The Banksy that Liang En mentioned was a British graffiti artist born in 1974 in Bristol, England. His works are inspired by the real-life situations of the lower-class artists and musicians in Bristol.
In other words, these works are thematically focused on satirical criticism, touching upon various aspects of life such as politics, culture, and morality, covering the most common situations in daily life.
From an artistic standpoint, his street graffiti combines the randomness of everyday scribbles with unique stencil printing techniques, gradually forming his own style.
Between 1992 and 1994, Banksy started his artistic journey in his hometown of Bristol, becoming a graffiti artist who drew freehand.
It was during this time that he began creating art using stencils, often employing recurring motifs such as rats, apes, policemen, soldiers, children, and elderly people to convey his messages.
This style of creation continued for many years. It wasn't until 2002 that his work was first exhibited, and from then on, he began to gain real fame.
When the famous American pop singer Christina Aguilera purchased the original painting of the "Lesbian" Queen Victoria, along with two other Banksy works for £25,000, Banksy's art auction record reached a new high on October 19, 2006: A set of six silk-screen prints of supermodel Kate Moss, in a style reminiscent of Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe portraits, sold for £50,400 at Sotheby's in London, five times the auction estimate.
Then, at the same auction, Banksy's reimagined "Mona Lisa" with red splashes sold for £57,600.
In December, Max Foster, a columnist for CNN International in London, began referring to this phenomenon as the "Banksy Effect," describing how the success of one individual sparked widespread attention to a previously obscure group of street artists.
One of the most famous of his works sold in 2018. Banksy's iconic piece "Girl with Balloon" fetched £1.04 million at a Sotheby's auction in London.
This price was already astonishing, but what happened after the hammer fell was even more surprising: the painting automatically slid out of its frame and was shredded into strips by a hidden cutting device.
However, due to a malfunction in the machine, only half of the painting was shredded, while the other half remained intact within the frame.
This event caused a sensation, and as the artist admitted to his act of destruction, "Girl with Balloon" became the first artwork to be "created" during an auction.
Even more astonishingly, this was just the beginning. As this painting, renamed "Love in the Bin," gained repeated publicity, its fame grew even more.
On October 14, 2021, the painting returned to the auction block and sold for a staggering £18.58 million in London, not only setting a new auction record for Banksy's work but also far exceeding the pre-auction estimate.
The core reason for this artist's fame lies in the uniqueness of his work, which draws inspiration from the real-life situations of Bristol's lower-class artists and musicians and is centered around satirical criticism.
His works touch on all aspects of life, including politics, culture, and morality. His street graffiti, combining the randomness of everyday scribbles with unique stencil printing techniques, gradually developed into his distinctive style.
What is more important is that Banksy is a mysterious artist, always remaining anonymous and never selling photographs of his street graffiti or exhibiting his work in commercial galleries.
For this reason, art auctioneers have tried to acquire his graffiti by physically removing walls, often leaving behind many demolition-related issues for the buyers.
On the other hand, Banksy is not shy about self-promotion. Although he disregards copyright in his creations, his work is represented by art agents. While his creative process is always kept secret, he has published several books explaining his artistic concepts.
So, from a certain perspective, he is a highly skilled artist who understands how to manage his public image. This certainly makes him much better than those who rely purely on hype but lack substance.
"No—" Hearing Liang En's question, the middle-aged man instinctively denied it, but then, by the light of the streetlamp, he recognized Liang En, who had already removed his mask.
"Wait, I think I recognize you. Aren't you the artist who painted the famous sunflowers in the Grand Palace exhibition? I saw your photo at the exhibition booth before." As he spoke, he took out his phone and showed a photo.
Since this painting was a new oil painting created with modern pigments, Liang En did not prohibit the use of flash photography.
More importantly, he had made most of the copyrights for these oil paintings available, as long as they were not used commercially, which greatly accelerated their spread.
So in just one day, high-definition images of the painting had spread widely, causing a sensation in the art world, and naturally, an artist like Banksy also obtained a copy.
Although Banksy prefers to paint satirical oil paintings, he even created a parody of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers at the Gas Station" in 2005. This painting became Banksy's third most expensive auctioned work, selling for over $14 million at Christie's in New York, which, in a way, also reflects the quality of the painting.
Unlike Van Gogh's sunflowers, this painting depicts the withered and decayed stage of the sunflowers, where the once vibrant flowers are now wilting, with petals scattered on the ground.
According to some art critics, the artist humorously critiques the pollution of art and nature derived from consumerism through the withered flowers at a gas station, while also criticizing society's indifference.
But regardless of the interpretation, anyone capable of creating such a painting must have conducted in-depth research on Van Gogh's original "Sunflowers," at least spending a couple of weeks studying the original and reviewing extensive materials.
So, after seeing the sunflowers Liang En had painted, Banksy immediately realized the level of skill in the oil painting, and naturally, it left a deep impression on him.
"Ah, Marie really overdid it this time." Liang En muttered softly when he heard that his photo was displayed at the exhibition booth, then nodded in acknowledgment.
"Yes, I painted all those oil paintings, including the sunflower painting you mentioned, and I even publicly demonstrated my painting technique at the salon earlier. If you're interested, you should be able to find some recorded footage."
"Ah, are you really Mr. Liang? I'm Banksy. Your oil paintings are truly amazing. I believe that if you hadn't specifically used modern pigments and slightly aged the painting, I would have honestly thought it was an original Van Gogh."
After Liang En confirmed his identity, the middle-aged artist on the opposite side became excited. As a true artist, he knew just how impressive Liang En's art was, and so he also revealed his own identity.
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