs: food, sleep, sex and revenge.”

Banksy

Existencilism (2002)

“All artists are willing to suffer for their work. But why are so few prepared to learn to draw?”

Banksy

Existencilism (2002)
Source: Wall and Piece

Banksy Quotes

“I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.”

Banksy

Other sources <br class="br">Source: Banksy In His Own Words- Interview At The Sun https://web.archive.org/web/20181102203920/http://graffart.eu/blog/2010/09/banksy-in-his-own-words-interview-at-the-sun/, Graffart.eu, Retrieved 2 November 2018

“Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“You can win the rat race but you're still a rat.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“If at first you don't succeed, Call an airstrike.”

Banksy

“Become good at cheating and you never need to become good at anything else.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

“People either love me or they hate me, or they don't really care.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece

“A wall is a very big weapon. It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with.”

Banksy

Source: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall (2001)

“If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved then rats are the ultimate role model.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece

“Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last river has dried up will man realize that reciting red Indian proverbs makes you sound like a fucking Muppet.”

Banksy

Source: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall (2001)

“As far as I can tell, the only thing worth looking at in most museums of art is all the schoolgirls on day trips with the art department.”

Banksy

Existencilism (2002)

“If you want someone to be ignored, then build a life-size bronze statue of them and stick it in the middle of town…”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

“I sucked a lot of breasts to get where I am today.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“A lot of people never use their initiative because nobody told them to.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece (2007)

“People who get up early in the morning cause war, death and famine.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)
Source: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall

“You owe the companies nothing. You especially don't owe them any courtesy. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don't even start asking for theirs.”

Banksy

taken from &#x27;Brandalism&#x27; in the book &#x27;Cut It Out&#x27; (inspired from Sean Tejaratchi&#x27;s piece in Crap Hound No.6, July 1999.) Source http://readingfrenzy.com/ledger/2012/03/taking_the_piss_conclusion <br class="br">Other sources <br class="br">Source: Wall and Piece <br class="br">Context: People are taking the piss out of you every day. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you. You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity. Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don&#x27;t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don&#x27;t even start asking for theirs.

“I don't believe in anything. I'm just here for the violence.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece

“people who enjoy waving flags don't deserve to have one.”

Banksy

sic
Cut It Out (2004)
Source: Wall and Piece

“I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order to protect me.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2007)

“Live as a villain, die as a hero”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece

“One Original Thought is worth 1000 Meaningless Quotes.”

Banksy

“Some people represent authority without ever possessing any of their own.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece

“I like to think I have the guts to stand up anonymously in a western democracy and call for things no-one else believes in—like peace and justice and freedom.”

Banksy

Source: Wall and Piece (2007)

“When the time comes to leave, just walk away quietly and don't make any fuss.”

Banksy

Cut It Out (2004)
Source: Wall and Piece

“Fight the fighters, not their wars.”

Banksy

Cut It Out (2004)

“The craft is finding a decent drainpipe to get access to the site as much as it is in the art… Van Gogh used short, stumpy brush strokes to convey his insanity - I use short, thin ledges above mainline train tracks.”

Banksy

Evening Post, 2004 (taken from "Home Sweet Home - Banksy's Bristol" by Steve Wright)
Other sources
Source: Wall and Piece

“I've never really understood why people sleep. Wasting a third of your life and becoming vulnerable for almost 8 hours every night. Doesn't seem very appealing to me.”

Banksy

“There's no way you're going to get a quote from us to use on your book cover.”

Banksy

Metropolitan Police Spokesperson
Source: Wall and Piece (2005)

“If you have a statue in the city centre you could go past it every day on your way to school and never even notice it, right. But as soon as someone puts a traffic cone on its head, you've made your own sculpture.”

Banksy

“People seem to think that if they dress like a revolutionary, they don't actually have to behave like one.”

Banksy

Cut It Out (2004)
Source: Wall and Piece

“Be positive, patient and persistent.”

Banksy

“We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“I got home at last and crawled into bed next to my girlfriend. I told her I'd had an epiphany that night [about using stencils] and she told me to stop taking that drug 'cos it's bad for your heart.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“The human race is an unfair and stupid competition. A lot of runners don't even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water. Some runners are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side. It's not surprising a lot of people have given up competing altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk food and shout abuse. What we need in this race is a lot more streakers.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“[I first picked up a spray can] the day someone ram-raided the Halfords round the corner from our house.”

Banksy

Venue magazine (taken from "Home Sweet Home - Banksy's Bristol" by Steve Wright)
Other sources

“The Art we look at is made by only a select few. A small group create, promote, purchase, exhibit and decide the success of Art. Only a few hundred people in the world have any real say. When you go to an Art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires…”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“The thing I hate the most about advertising is that it attracts all the bright, creative and ambitious young people, leaving us mainly with the slow and self-obsessed to become our artists.. Modern art is a disaster area. Never in the field of human history has so much been used by so many to say so little.”

Banksy

taken from Adbusters magazine
Other sources

“Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas everyday, we read novels by the millions, and buy records by the billions. 'We the people' affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2007)

“Writing graffiti is about the most honest way you can be an artist. It takes no money to do it, you don't need an education to understand it and there's no admission fee.”

Banksy

(Tristan Manco. Stencil Graffiti)
Other sources

“T. V. has made going to the theatre seem pointless, photography has pretty much killed painting but graffiti has remained gloriously unspoilt by progress.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“Conversations don't get any better as you get older.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“I used to tell everyone I meant to be an artist….. I don't do that any more.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“We don’t need any more heroes; we just need someone to take out the recycling.”

Banksy

Wall and Piece (2005)

“I pretty much use sketchbooks to note down great ideas of somebody else I've just had. A good sketchbook means you don't actually need to bother with having a memory yourself. You can get away with a fair bit of substance abuse if you always carry a notepad and a sharp pencil around with you.”

Banksy

from "Street Sketchbook" by Tristan Manco
Other sources

“When the paintings suddenly started going for, like, really big money it definitely weirded me out, and I kind of went away to the middle of nowhere and I stopped making any more paintings. But the whole time the auction houses were just selling paintings that I’d done years before and sold for not much money. Or paintings that I traded for a haircut or, you know, an ounce of weed and they were going for like 50 grand.”

Banksy

lightly edited
Other sources

“Nearly a hundred pictures are featured here. Each and every one of them a pathetic cry for help.”

Banksy

The Guardian
Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall (2001)

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