Art is important. Art moves us and shows us the world. Art gives us a new gateway that we take, which basically shows us that the world isn’t as we thought it to be. Artists are known to be people who are often eccentric and sometimes disconnected. Some artists have become legends, living or dead. The living ones are rarer.

That makes the artist Banksy even more important because his work is legendary. Banksy is a street artist who surfaced in the UK in the 1990s and started changing the street art scene. Here is why his art is so important.

Who is Banksy?

This is the question that everybody wants to answer, and definitely the authorities. All jokes aside, while illegal street art was problematic and still is, to be frank, at some point, artists who were known as street artists started doing commissions, which basically made their art legal.

Banksy surfaced at some point in the 1990s in Bristol. His art was challenging and had plenty of social commentaries, which the authorities didn’t find to their taste. Obviously, no authority figure likes it when the people show flaws in their rule and particularly if that was done in an illegal way.

As to who Banksy is as a person, nobody knows. Some people point to individuals, while some think that Banksy is actually a group of people. Most actually want him to remain anonymous, because the person isn’t important, or rather, the art they produce speaks more than their given name ever would.

Why is Banksy’s Art Important To Us?

Banksy’s art is often considered contemporary, in a way that can help regular people understand contemporary art. Yes, an artist can get a blurry image with a couple of colored lines, but not everybody can. Banksy’s art is pretty straightforward when it comes to telling a story and giving us a message.

The messages are often social commentary and they refer to current situations in the country, namely the UK, more specifically, England, or often countries where there is conflict.

Humanitarian Efforts

Banksy is not just a figure who does great street art that moves a lot of people, but also a humanitarian who cares for the people who are in trouble. He was involved in projects that helped Palestinians in the 2000s and has most recently helped refugees from North Africa by painting the boat which is rescuing them pink, as well as adding a girl who has a heart-shaped float.

Banksy also made a painting that was sold for about 14 million pounds to help charities during the height of the 2020 pandemic outburst.

Banksy is an important figure for art and everybody else in the world. Banksy is the voice of the people, in a sense.