Statue of a man blinded by a flag put up by Banksy in central London

Worse than a void because a void is not necessarily bad. Walking “off a cliff” rarely ends well.

Not sure we think of Banksy as being particularly subtle. Innovative and impactful, sure - but the message is usually quite clear, no?

I don't think most of his work is trying for subtle? First thing that came to mind: "Slave Labour" is pretty obvious, it's a kid operating a sewing machine to make Union flags and it was painted on an actual pound shop. Were you unsure of the message? Even something like "Silent Majority" isn't difficult, the comic book "V for Vendetta" makes the exact same point just Banksy painted it as a mural.

> "in September 2025, Banksy painted a mural on the Royal Courts of Justice depicting a judge bludgeoning a protester with a gavel"

His other works aren't subtle.

it gets people talking which many of those who like it consider to be the primary point. In other words, it's not great public art, it's basically government approved engagement bait or engineered pro-establishment viral messaging and it's very successful at that! (but it doesn't inspire and elevate that art should aspire to)

This one definitely lacks ambition compared to other works. Probably because his other work had a subversive undertone, this one seems sponsored by the powers that be. I also suspect it was installed with cooperation from the local authorities.

Certainly in America but all over the west, people are significantly less capable of media literacy. Sometimes the obvious needs to be said.

> there is no doubt on the meaning at all

Which flag? Or, what kind of flag? Or does it matter?

Have you seen the state of the world? Why would you go through the trouble of being subtle nowadays?

I think a good old fashined "we are all fucked" is warranted now and again.

It's also referencing the recent flag controversies in the UK over the past year.

it's less than mediocre art. Using the following statue from Temu for vandalism would be a stronger art statement: https://www.temu.com/1pc-3d-printed-bride-sculpture-elegant-...

Yes doesn’t feel very innovative

Well the problems it's referencing are glaringly obvious as well, and yet so many people still refuse to acknowledge them.

He's always been one to land a one-liner, or just a punch line.

Sadly, in this day and age, that simple one-punch obvious meaning is just what's needed.

I have the same reaction to Banksy, and figure he and his audience just have to be in on the joke? I can’t discount there’s some layered irony going on in conversation between the artist and the intellectual / capitalist / trend-setting elite that are his effective patrons.

“I remember when all this was trees” [1] is maybe the best example. Detroit hasn’t been “trees” in something like two centuries. Platitudes doused in treacle.

[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/10/01/ba...

The actual headline is more coherent but I'm not too fond of it either.

You really don't see any good ol' fashioned short and sweet headlines that read best to the ear in a Mid-Atlantic accent anymore.

I was like, that's horrible how did this flag cause someone to go blind... Did it like fall on the guy when Banksy was putting it up? oh. duh...

I'm not sure what you mean by "Those in power" there are lot's of people who know, but recognise that he has chosen anonymity and see no value in putting a name to the person.

It's not so much a secret as it is simply not public.

Tracking Bansky is a favorite spy software sales demo given to authoritarian governments.

Who cares? Are you similarly triggered by The Rock or Alemao? Banksy is Banksy.

The point appears to have whizzed a couple of feet over your head.

"Blinded by nationalism" I don't know, seems like a clear concise message that has relevance in today's world.

Are you from the UK and know what the piece is a reference to? It’s topical and unpretentious and comes at a time where the country is splintering. Feels a like a bit of a distant midwit take to take shots at the appeal it has.

Most galvanizing statements have been pithy and comprehensible to 13 year olds. The general population is not doing a deep dive in to something like Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government,” contemplating the proper role of government, and then getting fired up to act. We need CliffsNotes, slogans, and visible art like this.

Heaven forbid someone tries to communicate a point with art.

The irony is that the statue is being guarded by the London police.

I think it deserves credit for being both simple and original.

So, you are 14 and you understand the world? Doesn't seem like it

It doesn't need to be super layered to be impactful?

Plus the execution is also part of the art.

Actually it’s a great example of something different, where the person who was original and eventually becomes ubiquitous and groundbreaking and widely imitated to the point where it's hard to understand just how original they actually are.

There are many examples of the same thing: Andy Warhol and the soup cans and screen-printed portraits with different color backgrounds or Led Zeppelin and English folk hard rock songs that have hobbits in them are two of them.

Eventually, it's hard to even process their work in the context of how predictable and trite it seems to be a few decades later.

Account created last year, is Banksy your patron saint?

This works really well these days, when the average person is 13.

Really riles up PE types and "patriots" though.

He's also king of the "I'll criticize the west but I'll turn a blind-eye to non-democratic countries' wrongdoings". A trait shared with virtually all intellectuals and artists in the west.

