banksy / brand / underground

"The art to it is not getting picked up for it, and that's the biggest buzz at the end of the day because you could stick all my shit in the Tate Modern and have an opening with Tony Blair and Kate Moss on Rollerblades handing out vol-au-vents and it wouldn't be as exciting." ...once said banksy - britain's most celebrated graffity artist....

he had been opposing the corporate branding and became his own brand in the process...in the last few years, he has designed the cover of the Blur album, Think Tank, and has had gallery shows in britain and also has a shiny_covered book to his credit...

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i came across a fake (/?) banksy in a quiet street in vienna...and wondered if he has become a globalised brand (underground/commercial)...and chose it as an occasion to put forth some thoughts about the conundrum facing the underground: is it preferable to spread the good work - even via the commercial culture industry - or to stay small and pure and avoid ''selling out''...

while the accusation of ''selling out'' seems sometimes just an elitist defense of the pure, bohemian ghetto, its not always so simple... the manner in which the opening up of the underground culture is taking place, the concern that in the process of popularization the real message of the underground - as an alternative to the consumer cultural world - will get lost is a valid one...