1 00:00:07,133 --> 00:00:10,453 Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast 2 00:00:10,573 --> 00:00:11,693 Speaker 1: from News Talks at be. 3 00:00:13,053 --> 00:00:16,853 Speaker 2: This is the age of the individual, right, It's the 4 00:00:16,893 --> 00:00:20,253 Speaker 2: age of the self. It's generation Me Me, Me Me Me, 5 00:00:20,533 --> 00:00:24,773 Speaker 2: an age in which each of us is encouraged by 6 00:00:24,773 --> 00:00:29,413 Speaker 2: a heady mix of technological trends and cultural pressures to 7 00:00:29,453 --> 00:00:34,213 Speaker 2: think of ourselves as unique and special, to treat ourselves 8 00:00:35,053 --> 00:00:40,093 Speaker 2: as a brand. And in a world where every person 9 00:00:40,213 --> 00:00:44,573 Speaker 2: slash brand is competing with everyone else, fame and celebrity 10 00:00:45,373 --> 00:00:48,253 Speaker 2: are often used as a bit of a proxy. It 11 00:00:48,293 --> 00:00:51,893 Speaker 2: is a bit of a measure of status. It's as 12 00:00:51,893 --> 00:00:55,413 Speaker 2: though Banks he saw it coming when he and let's 13 00:00:55,453 --> 00:00:57,573 Speaker 2: just for the sake of this morning, let's assume that 14 00:00:57,813 --> 00:01:00,253 Speaker 2: he's a he. Banks, he's a he. When he first 15 00:01:00,293 --> 00:01:03,853 Speaker 2: started making his subversive street art in the nineteen nineties, 16 00:01:04,053 --> 00:01:06,933 Speaker 2: he decided to make it anonymously. Now I can't say 17 00:01:06,973 --> 00:01:09,213 Speaker 2: for sure why he made that decision, given he was 18 00:01:09,293 --> 00:01:15,373 Speaker 2: graffitiing public places. I presume the original decision might have 19 00:01:15,413 --> 00:01:17,533 Speaker 2: been made for the obvious legal reason to try and 20 00:01:17,573 --> 00:01:21,413 Speaker 2: avoid trouble with the police. But as he's grown into 21 00:01:21,453 --> 00:01:23,613 Speaker 2: one of the biggest artists on the planet, with works 22 00:01:23,733 --> 00:01:27,893 Speaker 2: selling now for tens of millions of dollars. At some point, 23 00:01:28,093 --> 00:01:33,173 Speaker 2: Banks he chose something much greater in assuming the fame 24 00:01:33,253 --> 00:01:36,853 Speaker 2: and individual recognition. He was pulling a middle finger at 25 00:01:36,893 --> 00:01:41,613 Speaker 2: one of the defining phenomenon of the modern age. It's 26 00:01:41,653 --> 00:01:44,293 Speaker 2: not often you will hear me winging about a piece 27 00:01:44,293 --> 00:01:50,293 Speaker 2: of investigative journalism, but Reuter's published an exhaustive investigation this week, 28 00:01:50,333 --> 00:01:56,893 Speaker 2: eight thousand words, which many believe has proved Banksy's identity 29 00:01:57,173 --> 00:02:01,773 Speaker 2: once and for all. They've named him, and look, maybe 30 00:02:01,773 --> 00:02:04,853 Speaker 2: he does prove his identity. But though it was certainly 31 00:02:04,853 --> 00:02:09,133 Speaker 2: a huge journalistic hefret on this occasion, I, for one, 32 00:02:09,973 --> 00:02:14,373 Speaker 2: just don't want to know the truth. It's not that 33 00:02:14,453 --> 00:02:18,573 Speaker 2: I'm not a little bit curious. Hey, I love his work. 34 00:02:18,933 --> 00:02:21,813 Speaker 2: It's probably not very cool to say that these days, 35 00:02:21,813 --> 00:02:24,693 Speaker 2: I mean banks He's not exactly subtle, and when it 36 00:02:24,733 --> 00:02:28,413 Speaker 2: comes to mainstream appeal, he's probably even giving Ed Sheeran 37 00:02:28,493 --> 00:02:30,733 Speaker 2: a run for his money these days. But Banks's funny, 38 00:02:30,733 --> 00:02:35,653 Speaker 2: he's clever, he's