Girl with Balloons
Street art has become a popular way for artists to express their ideas about society through their public displays of art. Banksy is a well known street artists that displays controversial and political artworks. Banksy work “girl with balloons” is painted on the Israeli West Bank Barrier Wall, which is a security and separation barrier which is still under construction. Which is almost considered a modern day Berlin Wall. The placement of this image is art, not the artwork itself. If Banksy had used this exact image and placed it somewhere else it wouldn’t have the same effect.
Banksy intentions where to make a statement about the relationship between the two cultures. The West Bank Barrier wall is a wall that separates the Israelis from the Palestinians who are having cultural wars with each other. With the use of the young girl flying to freedom it makes people think about their freedom, whether someone who would walk past it or someone looking at it on the internet. Banksy hasn’t used any special techniques to construct his artwork, jus t simply spray cans and a stencil. Anyone could do this.
Banksy artwork “girl with balloons” is simple, but is full of symbolism and meaning. The fact that in this foreign country to him he was able to illeagally put up this artwork without permission shows a sign of the lack of security. The choice of balloons is interesting. Making it seem like if only it were so simply just to float over. But to an adult if only it was that easy. A clown will use balloons to create animals and give them to children. Although lifeless and inanimate, they become somthing real to a childs imagination.
Banksy has highlighted the religious troubles that are happening at the moment along the West Bank Barrier Wall. With the use of a simply yet effective artwork, banksy has doubt got people thinking. Banksy placement is the key to this image which inevitably makes it “art”. If the same picture was painted somwhere else it wouldn’t have the same meaning.
Culture divide Young child escaping to freedom · How have contemporary and issues challenged traditional understandings of artworks and their significance? So people may not consider street art to be art. How does the choice or presentation of subject matter or medium, materials and techniques reflect or challenge artistic or social traditions? Spray cans public property · What is the impact of dynamic media applications and other emerging art forms on the viewer such as video, digital, projection, installation, interactive, street art, sound and performance art? · How do these art forms differ from traditional ideas of viewing and experiencing object- based art in museums and galleries? · How might artworks of the past take on new or different meanings, in the context of contemporary ideas and issues?