There are fights worth fighting: for example there are 300 million women alive who have undergone forced genital mutilation. 300 million ain't cheap change. There are also hundreds of millions of people who applauded the killing of 1200 young civilians who were enjoying life at a music festival "because it's resistance".

Applauding the killing of young unarmed civilians, genitally mutilating women and turning a blind-eye to a regime slaughtering 30 000+ of its own unarmed civilians is where I personally draw the line and consider there are maybe more important things to complain about than, say, "the patriarchal western society built by heterosexual white men" or some other woke non-sense like that.

Now to be honest Banksy did art criticizing war overall, not just war started by the west. So a generous reading could consider that he also criticizes things like the 800 000 deaths during the Hutu vs Tutsi war.

But still overall: lots of balls from western artists when it's about criticizing the west, but tiny tiny nuts when it's about, say, attacking the ideology that is responsible for 300 people enjoying music at the Bataclan and then getting slaughtered.

But these people can live with their own conscience: I speak up and I've got mine.

This criticism would carry more weight if the people this statue criticises had the intellectual and emotional maturity beyond that of a teenager.

Unfortunately, they often don't meet that bar, so the message has to be in a form they can understand.

> Banksy is the patron saint of the “I’m 13 and this is deep” mentality.

You are wrong.

Maybe, but in 100 years, people looking back on the current era will easily understand the work. It symbolically communicates something about the spirit of the age.

The pillar is fiberglass too, I believe.

There's a (mostly terrible) documentary about a previous bansky "statue" deposited in London that, in one of its better moments, tracks down the people who actually make statues for artists like banksy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Banksy_Job

edit: I feel I should clarify that this is not an official Banksy documentary. He made "Exit Through the Gift Shop" which is an amazing film which I highly recommend to anyone.

Yeah. The safety of the message is underwritten by its state sanction.

The trick is not to sneak it. Hi Viz and some yellow flashing lights. Couple smooth talkers.

Apparently not:

  Westminster City Council has told the BBC it did not grant permission, as it was not given advance warning that Banksy's team was planning this installation.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4pvyw82exo

Council permits are usually quite public (in my country). Sneaking it in becomes part of the artwork.

Agreed. Also why it's totally inoffensive

(Though it's not in /the/ City of London. That wouldn't happen in a million years! City of Westminster is way more culturally flexible)

Banksy (Robin Gunningham) is the most mainstream establishment artist, while thinks himself a counter-culture revolutionary. That's what makes him so cringe. He's just another champagne socialist.

How so? The concept of the 'blindness' of justice is antithetical to blind patriotism.

So many people connect this to political topics... For me this is the genius thing about the statue. Seems to be, that quite a lot people are so wrapped up in political debates and political positions, that it has to have political meaning. Maybe this statue is the exact opposit thing of a political message.

Is it that important to decode what author thought when he was making it?

What if the design was made by generative model, does the statue become more or less valuable?

I don't think it's impotent at all.

I think you're wildly overestimating the general population's capacity for nuance.

Particularly in a world where nuance goes the same way as wood logs near a fire place.

Are you trying to be ironic?

Yet us talking about it just prompted me to consider how that applies to my life, so something good came of it :)

The one he's carrying.

Any flag.

Whoooosh

And others in this thread were worried about it being too obvious ... ffs

I can't get over the flag itself… It's a black flag. Not a British flag, not a white flag,… A BLACK flag.

Historically, the black flag is strongly associated with anarchism, anti-state politics, revolt, and rejection of national authority.

Had he colored it in the union jack, then I would've said it was nationalism, and the person is blinded by nationalism.

But. This is Banksy, black-and-white Banksy, so there may be no symbolism behind the black flag, but it's just very interesting. I can't accept that he would not have considered the color of the flag.

Really makes you wonder about other things as well...

Yes. This is state-sanctioned think. They probably paid to put it up!

That evil city council..

There's no definitely about that at all. The city of Westminster issued a statement that seems fairly clear that they were as surprised as everybody else but are taking steps to protect it.

He posts on his Instagram to verify authenticity: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXwf7pis6KT

If you want to know authenticity, you submit to https://pestcontroloffice.com/auth1.asp -- they verify / deny, and that is the final word.

His agent would tell the media that your vandalism is not genuine

Don't be part of anything bigger than yourself that treats you as expendable human oil.

You forgot to add:

... that blinds you to any alternative; that indoctrinates distrust in different perspectives; that elevates the humanity of fellow believers above others.

much more sound advice than you think…

Counterpoint: Where I come from, families don't have flags.

Well, for a failing artist he is quite impactful, isn't he? News around the world reporting about it. People discussing it. This seems to be quite inspiring and anything else but failing.

Got you to comment, job done. Engagement: tick.