Banksy and Grayson Perry are artists known across various areas of the world. Grayson Perry, known as Sir Grayson Perry, was born in England. As a potter, Grayson Perry prioritized producing pieces that spoke on instances of violence and social issues that affected people. Perry is considered to be the face of the British art. Banksy is a renowned street artist whose pieces have been showcased in different parts of the world. The different pieces by Banksy have been presented in various auctions worldwide. However, Banksy’s identity remains a mystery, insinuating that much mystery surrounds his work. Banksy as an artist, has never confirmed his identity, implying that most of his audience is filled with suspicion and questions about who he might be. He often claims his art pieces through his official Instagram page. The priority of work by Banksy is the various societal issues, and they are often centred on making strong political statements. Banksy and Grayson Perry are artists with distinct differences and similarities in how their artistic pieces portray the issues of culture and identity.
Similarities
Sexual Identity
Banksy and Grayson Perry, in their different artistic pieces, fail to shy away from having the difficult conversation about sexuality that society seems to ignore. Grayson Perry is a potter well known for his honest way of presenting himself to his audience, making it easy for them to relate to his identity. In numerous pieces, Perry attempts to question the traditional masculinity put in place in society and how it has lost its meaning over the years. In the early ceramic works by Grayson Perry, the artistic pieces attempt to expound on his struggle with sexuality and gender identity. For instance, in the art piece “In Women of Ideas(1990)”, Perry showcases the oppression that was made apparent in the Victorian era with women being forced to wear gowns and corsets (Klein, 2021). He further makes more ceramic pieces dubbed “Sex, Drugs and Earthenware (1995), where he attempts to present a juxtaposition black and white image of Claire accompanied by crude drawings of hermaphrodites adorned in high heels (Butler, 2020). Claire was an identity Perry had adopted from his curiosity to dress in female clothing. On the other end, Banksy does not shy away from drawing graffiti images of people portraying their sexual identity, an aspect uncommon in society. In his painting “Kissing Coppers(2004)”, Banksy presents an image of two male police officers who are presented to be kissing and holding each other in a loving embrace (Ross et al., 2020). This particular piece by Banksy can be interpreted in several ways, one of which is advocating for the rights of gay people in society by placing two male police officers in such a compromising position. By using police officers to have his attention drawn to gays in society is intriguing as police officers are often the people responsible for working to eradicate gay people in society.
Political culture
Banksy and Grayson Perry are open about their ideologies on the political culture, and this is visible from the different art pieces they make to illustrate this. Banksy describes street and graffiti as a type of revenge that an individual gets and allows them to take back the power that has been taken by the privileged (Ross et al., 2020). In several instances, Banksy has spoken about violence and war. In a recent artistic piece, Banksy made a Union Jack vest that was stabproof that Stormzy had previously worn at an event which is a British artist. Stormzy is an artist who is popularly known for singing against racism and violence in the United Kingdom and painting a vest he wore designed to ridicule the government (Yang & Ryu, 2021). Their artistic abilities of Banksy lie in his prowess in using humour and wit to ensure that his viewers use this to uncover the underlying message in his pieces. He uses art to ensure that he comfortably communicates the different issues that affect individuals in society. His art pieces communicate a message on capitalism, marketing, advertising, politics, and issues surrounding humanity (Yang & Ryu, 2021). In his different pieces, Grayson Perry showcases the importance of democracy in society. In one of his pottery pieces, “Taste and Democracy”, he shows people’s reaction when he gave himself the prestigious Turner Prize in 2003 (Klein, 2021). In this particular piece of art, it is evident that he believed that his win was democratic, a political trait that needs to be emulated in British society. Grayson utilizes all the functional aspects of society to showcase important issues that must be addressed.
Differences
Artistic Identification
Banksy is a unique individual who feels that there is no harm in him being unknown. He argues that his artistic identification should be fine with his artistic vision. He argues that his ability to remain anonymous has greatly contributed to his craft growing (Arantes, 2020). People do not know him, and they are left with making guesses about who he can be, which gives him an opportunity to thrive and produce more art pieces. Most people are surprised by the artist’s anonymity, and they attempt to put a name to him by utilizing the geographical location of his different pieces of work (Ross et al., 2020). A majority of street artists are not anonymous, and they are often public about their identity. Street artists often make drawings on walls, which is considered illegal. However, the different street artists utilize their freedom to express their feelings and what they consider an appropriate measure to be undertaken in society (Mitman, 2019). Conversely, Grayson Perry is a well-known artist known for his ceramic vases and tapestries. Grayson Perry is not an anonymous artist and does not shy away from being known as a public figure. Grayson Perry is known to cross-dress; when asked why, he often has a good reason to explain this (Sabev, 2022). He argues that he dresses like a woman, illustrating how women are treated as second-class individuals. According to him, his art form, pottery, is also viewed as belonging to the second class. A majority of individuals do not view pottery as a serious form of art, and Perry makes numerous attempts to ensure that his craft remains known to most people.
