Banksy Does New York: ticket giveaway

Elusive, Britain-based street artist Bansky’s month-long “residency” in New York is studied in this upcoming documentary. We’re giving away TEN DOUBLE PASSES to our Australia-based chums. Read the review to find out how to win:

Over the course of a month in October 2013, Banksy and his team took to the streets of New York to secretly create and unveil a collection of public work, ranging from elaborate conceptual stunts to traditional graffiti art. This snappy, fast-paced documentary does a good job in capturing the madness that surrounded his time there.

Obviously, Banksy doesn’t appear in the film. Like, duh. Or maybe he does. Who knows? But anyway, in his absence, the docco uses interviews with fans and art critics, along with Youtube footage to follow the chronology of the residency, which saw the artist cryptically reveal a new piece every day. Some were huge and ambitious, others a call-back to his early work, simple-yet-witty stencil art placed without fanfare on a random wall.

What’s fascinating about the movie is the way it shows Bansky’s work to have evolved into something extraordinary. He has always stated that art belongs out of the galleries and on the streets, and indeed it is truly incredible how the public reacts to his stuff. It is a really interactive experience, from the initial hunt to find the work, to being photographed with it, to people seeing dollar signs and trying/managing to steal it. Whatever you think of Banksy, there is no denying people connect with him.

The highlights of Banksy Does New York include seeing a handful of unsuspecting people buy genuine original pieces of his art for $60 at a sidewalk market stall, while everyone else just walks by. Each of them is worth $250k now. Not a bad investment, especially for the guy who bought four just because he needed something to put on the walls of his new apartment. It was also interesting to see the differing opinions from the established art scene. Some love him, some hate him. Some brush him off as an irrelevance, which kinda shows how out of touch with the common person certain parts of the Art World are.

Overall, the movie demonstrates how clever Banksy is as an artist, a businessman and a brand. Everything he does has a sense of wit about it and this film does a good job of matching that tone.

Banksy Does New York is released on 23rd April 2015 and, thanks to our mates at Madman Entertainment, we’re giving away ten double passes to our Australia-based readers. All you have to do is answer one simple question. Click the below button or follow this link to enter. 

The film is playing at: Dendy Newtown, Cinema Nova, Palace Centro, Palace Eastend, Luna Leederville and Palace Electric.

Review by Bobby Townsend.