Banksy Does New York * * * *

Half of it is shot on mobile phones or very basic cameras, held by unprofessional photographers, it shakes and falls out of focus, it leaps all over town, it frequently cuts back to a couple who seem to be paid dog-walkers but are constantly driving around in their van and giving their unsophisticated opinion on art,  and for this, I had to pay!?……  Yes, and I so much enjoyed this film I would happily pay again.

In 2013 the legendary street artist Banksy announced he was visiting New York City for a month, and that each day he would do a different work.  Thirty one pieces through the month of October. He wouldn’t say where he would do each piece or what it would be. But the following day he would post it on Instagram. After that, the hunt was on! Each day, thousands of New Yorkers would  be looking for it and asking where, in this enormous city, is the new Banksy piece?  Each day the piece could range from something very small to an enormous complex installation.  Fortunately, whoever was first on the scene always filmed it (except one where the building owner wiped it first).  

But not all the hunters are fans. Many are gold diggers and opportunists.  For the few that don’t know, Banksy is totally anonymous.  In the twenty odd years he has been painting, his face has never been published.  There are no photos of him. Yet his street art is worth hundreds of thousands.  That which was given for free, painted on a wall for all to enjoy, is now collectible.  Very few stay where they are supposed to be.  They are ripped down with jackhammers and angle-grinders, claimed, and put into galleries.  What Banksy doesn’t seem to do is capitalise on his own work.  He just does them and walks away from them.  A Banksy can sell for over half a million dollars and he’s just as likely to paint one on the side of your house as anywhere else.  The world is his studio.  In fact a couple of the pieces he did were whitewashed or painted over within an hour or two.  As far as the the building owner was concerned he was just cleaning up after those damn graffiti kids.  He didn't realise it was a Banksy and  wiped away a gift of $100K.  So it goes.  Contrariwise it was a uplifting to see his work fall into the hands of those who could really benefit from the gift that was left in the night.   It's like Banksy is writing his own Fairy-tale of New York.  Beyond all the treasure hunt hoppla though is the art itself and Banksy's work is just fabulous: moving, intelligent, funny, captivating, thought provoking:  It’s all that art should be and more.  No wonder people want to keep it to themselves. How ironic.

This is a great documentary put together by Chris Moukarbel from the videos of hundreds people who were among the first there each day with their phone cameras etc.  We are indebted to them too.