Presentation of The Artistic Pieces
Banksy and Grayson Perry use different channels to portray their art pieces. Banksy is a well-known graffiti artist who portrays his pieces on the wall streets, while Grayson draws his art pieces on ceramics, prints and tapestries, and he often holds exhibitions to portray his art pieces. Banksy, despite being famous, continues to use the street to showcase his different types of art. His chosen type of canvas is the street, where his type of art gets randomly viewed by people (Arantes, 2020). By having his graffiti art on the street, Banksy is assured that his pieces and the message he intends to convey can reach a wider audience. In a guerrilla-style, Banksy’s art can pop out in society and go against the already existing stereotype of graffiti art. By being anonymous, Banksy can take away the notion that by being an artist as he makes his audience prioritize his artwork (Mitman, 2019). Grayson Perry is a well-known potter who does not hide his identity, which plays a crucial role in promoting his art pieces and their ability to reach a larger audience. Perry is considered a familiar face in British contemporary art, and he is known to be an individual who is open to sharing his art pieces with his audience and even showing them the entire process that is involved in creating them (Sabev, 2022). At the moment, most of the art pieces by Grayson Perry are displayed at the Pera,Museum, which is located in Istanbul. To make his work successful, it is said that a majority of his pieces are influenced by a certain aspect of society and also by particular individuals who exist in society(Butler 2020). Perry also produces documentaries in a bid to make individuals understand why he engages in the production of particular pieces of art.
Conclusively, Grayson Perry and Banksy are artists who take up different forms to present their artistic pieces. Grayson Perry is an artist whose works are a common feature in the British contemporary art. His pieces consist of ceramics and sculptures, and he is a well-known potter. His identity is not anonymous, as he does not shy away from his audience being involved in knowing the processes he undertakes in the production of his art pieces. On the other end, Banksy is a street and graffiti artist whose identity is anonymous. Banksy argues that by his identity being anonymous, his audience is tasked with being focused on his art pieces other than discovering his identity. A majority of people attempt to put a name to Banksy by utilizing the physical location of his different art paintings. The two artists have similarities which constitute the message that is communicated, which revolves around political and cultural messages. Another similarity present in the works of the two artists is that they attempt to communicate about sexual identity in society. An evident difference between the two artists is their artistic identification, with one artist being a public figure with another being an anonymous figure. Despite the differences, the two artists have a significant role to play in society.
References
Arantes, R. D. C. B. (2020). Banksy’s Multimodal Representations: A Cultural-Rhetorical-Cognitive Analysis (Doctoral dissertation, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal)). https://www.proquest.com/openview/ed4796005f58204a3e
Butler, D. (2020). Grayson Perry and the recalibration of masculine emotional reactions to vulnerability and healing: (Featuring: Bruce Springsteen, Stormzy, Professor Green and Rio Ferdinand). Journal of analytical psychology, 65(2), 444-463. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12594
Klein, J. (2021). Grayson Perry: An English eccentric on the world stage. ArtAsiaPacific Almanac, 16, 23-28. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.643638744798455
Mitman, T. (2019). Banksy: graffiti has become more valuable for what it is than what it says. The Conversation. https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/3891/1/
Ross, J. I., Lennon, J. F., & Kramer, R. (2020). Moving beyond Banksy and Fairey: Interrogating the co-optation and commodification of modern graffiti and street art. Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, 9(1-2), 5-23. https://doi.org/10.1386/vi_00007_2
Sabev, M. (2022). Grayson Perry. Has Ceramic Art Achieved its Renaissance? https://doi.org/10.54664/PIAF8576
Yang, S., & Ryu, S. (2021). Politics of Affect and Art: Analysis of Banksy’s Graffiti. Archives of Design Research.
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