Basquiat, Bansky and the Power of Discourse

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Basquiat, Banksy and the Power of Discourse

Creativity occurs within the context of society: this is unavoidable as even artists who view themselves as outside of the 'mainstream' are constructs of society: their social construction of reality is inevitably grounded in the discourse and belief structures of the society they inhabit and were formed by, however much they choose to struggle. Indeed, philosophers such as Foucault argue that it is impossible to escape one's own society due to the effects of language and meaning being so closely intertwined. Within the context of our own society post-modernist art, especially film making, seeks to undermine the dictates of broader society in relation to meta-narratives – yet to make movies that can be easily inserted into the market costs money. Here I discount mass-market pulp-fiction success such as 'Paranormal Activity' as these are not aiming to be an expression of pure art. Those movies that aim to have a story that challenges the 'norms', that undermines the capitalist/materialist meta-narrative of the major movie production houses therefore face a struggle that in some ways parallels the struggle that young artists themselves face. This struggle can, for young artists just as much as for any citizen, be a stressor that leads to drugs and death.

Street art is a classic example of how art can express a 'zeitgeist', art as immediate expression of feeling and rage. Rage against the meta-narrative, rage against lack of opportunity and rage against the dead hand of conformist art leaving mediocrity as a handprint. Both Banksy and Basquiat form part of this virtually neo-anarchist emergent art discourse. Basquiat used challenging social commentary to “springboard to deeper truths abo...

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...s between the artists and the movies are clearly delineated. Its unlikely Banksy has never tried drugs (who knows?) but has done so in the context of a different construction of reality and thus this difference is also to be found in the movies. Long lives difference!

Works Cited

Burr, Ty, "Exit Through the Gift Shop: Writing’s on the wall: In ‘Exit,’ street art scene becomes a farce", The Boston Globe, 23 April 2010

Laurent Kretzschmar 2002. "Is Cinema Renewing Itself?". Film-Philosophy 6

Marc Mayer (ed) Basquiat, 2005, Merrell Publishers in association with the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn. Paper

Kenneth Turan. "Movie Reivew: Basquiat: The Tortures of Creative Life" Los Angeles Times, Friday August 9, 1996. http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie960809-2,0,6464898.story

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exit_through_the_gift_shop/

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