Banksy: Out of CONTEXT

I PXL U, a unique photo sharing platform, and BANKROBBER, in partnership with Art Miami & CONTEXT, have gathered a selection of five original street works by the world-renowned guerrilla artist known as Banksy for the exhibition “Banksy: Out of CONTEXT.” The works have been carefully salvaged from their original settings and sensitively restored for display, shown together for the first time in a single venue. Visitors have the opportunity to view and discuss these provocative works in an atmosphere that I PXL U and BANKROBBER hope will expand current notions of the value of street art and the necessity of safeguarding such important works against those who seek to paint over or destroy them in their original locations.

Art Miami has created a forum that provides visitors with a rare chance to experience and study up close the work of an artist whose identity remarkably remains a mystery, despite working in an era where camera phones, social media and global communication make anonymity nearly impossible. While the intricate stencils, socially conscious themes and subversive humor of Banksy’s work have left their mark on walls worldwide and on our collective psyche, we are reminded that although everyone knows who Banksy is, nobody can answer who is Banksy. This bizarre and refreshing contradiction has a unique place in a world where brand identity is increasingly used to define what something is and what it means; at a time when individualism gradually dissolves in favor of profile picture thumbnails, mobile app icons and 140-character tweets engineered to communicate the entire personality of individuals, corporations, and cultural institutions, the artist known as Banksy works discreetly to displace and subvert this complacent and compliant new-world order.

I PXL U aims to redress this trend in part by offering its users a new and fresh opportunity to reassert and personally manage their unique identity and influences through the creation of custom photo mosaics. As a new social platform, I PXL U provides a free and fun way to collect and disseminate visual memories and mementos, arranging old and new photos that have been both haphazardly scattered across the internet or left unseen and unused on hard drives. Users build visual diaries with no bounds of scale or creativity to express a unique sense of self and of community that paradoxically integrates seamlessly with familiar forms of social media and communication. At the click of a button, users can build a new visual language to share with friends, family, and colleagues and can immortalize their custom mosaics in a canvas print. I PXL U provides a framework to shape past, present and future experiences in a way that is vibrant, instantly legible, and in sync with the prevalent visual culture of our generation.

BANKROBBER has built an international reputation as one of the foremost experts and exponents of sourcing, restoring, protecting and exhibiting original works by the artist known as Banksy. BANKROBBER travels the world advising and assisting in the successful salvage and repair of works that, without direct intervention, would have been lost forever at the hands of overzealous councils, governments and officials or rival graffiti writers.

“HAIGHT STREET RAT”

SAN FRANCISCO, 2010, STENCIL AND SPRAYPAINT ON TIMBER, 84 x 72 INCHES

This unique piece was one of many the artist completed in the Bay Area in 2010. The work was removed from a building on the famous Haight Street just in time to prevent the city from painting over the work of art.

“OUT OF BED RAT”

LOS ANGELES, 2002, STENCIL AND SPRAYPAINT ON STUCCO, 180 x 96 INCHES

This unique piece was first created when Banksy was in Los Angeles preparing for his ‘Barely Legal’ exhibition in 2006. Originally sited on the side of a private dwelling on Hollywood’s Melrose avenue.

“HAIGHT STREET RAT”

SAN FRANCISCO, 2010, STENCIL AND SPRAYPAINT ON TIMBER, 84 x 72 INCHES

This unique piece was one of many the artist completed in the Bay Area in 2010. The work was removed from a building on the famous Haight Street just in time to prevent the city from painting over the work of art.

“STOP + SEARCH”

BETHLEHEM, 2007, STENCIL AND SPRAYPAINT ON STONE, 83 x 63 INCHES (WEIGHT 2.5 TONS)

This unique piece was originally sited in Palestine to coincide with the artists 2007 ‘Santa’s Ghetto’. It has taken three years to safely negotiate the release of this work from the Palestine side of the division wall. The work has been sensitively cleaned and restored and stands on a bespoke steel plinth.

“WET DOG”

BETHLEHEM, 2007, STENCIL AND SPRAYPAINT ON STONE, 79 x 63 INCHES (WEIGHT 1.8 TONS)

This unique piece was originally sited in Palestine to coincide with the artists 2007 ‘Santa’s Ghetto’. It has taken three years to safely negotiate the release of this work from the Palestine side of the division wall. The work has been sensitively cleaned and restored and is housed in its own bespoke steel frame.

“KISSING COPPERS”

BRIGHTON ENGLAND, CIRCA 2005, STENCIL AND SPRAYPAINT ON EMULSION BASE WITH ALUMINIUM SUBSTRATE, 89 x 65 INCHES

This unique piece first appeared on the side of the Prince Albert pub in Brighton, England. It has been carefully removed after having been painted over by rival graffiti writers and sensitively restored by professional fresco specialists.