BANKSY DOES NEW YORK Rating: NNN
Where to watch: Netflix, iTunes
Banksy did New York in October 2013, producing one new work of graffiti, sculpture, performance or installation somewhere in the five boroughs every day for the entire month. Chris Moukarbel’s doc chronicles the British street artist’s residency, emphasizing the works’ provocative political content and interactive qualities.
Banksy announced the unveiling of each new work on his website without saying where the piece would be, prompting “Banksy hunters” to scour the city before it was defaced, removed or stolen. Among the highlights were a truck loaded with crying stuffed animals sent into the Meatpacking District and a vagina sculpted from an anthill (an homage to Un Chien Andalou?).
Like the far more inventive Banksy-directed Exit Through The Gift Shop, this film raises questions about art and commerce, authenticity and ownership. An obnoxious Southampton gallery owner justifies his appropriation of Banksy’s works and the enormous profits gained from their sale. Elsewhere, a painting altered by Banksy left in a thrift store sells for $615,000, all proceeds going to a housing project for people with HIV.
Moukarbel’s straightforward film is more domesticated than the work it profiles, but it’s a dutiful document of an event that, despite Banksy’s fame, remained on the periphery of the art world establishment. 80 minutes.
