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New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#291

Post by [deleted] »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #245
forgotusername6 wrote: post #4

I think it's a reasonable statue. But does anyone else think it's a bit obvious, more so than his other work? Like there is no doubt on the meaning at all, it's all right there on the surface level.

Strong disagree. First, like many of the other comments mention, Banksy is known for being clever and witty, but not particularly subtle. But more to the point, while you may think the meaning is a bit obvious, the fact that the flag is unadorned (which/whose flag is it?), and the man is unknown, makes me think this statue could be the ultimate Rorschach test. I'm sure there are tons of people thinking "Ha ha, this i…

[deleted]

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#292

Post by hristov »

forgotusername6 wrote: post #4

I think it's a reasonable statue. But does anyone else think it's a bit obvious, more so than his other work? Like there is no doubt on the meaning at all, it's all right there on the surface level.

If you want to make a political message it often helps to be obvious. This way the meaning of your message will not be misinterpreted either intentionally or un-intentionally.

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#293

Post by AngryData »

sourcegrift wrote: post #261

This seems like more bigotry against marginalized individuals and shouldn't be celebrated. The message here is that (the few) elites helping build a progressive society are doing it wrong.

What elites are pushing for a progressive society? Doubling down on rule by capital holders isn't progressive, we have already seen it before.

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#294

Post by arduanika »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #245
forgotusername6 wrote: post #4

I think it's a reasonable statue. But does anyone else think it's a bit obvious, more so than his other work? Like there is no doubt on the meaning at all, it's all right there on the surface level.

Strong disagree. First, like many of the other comments mention, Banksy is known for being clever and witty, but not particularly subtle. But more to the point, while you may think the meaning is a bit obvious, the fact that the flag is unadorned (which/whose flag is it?), and the man is unknown, makes me think this statue could be the ultimate Rorschach test. I'm sure there are tons of people thinking "Ha ha, this i…

> the fact that the flag is unadorned (which/whose flag is it?), and the man is unknown, makes me think this statue could be the ultimate Rorschach test

This is part of what's obvious. The whole thing, including this oooh aahh Rorschach part, is obvious. It's thoughts that we all had in high school, and it is hack.

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#295

Post by ninjagoo »

gopperl wrote: post #287
ninjagoo wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's no luck involved in the fact that you were born to your parents, as they were to theirs. Are you claiming to have controlled where and to whom you were born? You did not choose your parents, country, ancestry, class, era, genes, language, or inherited institutions. You may be inseparable from those facts, but you did not earn them. > There's no luck involved in the fact that you were born to your parents >…

[flagged]

  >> Are you claiming to have controlled where and to whom you were born?
  > My parents did. Their parents did. My children will.
But not you

  >> you did not earn them
  > My parents did. Their parents did. My children will.
But not you

  > Everything I have today has been hard-earned by my ancestors.
But not by you

  > Everything my children have will be hard-earned by my ancestors and I. *We* earned them.
LoL

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#296

Post by hristov »

encom wrote: post #91
tommica wrote: post #10

Yeah, definetly had the city agree to it, no way in hell to sneak a statue like that without the cops getting involved.

[flagged]

Reminds me of this great Steward Lee quote (paraphrasing from memory): "When I was young a lot of people accused me of being a champagne socialist. If they only knew how wrong they were. I was a cocaine communist!"

Criticizing someone of being popular is just a way to silence them. If they are popular then they are "cringe", and if they are unpopular, they can be safely ignored and that statue would have been removed by the police and forgotten without any news coverage.

Banksy may be popular, but he is not completely establishment, because well look at the statue. Its an obvious critique of the Iran war, and yet the Iran war still grinds on and UK bases continue to be used for Iran war operations. So apparently there is someone in the establishment that does not agree with Banksy. Someone boldly stepping into the void.

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#297

Post by at-fates-hands »

hristov wrote: post #292
forgotusername6 wrote: post #4

I think it's a reasonable statue. But does anyone else think it's a bit obvious, more so than his other work? Like there is no doubt on the meaning at all, it's all right there on the surface level.

If you want to make a political message it often helps to be obvious. This way the meaning of your message will not be misinterpreted either intentionally or un-intentionally.

His messages were always the same politically. He was always snubbing his nose at the crown, at the art world and other rich folks who would pay millions of pounds for his art. Back in the day when I discovered him, he came off as a rebel, as most graffiti writers do.

Now? He makes millions off his work while still thumbing his nose at capitalism? Doesn't ring the same any more. You can't claim to be fighting against the same system that you use to make millions.

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#298

Post by leourbina »

arduanika wrote: post #294
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong disagree. First, like many of the other comments mention, Banksy is known for being clever and witty, but not particularly subtle. But more to the point, while you may think the meaning is a bit obvious, the fact that the flag is unadorned (which/whose flag is it?), and the man is unknown, makes me think this statue could be the ultimate Rorschach test. I'm sure there are tons of people thinking "Ha ha, this i…

> the fact that the flag is unadorned (which/whose flag is it?), and the man is unknown, makes me think this statue could be the ultimate Rorschach test This is part of what's obvious. The whole thing, including this oooh aahh Rorschach part, is obvious. It's thoughts that we all had in high school, and it is hack.

And yet here here we all are taking about it. Art is about inciting a response, and he’s done it. Whether we think he’s a hack or not is irrelevant - he has the world’s attention.

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#299

Post by arduanika »

jojobas wrote: post #270
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #17

Really makes you think. I guess Palestine and Ukraine should just give up.

You can't seriously put Palestine and Ukraine in the same sentence like this.

Sure he can. Both of them have flags, and all flags are bad. They blow in your face and make you dumb. Why can't world be less dumb? So many dumb flag people. I do art.

Re: New statue in London, attributed to Banksy, of a suited man, blinded by a flag

#300

Post by solenoid0937 »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #297
hristov wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to make a political message it often helps to be obvious. This way the meaning of your message will not be misinterpreted either intentionally or un-intentionally.

His messages were always the same politically. He was always snubbing his nose at the crown, at the art world and other rich folks who would pay millions of pounds for his art. Back in the day when I discovered him, he came off as a rebel, as most graffiti writers do. Now? He makes millions off his work while still thumbing his nose at capitalism? Doesn't ring the same any more. You can't claim to be fighting against…

> You can't claim to be fighting against the same system that you use to make millions.

You absolutely can though. This is a false dichotomy.

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