political, and whether stenciling, kissing coppers or 39 00:02:35,693 --> 00:02:38,573 Speaker 2: a rioter hurling a bunch of flowers instead of a 40 00:02:38,573 --> 00:02:43,093 Speaker 2: Molotov cocktail, he inverts our world. He's anarchic. Much of 41 00:02:43,133 --> 00:02:47,813 Speaker 2: Banks's work questions authority and oppression. Much of it pokes 42 00:02:47,853 --> 00:02:51,053 Speaker 2: fun at powerful people and powerful institutions. But among his 43 00:02:51,133 --> 00:02:54,773 Speaker 2: many works, some of the very best question all of 44 00:02:54,853 --> 00:02:59,773 Speaker 2: us and what we value. When I lived in New York, 45 00:03:00,253 --> 00:03:02,613 Speaker 2: banks he set up a little street store down the 46 00:03:02,693 --> 00:03:07,453 Speaker 2: road from my apartment and spend today bocking his works. 47 00:03:08,373 --> 00:03:11,533 Speaker 2: Almost everyone assumed they were fakes, right, And it was 48 00:03:11,573 --> 00:03:15,373 Speaker 2: only once he published a video the next day revealing 49 00:03:15,453 --> 00:03:19,613 Speaker 2: the ruse, that thousands of visitors to the Guggenheim Museum 50 00:03:19,693 --> 00:03:22,213 Speaker 2: or the Metropolitan Museum of Art realized that actually they 51 00:03:22,253 --> 00:03:25,373 Speaker 2: had just walked by an opportunity to buy artworks worth 52 00:03:25,493 --> 00:03:29,813 Speaker 2: hundreds of thousands of dollars for less than a hundred bucks. 53 00:03:30,373 --> 00:03:34,573 Speaker 2: And one of those truly epic moments of national pride, 54 00:03:34,693 --> 00:03:38,733 Speaker 2: a woman from Taranaki realized they were legit and ended 55 00:03:38,813 --> 00:03:41,813 Speaker 2: up buying two. She was one of only a handful 56 00:03:41,813 --> 00:03:45,493 Speaker 2: of people who managed to buy them that day. Perhaps 57 00:03:45,533 --> 00:03:49,053 Speaker 2: an even better example of Banksy challenging what we value 58 00:03:49,613 --> 00:03:52,093 Speaker 2: was his work Love Is in the Bin, that incredible 59 00:03:52,133 --> 00:03:54,293 Speaker 2: work that, having sold for a million pounds at a 60 00:03:54,373 --> 00:03:59,773 Speaker 2: glitzy Southereby's bash promptly shredded before the audience of stunned 61 00:03:59,773 --> 00:04:05,493 Speaker 2: auction goers. So who's the real Banksy? Well, if you 62 00:04:05,533 --> 00:04:07,653 Speaker 2: really want to know, it doesn't take much to bring 63 00:04:07,733 --> 00:04:11,733 Speaker 2: up the Reuters investigation. But un least banks is revealed 64 00:04:11,773 --> 00:04:15,013 Speaker 2: to be Elvis, Serena Williams or King Charles himself. I, 65 00:04:15,173 --> 00:04:19,053 Speaker 2: for one, honestly just prefer not to know. After all, 66 00:04:19,093 --> 00:04:23,653 Speaker 2: what's more interesting a fifty something year old bloke from Bristol, 67 00:04:24,533 --> 00:04:28,373 Speaker 2: or arguably the best known living artist on the planet, 68 00:04:28,893 --> 00:04:34,973 Speaker 2: walking among us, unrecognized, unbothered, unharrassed, unphotographed with a stencil 69 00:04:35,173 --> 00:04:37,373 Speaker 2: and a spray can in his backpack looking for his 70 00:04:37,493 --> 00:04:43,613 Speaker 2: next wall. It's funny a we fetishize celebrity, we idolize fame, 71 00:04:44,613 --> 00:04:50,053 Speaker 2: but choosing to stay anonymous is maybe Banksy's single greatest work. 72 00:04:50,733 --> 00:04:53,853 Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live 73 00:04:53,933 --> 00:04:57,253 Speaker 1: to Newstalks B from nine am Saturday, or follow the 74 00:04:57,253 --> 00:04:58,733 Speaker 1: podcast on iHeartRadio.