After Banksy

Mighty Jaxx and Brandalised,
After BANKSY (Bristol, England, 1975).
"Radar Rat."
Polystone.
In its original box
Measurements: 24,1 x 17,8 x 17,8 cm.

Piece made by Mighty Jaxx in collaboration with Brandalised, inspired by Banksy's iconic stencil art. For 2020, the Year of the Mouse, he carried out the series titled "Rat" which includes three art toys. The first is Radar Rat, which depicts a rat that appears to watch over the neighborhood with a listening device and a tape recorder. The 15 cm polystone art toy comes with a polystone background (24 cm) with a radar-shaped symbol.

Rats, for Banksy, symbolize the marginalized and graffiti writers themselves: they act "without permission", live among urban filth and, despite being despised, have the capacity to "bring civilization to its knees".

Banksy, the British artist whose identity is still unknown, is considered one of the main exponents of contemporary Street Art. According to a study by Queen Mary University of London published in March 2016, Robin Gunningham, a neighbor of Bristol, would be the artist behind Banksy's pseudonym. However, this fact has not been proven, as the artist opted for the privacy of his identity since the beginning of his career. Thus questioning the limits that exist between art and legality, from a new perspective different from that of other graffiti artists. His works address universal themes such as politics, culture or ethics, mostly treated from a satirical and ironic point of view, combining writing with graffiti with the use of stencils, which are stencils previously made, which allow a greater speed when painting in the street. This technique is similar to the one used by Blek le Rat, who started working with stencils in 1981 in Paris. In fact, Banksy acknowledged Blek's influence by stating that "every time I think I've painted something slightly original, I realize that Blek le Rat did it better, only twenty years earlier." Banksy's popularity, has not only been due to his art, but also to the way he conceives and exhibits it. Example of this is the creation of Dismaland in 2016, or the self-destruction of his work at Sotheby's in 2018. Thus demonstrating that his art plays with the concept of the subversive, oscillating between the urban and the market in an ironic way.