Banksy: The man behind the wall by Will Ellsworth-Jones

Banksy: The man behind the wall by Will Ellsworth-Jones is one of the newest books about Banksy, if not the newest biography of the street artist. If you search the internet for Banksy images, you'll realize that you already know his art. Though unofficial, this biography seems to be very thorough in regards of the artist's career. Since Pest Control, Banksy's P.R. firm, didn't accept to make the book official, we can all assume that it's based just on the author's research.

I have to admit that I was familiar with his work, but I had very little knowledge of how he became famous and how famous he really is. Since people cut out entire walls with his stencils in order to sell them for profit, we can imagine that he's pretty popular. This book is about  UK street art and how graffiti became the what it is today in Britain: a subculture of artists with strict rules, but who make art for art's sake. Most of them anyway... So the question is: a graffiti artist who sells his work is still a graffiti artist or just a sell-out? The opinions are mixed and Banksy appears to be the main catalyst of this dispute.

While reading the book I had to actually watch a couple of movies, that were mentioned there. One was about the feud between Banksy and King Robbo (another graffiti artist) - Graffiti wars  and Banksy's movie with Brainwash (pop-culture artist) - Exit Through the Gift Shop. Both movies were very interesting and both of them left me with a sour taste in my mouth, because I felt that the art world was both shallow and fake. Nothing is new, everything is simply modified and sold to gullible people who want to actually own a 100 pound poster of a rat (or 2 gay cops kissing - which is actually pretty cool).

I cannot deny the fact that the book was interesting and very enjoyable, especially combined with those two movies. Word of advice though: read the book and read the chapters about the movies, then watch them. I did it the other way around and it kind of ruined my reading experience. If you are interested in art, or wondering who is the asshole spray-painting your building's walls or simply curious about the rat on the cover, read the book. You'll find a new and wondrous universe you never knew it existed.