Mavericks, Becker says, are those who push the boundaries of their forms and expand conventions. Simply put, people paying sufficient attention to a Banksy (or indeed any artwork) makes it a spectacle, which grants it legitimate commercial value.īut Banksy’s work also has value because of something essential – what sociologist Howard Becker would call its “maverick” qualities. Debord would say Banksy’s value is achieved through the attention his work receives, and how that collective attention reflects off his art and back onto the audience as evidence that the work is inherently valuable. French philosopher Guy Debord wrote about the “society of the spectacle” in 1967 but his ideas are very relevant to Banksy today.
First, because people pay attention to it. But sociologically speaking Banksy’s work is valuable for two reasons.
The debate over whether artworks like this should be moved and placed in museums is overshadowed by the prestige and prosperity that possessing a Banksy can bring to a city, and the associated tourism money that comes with it. But Brandler owned the work, and wanted it as a centrepiece for SAM, which will attract visitors, so in it went. Sure, street art can still be powerful and beautiful in a gallery, but an essential piece of it is lost by disconnecting it from its natural setting and locking it in a confined and controlled space. Some say that privatising street art is counter to the nature of the form, that graffiti in a museum is like a tiger in a cage. Residents were happy, but a few still wondered if graffiti or street art belongs in a museum at all. He has guaranteed its exhibition there for the next three years and even promised locals free entry. But Brandler has moved the work to a new Street Art Museum (SAM) in the town, alongside works by other famous street artists such as Blek le Rat and Pure Evil. The decision to sell the Banksy sparked some controversy, with the most prominent concern being that Brandler would take the work away from Port Talbot, removing a valuable tourist draw. And by January 2019 there was so much interest in it that art dealer John Brandler paid a “ six-figure sum” for the graffiti. The piece, titled “Season’s Greetings”, very quickly brought thousands of visitors to the town. On the side of a garage in Port Talbot, south Wales, a new Banksy artwork appeared.
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