English 1010 Visual Analysis

 The artist of this work, Banksy, paints mostly political pieces. Things that are going on in the world and what he thinks of them are portrayed in his work. The author’s role-play is a huge part in this picture. Banksy at the time this work was painted was a well-known author. Many of his pieces were valued at a high price and some were even stolen. This is not what he wanted to be done with his art. Banksy’s intended audience is the broad range of pedestrians and motorists who walks or drives by. It is on a wall corner that is publicly accessible to all. This gives the implication that it is for everyone to view, enjoy, and ponder the context and deeper meaning of the work.
The author’s name of this piece is Banksy. Banksy is a legend in the art community from the UK who started out by doing street graffiti. The story of Banksy for a long time was a mystery, as he remained anonymous.  He painted his first piece when he was eighteen years old and realized what he wanted his style to be, stencil. This is a very distinct form of graffiti.  To start he cuts out his stencil that he wants to use and uses that to paint on the wall instead of a freehand approach.
Many of Banksy’s pieces are of something that we all know but with a twist to it. This picture depicts the famous Olympic rings but someone is running off with the red one. One thought about the meaning of this piece is the Governments overspending at the 2012 London Olympics during an economic crisis. This shows the public’s discontent with the Government and the decisions they make on how to spend taxpayer’s money. This piece represents the overreach of governments and their lack of trustfulness in being good stewards of the nation’s wealth.

Most if not all of graffiti is viewed as vandalism. Graffiti is legal, as long as it is on your own property. If graffiti is on public property it is considered vandalism and that is why many people believe that it is not art. Graffiti is a form of art. It takes a certain amount of skill and practice to paint pieces like this one.
In the photograph you can see the painting and around it. The painting itself is of the Olympic rings and a hooded figure running away carrying the red ring with him. All of the rings are in the original colours and the figure is in black and grey. The wall itself is a white wall on what looks like a random street corner. The wall in itself has no significance to the painting only that it is painted for everyone to see as they walk by it.
This is a great paining that represents the people’s point of view on some things. It could be used to relate to many things not just the Olympics. The rings represent the issue or the event that the people see. The hooded man represents what the people take away from the issue or event. It shows that the people can sometimes take away only a piece of the bigger picture and start to make decisions on the issue or event that are not all the way informed. In this view when someone looking at the painting, whomever it may be, can take away something completely different than everyone else who looks at it.

Works Cited:

Ellsworth-Jones, Will. February 2013. Smithsonian.com. 12 September 2014 <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-story-behind-banksy-4310304/?no-ist>.

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