How Banksy saved art history

Art critic Grovier (A New Way of Seeing) offers an admiring survey of artist Banksy's provocative dialogues with some of history's most famous paintings, sculptures, and murals. With a mural unveiled in 2015 in Calais, France, Banksy updated Théodore Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa--a "tragic seascape" featuring starving survivors of a shipwreck--with a luxury yacht in the distance and the tagline "We're Not All in the Same Boat." It was a rebuke, according to the author, of the French government for the "squalid and overcrowded" conditions in the country's refugee camps. Turning a critical eye to the links between modern religion and capitalism, Banksy drew on Plautilla Nelli's The Crucifixion to wryly critique capitalism in the 2004 mural Christ with Shopping Bags--in Banksy's rendering, Jesus levitates in a crosslike pose weighed down by shopping bags in each hand, suggesting that Christmas consumerism distracts from "the visceral horror at the heart of the Christian story." Though Grovier overstates his case at times, his conceit, which features side-by-side reproductions of the works discussed, is effective, and the point that art "alters the past every bit as much as it shapes the future" is well-taken. The result is a captivating if overly effusive celebration of an enigmatic artist. Photos. (Oct.)

Hypermodern alt-art works best when fully aware of its lineage, says this study. The artist Banksy has always been an oddity. His works appear in public spaces but he is determined to remain anonymous. He is applauded as a creative entrepreneur but he disdains the established art world. Cultural critic Grovier sets out to unravel Banksy's work and to understand how and why he has risen out of the morass of underground art. The key, Grovier says, is Banksy's deep understanding of the history of European art, coupled with his willingness to reference and parody some of its most famous pieces. Grovier employs a simple technique to make his point, placing an image of the original work alongside Banksy's derivation of it, with a short explanatory essay. A prehistoric cave painting becomes a quasi-graffiti piece, except that the caveman is pushing a shopping cart. Michelangelo'sDavid wears a flak jacket, and Degas' petite ballerina is now equipped with a gas mask. The pathetic survivors in Gericualt'sThe Raft of the Medusa are transformed into desperate asylum seekers trying to hail a passing luxury yacht. In one of the most ironic pieces, Warhol's Campbell's soup can emerges (with a strange inside-out drollness) as an economy Brand X soup can. Some of these are satirical fun, while others have a tragic undertone hidden by the apparent roughness of the execution. Grovier does a good job of providing context, and readers who are familiar with Banksy's work will become aware of an extra dimension. Those who have only heard of Banksy's name may be pleasantly surprised to find that there is more to him than meets the eye. Thought-provoking images and insightful text delve into the humor and resonance of Banksy's work. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.