“Every time I paint something, I discover that Blek le Rat has already done it, just 20 years earlier!”. For example, the mark of Blek le Rat is a little rat made with stencils, very similar to the rats often illustrated by Banksy.

These similarities are very small but, they are palpable. We thus find Blek le Rat, French stencilist using graffiti since the beginning of the 1980s as well as Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Parisian plastic artist contributing to the urban scene for more than 30 years. Among them, artists that have been admired and that are admired to this day, people that have made a major difference in the world of contemporary art. In general, we can say that demoralizing inspires him greatly but, in depth, we note in his works some similarities with those of other artists sharing the same vision. Banksy also said, “If you feel dirty, insignificant or unloved, then rats are a good role model.Banksy's inspirations Artists who obviously inspired him InfluencesĪlthough information remains very limited on this, Banksy is said to have some sources of inspiration very different. The rats can also be read as a metaphor for the unstoppable force from the streets that is graffiti. He said, “The son of a photocopier technician, trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti art during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s.” Banksy’s rats are one of his most recognizable motifs from early in his career and are a nod to Blek Le Rat, a famous graffiti artist in France who Banksy was inspired by. According to Tristan Manco - a street art expert - Banksy was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England.

His style and political messages have, ironically, been wholeheartedly embraced by the very type of people he mocks.ĭespite his renown, Banksy’s identity is still shrouded in mystery. Banksy has gone from a teenage tagger to a well-known artist making multi-million dollar art which is often imitated but never duplicated.

He’s especially known for his stencil art style and satirical artworks which often take on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. Banksy is an anonymous British artist specializing in graffiti street art.

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