Is Banksy still relevant in 2020?

It’s hard to find a tourist shop in Britain that doesn’t sell a single Banksy print, or at least a Banksy mug. The elusive artist is equal parts attainable and elitist. A man of the masses, both in his politics and mass licensing agreement, and yet his work can go for millions. Anybody can own a copy of a Banksy, but very few can own the real thing, despite being what some would call vandalism.

Art, after all, is in the eye of the beholder. Banksy’s bold iconography, at times grotesque to hammer in his authoritarian message, isn’t pretty like a Monet or imposing like a Titan. Instead, his work has a brash harshness to it, that forces its viewer to question. As art should.

Depending on who you ask, however, he would be called a vandal over an artist.

Banksy Instalment, 'You Don't Mask, You Don't Get', BBC.com, 2020

Transport for London would agree with those naysayers. A recent Banksy’s instalment, “You Don't Mask, You Don't Get”, was treated in line with their zero-tolerance policy to graffiti, being removed from its new home on the Circle Line within hours of installation. According to the video Banksy posted to his Instagram, the artwork was installed by a man, potentially the mysterious artist himself, disguised as a cleaner to reflect the city’s reaction to the pandemic. According to TFL, the piece had no more value than a gang tag.

It is unsurprising that TFL’s reaction was unpopular, fans of the artist angrily taking to Twitter to defend the work and its poignant message. What most of these fans failed to consider is the cleaner who was responsible for the, arguably, a million-dollar mistake. Banksy says he represents an alternative to the elite art world, a man of the masses who gives art directly to the people. His anti-capitalist, anti-police and anti-government message is all very unitarian, but the consumption of his art is anything but, as this incident proves.

Banksy 'Girl with a Balloon', TheVerge.com, 2018

It’s been the low paid, poorly supported, and often minority workers who have held up Britain during the pandemic. Workers like the cleaner who ‘destroyed’ Banksy’s latest piece, who have worked through a pandemic whilst most have bemoaned lockdown rules and whinged of boredom. To expect a cleaner to show respect for an ‘artist’ who has made their job harder, potentially making them work overtime in a health crisis, suggests Banksy’s admirers have very much missed the point.

It is these people that Banksy says he represents, that his art is meant to help. However, it’s hard not to think that Banksy has very much missed the point too. His art is big money. When, in 2005, he secretly placed artwork in some of the world's most famous galleries to protest the bureaucracy of the art world, his stunt increased the galleries’ visitor numbers. The 2018 shredding of his art piece, ‘Girl with a Balloon’, seemingly a protest of the heady price art was being sold for at auction, increased the price of the piece. His 2015 ‘Dismaland’ demonstrated the inequalities of capitalism, yet generated £30 million for the host town of the interactive installation.

Banksy 'Dismaland', The New Yorker, 2015

There is good intention with all of this, and some may find the resulting work ‘beautiful’ and worthy of his fame. Yet, it’s difficult, at a time when the Tate is being criticized once again for elitism and racism by its striking workers, and the art world at large is being asked to reflect on meaningful diversity, to not feel that Banksy has become a bit irrelevant.

There are real issues that the art world needs to address, as is true for all creative industries. Whilst the mysterious nature of Banksy allows him the protection to attack the art world, despite very much being a part of it, however reluctantly, it also dilutes his message. By remaining faceless, the meaning behind his art lacks conviction, and in a moment where being on the fence is as complicit as being on the side of the oppressor, do we really want to hear his voice?

This may seem like a harsh take on an artist that the world has held up as a rebel and liberal hero since the 1990s, but aren’t we meant to be questioning the norm? The art world has come under fire in recent years for its lack of diversity, nepotism and a number of racial scandals. What the art world needs now, more than ever, is real rebels. Rebels with the conviction to show their face despite knowing the harm it could do to their careers. Rebels who don’t profit from their protests or help the galleries they supposedly oppose. Banksy, in my eyes, no longer fits the bill.

None of this takes away from the art, only the message. Although, some may argue that’s all Banksy has.

We are at a turning point in society where we must make sure we are on the right side of history. If we want to ensure true equality for all, to document it with truth and to pave the path for a fairer future, art will have to play a part in this shift. There is enough room for all in the art world, but that’s not being put into practice by the white elite who run the industry, an elite that Banksy could be considered a part of. It’s time to allow new rebels to take the helm and lead the conversation. It's time to ask if there is still a place for Banksy, with his good intentions that consistently fall short, in this new world. Arguably, it’s time to ask if it’s Banksy’s time to be left out to dry.