Banksy claims new graffiti with rare, apparent self-reflection

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2 days ago

Palestinians pass graffiti of an Israeli soldier checking the identity card of a donkey, on Israel's separation wall in the biblical town of Bethlehem, West Bank, on December 23, 2019. File photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo
June 1 (UPI) -- The famed anonymous street artist Banksy has claimed credit for new graffiti that is believed to offer a rare moment of introspection and vulnerability by the artist.
The new graffiti was claimed by Banksy on his Instagram account last week and depicts a painted black lighthouse with white beams of light extending horizontally from it as well as the stenciled white text. "I want to be what you saw in me."
The street artist used a real metal bollard in the foreground as part of the artwork. The bollard's shadow is cast onto the wall, aligned with the base of the painted lighthouse, creating a sort-of three-dimensional effect.
While Banksy's true identity remains unconfirmed, he is widely believed to be a white British male from Bristol, active since the early 1990s, possibly a man named Robin Gunningham. His work has often been political and aimed at critiquing societal power structures and politics, as well as commenting on consumerism and the concept of surveillance.
With his access, the artist has been able to make his galvanizing work even in war-torn Ukraine and in Gaza.
But Banksy has faced a slew of recent criticism suggesting that his work is starting to lose its edge.
For example, a Sky News article last year questioned if the public was falling out of love with Banksy after the lukewarm reception of his recent animal-themed murals in London.
"While Banksy's messages have always been anti-capitalist, many of his works have brazenly succumbed to the very workings of capitalism. So it is difficult to know what exactly the artist's intentions are," Lala Singian wrote in an article published by Asia News Network after a recent museum exhibition of his work.
The presence of Banksy's graffiti can also pose challenges for property owners: a mural in London last year was defaced quickly after it went up, the building housing his big Brexit mural was demolished, and another on a farmhouse was accidentally demolished, and plans to renovate a mural located on Venice's Grand Canal faced backlash from artists.
Because the artist rarely discusses his work, it can be hard to ascertain his true intentions with the most recent work. In an op-ed, Hyperallergic criticized the work as a "beacon of nope" and called it a "bit jarring" to see him refer to himself in first-person and self-conscious.
"But even with all of that," journalist Rhea Nayyar wrote for the online art magazine, "the work comes across as overly sentimental for something so ... empty? So obvious?"